Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow

Abstract

W ERE RIP VAN WINKLE TO VIEW America's industrial scene today, he would be more than slightly confused. He might be downright confoundedand rightfully so. Old Rip would run into trouble talking with former pals. True, some of his difficulty could be simply a matter of semantics-but the terminology of U. S. industry in 1953 brings difficulties even for those of today. You need not be Rip to realize that, not so long ago, no one had heard of the host of antibiotics that have transformed the drug industry, of Cinerama, of polyethylene, or of transistors. The kind of associates known to Rip has vastly changed. A cosy group of chaps that thrived happily as glass blowers-incandescent bulb making was their business-now have their shops teeming with electronic engineers and are in the thick of an industry whose present potential is rated greater than the automobile was in Henry Ford's day. Rip would discover that food makers also launch plastic weather balloons for the Army, and this is just one item in General Mills' program of diversification, which includes organic chemicals and precision instruments! A strange group of bedfellows constitute the contracting business, as evidenced by the role that du Pont and Goodyear Tire & Rubber play for the Atomic Energy Commission. Indeed, AEC has wedded such divergent interests as Dow Chemical Company and Detroit Edison Company, and Monsanto Chemical and Union Electric Company of Missouri, who have joined forces to explore the possibilities of using atomic energy for the production of electric power. Today Rip would meet rail analysts who measure the prospects of a carrier not only in terms of traffic density but also by the oil-productive possibilities of their land holdings. Such is the current approach to Union Pacific, Northern Pacific, and certain other railroads. He would also discover analysts discussing textile companies, relating their position to the chemical industryCelanese Corporation is a case in point. Reversing this situation, he might find the future of Union Carbide in the chemical field being measured in part by the possible importance of Dynel among synthetic textile fibers, and du Pont by its nylon and Orlon.