Order and Over-Organization in America

Abstract

The basic principles of order and efficiency-everybody doing his job and not intruding on others-while devised by Plato for his ideal republic, have been applied in practice to modern systems of industrial production. As this system reached its entelechy in Ford's assembly line, it is not surprising that the United States, where this perfection of the system was accomplished first, has been profoundly impressed by the principles of order and efficiency. It would mean belabouring the obvious to elaborate on the application of these principles to modern factories in the United States-or the rest of the industrialized world, for that matter. It is also well known that American agriculture benefited enormously by mechanization and rationalization, even if the spirit of industrial production had to be modified in its adaptation to this field of economic endeavour. The marketing of products has been dominated by the principles of efficiency and organization as well, as the supermarkets and the mail-order stores testify. Transportation and communication, roads and telephones, and countless other avenues of economic and administrative activity follow the same dictates. Life in America-from Ford's assembly line to the Yellow Pages, a veritable index to gracious living-is dominated by the spirit and letter of efficient organization. And the wages of this creed is affluence: efficiency-combined with natural resources, to be sure-made America into the richest country in the world. Occasionally there are gaps in this system. It is easier to buy tinned food than get rid of the empty tins in some parts of the country where the garbage disposal system is less than perfect. Railway services are not as reliable as in Europe and it is by no means unusual for trains to arrive much later than scheduled. The unprotected railway crossings, to quote a case of accepted criminal negligence, considerably contribute to the slaughter on the roads. Yet, these and such examples do not essentially change the overall picture. They rather stand out as curiosities against the background of an ordered, efficient, extremely wellfunctioning society which makes the life of the individual easy and comfortable, besides providing him with material wealth.