Automation Helpful Too

HELLO FOLKS – The idea still persists that automation causes unemployment.  I wish we could once and for all dispel such a motion.  

The truth is that it is in the times of engineering stimulation that we have the greatest prosperity.  It has generally come during times of war or war scare.  The reason is that we generally sit back at other times and let ourselves slip into a lull.

For several hundred years and, perhaps ever since creation, labor has fought automation, because they sincerely believed that it took away jobs.  

Of course it does take away jobs in the particular industry that is automated.  However, it also creates jobs elsewhere.  The other jobs created stimulate industry and raise our standard of living.  

CASE IN POINT

One good instance is in the communications business.  A.T. & T. is one of the most automated industries in the world, yet in ten years the company has not laid off anyone.  In fact it has created scores of jobs in the company and thousands of jobs outside of the company.  

With the development of the laser light beam, the communications experts predict, we will eventually have the equivalent of a billion wires to the moon or to satellites that will direct communication to all parts of the world.

With this development they also predict that someday we will each have a permanent telephone number and that we will be able to communicate with anyone on the world by the simple means of dialing the other party’s number from the telephone that is attached to our wrist much as a watch is today.  

The instrument, they predict, will also carry a televised communication.  

With such a development there will be many industries developed which will stimulate education, job opportunities and higher standards of living for all of us. 

THE REAL PROBLEM

The job will not be to find employment but to find the properly trained men to fill the jobs.  This will create a terrific demand for teachers who will keep up with the latest ideas. 

Right now there is no unemployment among the educated.  We are short of trained people in many fields.  We are not turning out nearly enough engineers now and the demand for them in the future will be acute.   The lack of enough qualified men in that field could create unemployment in other fields. 

The real security for the future is to see that our children get the proper education in mind, spirit, and attitudes.