Cleveland High School - Beacon Yearbook (St Louis, MO)

Page 32 text:

board of the Romans with our present day newspaper system. In other words, take from us the machine and you take from us the efficiency of our means of transportation and communication. The machine has been a prime factor in spreading information and culture. A distribution of literature such as was unthought of in the past has been made possible by the printing press-a machine. A distinctly American type of architecture, the skyscraper, is springing up-made pos- sible by the machine. In the field of music the piano and the organ are machines. And in the last decade the Way has been opened for the further spread of culture. The radio has appeared. In conclusion let it be said that the machine is a powerful factor. To be sure there are evils attached to the use of the machine. But is there reason enough in the evils of machinery to cut down our use of it? Must We destroy it entirely to be certain it does not become a Frankenstein ? An automobile will not drive itself. Nor can We expect to receive perma- nent benefits from the machine until We learn from study and experience how best to use it. i as , I ef Page Twenty-eight

Page 31 text:

of work must be reduced in direct proportion to the drop in necessary man- hours of work if unemployment is to be prevented, and at the same time salaries must remain the same if the demand for the product is not to be curtailed. Of course, in this example there would be no incentive Qbesides good willl for the factory owner to install the labor-saving machinery, for he would still spend the same amount for labor. This incentive must come in the form of greater consumption. While this complicates the problem and modifies slightly some of the conclusions at which we have arrived, the general principles remain the same. For there must be no curtailment in the number of men employed nor must there be any reduction in sala- ries: yet there must be a reduction of working hours and an increase in consumption. The problem, which we have discussed, could easily be regulated, but in the world at large so many modifying factors appear that it is a tre- mendous, complex problem which we face. For instance, when we consider more than one factory, one may install labor-saving machinery while oth- ers may not. And so, while the principles remain the same, the application is difficult. One thing appears certain, however, and that is that we must, if we are to achieve the desired result, have some degree of government control in business, at the same time carefully avoiding mercantilism itself. The road we have considered is a diflicult road, it is trueg but the difli- culty need not daunt us. Nothing worth while is ever achieved without effort. There is no need to curb the use of machinery. There is, however, a distinct need to direct the proper output. Thus far we have been considering the machine question from a strictly economic view-point. Let us now take a more general point of view. Leisure is a prime requisite for national cultural development. Greek civilization affords the best example of the profitable use of leisure which was founded, however, not upon machinery but upon slavery. Even im- properly regulated as it has been, the machine has, in almost all purely physical fields, replaced the slaves of the ancients. Any American can name a large number of implements such as the cotton gin, the power loom, various types of drills, by means of which one man can do the work of a great number of the slaves of the ancients. Not only has machinery replaced the slave satisfactorily in such fields, but in many cases the ma- chine accomplishes that which is out of the range of even a group of slaves. The ancients, for example, communicated almost entirely by means of mes- sages sent by private slaves. Today it would take weeks for a chain of slaves to carry such a message from San Francisco to New York. By means of the telegraph, telephone, or radio the same message can be sent with the speed of speech and returned immediately. Today shipments weighing tons cross the continent in two weeks. It would take months for unassisted slaves to accomplish the same thing. Compare the bulletin Page Twenty-seven l l

Page 33 text:

Radium - The Miracle Substance ' By Frederick Dunlap of a cat, glass becomes deeply tinted with purple, and ghostly numerals shine from the dial of your watch at night,-all because of radium. Radium is one of the decomposition prod- S ucts of the radio-active element, uranium, that is, the ura- nium breaks down into various substances, one of which is radium. Of these, radium is one million times more active than any of the other decomposition products. Radium costs about 31,800,000 an ounce. Yet it disintegrates so slowly that in approximately 1,730 years only one-half of its value is spent. This period of time 11,7303 is known as the half-life of radium. So energetic are the radiations of this remarkable element, that a few cents worth, mixed with other substances, is sutlicient to illuminate the dial of a clock or a compass. Of the ninety-two elements known to Chemistry, radium is by far the most remarkable and interesting. An element is a substance composed of atoms of only one kind. Diierent atoms may unite to make compounds, but the atoms themselves are not changed. For instance, copper atoms will unite with oxygen atoms to make molecules of copper oxide, but even though joined chemically the atoms themselves are unaltered. Atoms in general are exceedingly stable and it is only with the greatest efforts and complicated apparatus that a few can be disrupted. Radium atoms, on the contrary, are subject to a series of explosions or disintegrations and after a long time change their identity. They are no longer radium atoms, but ordinary lead atoms. 5 D 6 IAMONDS turn green and glow weirdly in the dark like the eyes Because of this disintegrating process, radium loses weight. It is ob- vious, therefore, that part of it is escaping or radiating into space. Shoot- ing out at enormous speeds are tiny particles which give the element its name as well as its unique property. These particles are of two kinds. The first, the alpha particle, is an atom of helium, the gas Uncle Sam uses in his dirigibles. The other, the beta particle, is the smallest charge of nega- tive electricity known, an electron. This little beta particle, inlinitesimal in size, gives rise to a vibration or pulsation when it collides with atoms in its path. This pulsation, known as the gamma ray, can penetrate twelve inches of the finest steel. It is similar to the X-ray but is far more pene- Page Twenty-nine T l l J 4