10 



National Resources Planning Board 



rcscaicli serves rallier to increase oi- sliil)ilize eini)lo3"- 

 incnt. Organizeil labor has odicially recorded its 

 active approval of the eiieounifieineiit of apphed science, 

 and informed tiiought in tlie fields of labor organization 

 and of sociolog}' recognize technological advancement 

 as both desirable and inevitable. ° 



One important phase of labor relations concerns the 

 temporary efTcct upon employment of any change what- 

 ever, including changes produced l)y organized indus- 

 trial research. Within an industry the necessitj' of 

 reducing the effect of change upon employment presents 

 a problem to management. Procedures have been 

 proposed, for example, in the railroad industry ' recog- 

 nizing and providing for employee displacement due 

 to labor saving improvement. Labor approves tech- 

 nological advances in general while endeavoring to 

 alleviate immediate and femporarj' unemployment 

 conse(|uei;ces,* ' and to increase participation in eco- 

 nomic benefits. 



' Reported at i-onfcrcnce arranged by Beyer, Ot tu S., Chairman, National Mediation 

 Rnard for Survey of Research in Industry. 



' Report of the Federal coordinator of transportation, 1934. Washington, U. S. 

 Government I'rintins Office, 1935, House Document No. 89. 



■ Frocffding^. iCIh Annual Conrtntion American Federation of Labor, Resolution 

 Nu.l«, 



IKiiHE '.i. — I?ell Ti'k-phone Lal)oratorii's, New York, 

 New ■\'ork 



I'leieedurc's within an industry do not solve the 

 problem of obsolescence of a whole industry — the 

 buggy and buggy-whip industries are classic examples. 

 Unemployment insurance can reduce the shock, but it 

 is far from the complete answer. Well-organized 

 industrial research within the industry is in itself a 

 protection against such obsolescence and the historj' 

 of the fall of the phonograph before the advance of 

 radio and its subsequent aggressive and successful 

 revival as a result of research personnel and method is 

 cited to illustrate profitable economic policy as well as 

 sound sociological practice. 



There may be significance in the relation to emploj-- 

 ment stability of the nimiber of research workers 

 employed by a given company. The 6 industrial 

 groups reporting the largest percentage of research 

 workers per 10,000 wage earners in 1937 were chemicals, 

 radio apparatus and phonographs, petroleum, rubber, 

 electrical machinery and apparatus and electrical com- 

 munication.'" These groups, as a whole, stand in 

 favorable comparison to the balance of industry in 

 the continuity of employment and in the relative 

 absence of temporary displacement resulting from tech- 

 nological advancement or other causes. Although 

 factors other than research were also at work, including 

 general good management, there is little question that 

 research organizations played an important part in 

 stability of employment. 



Research in the National Economy 



The rapidity with which research has taken its 

 present significant place in industry- is mdicated in the 

 discussion of its origin and growth. There was a long 

 slow period, prior to the turn of the century, a period 

 largely used in accumulating the great reservoir of 

 scientific knowledge to be drawn on later, though there 

 were many important examples of the conmiercial 

 application of science. But shortly after 1900 mdustry 

 generally began to accept research, organized research 

 departments began to appear, and the conmiercial and 

 sociological significance of organized research began to 

 be apparent. 



In the discussion of growth and development it will 

 be noted that companies whose operations were based 

 on scientific discoveries were among the first to adopt 

 oi-ganized research. Among them will now be found 

 some of the countiy's largest and most important 

 laboratories. In this record of growth will also be 

 seen the close relation between the universities and the 

 laboratories. It would appear that there was mutual 



* Murray, IMiliip. Chairman steel workers organizing committee. Verbatim record 

 • if the proceedings of the Temporary National Economic Committee. Proceedinijs of 

 the Temporary National Economic Commltlee, IS. No. 5, H5-96 (.\pril 12, 1940). 



I' Perazich, O., and Field, P. M. Industrial research and changing technology. 

 Philadelphia, Pa., Work Projects .Administration, National Research Project, 

 Report Xo. M-i. 1910. 



