THE FUTURE IS OURS TO BUILD
Kaiser, Henry J.
The Future Is Ours To Build By HENRY J. KAISER THIS war, now half over, is only a phase of a worldwide social upheaval which has been under way since the turn of the century, probably longer. What...
...He is jealous of his dignity and self-respect...
...They will drive their car of the air as simply and as often as they drive their car of the road...
...Jobs Are First Let us admit that the expending needs of men have made possible our economic progress...
...He wants to earn his way and to enjoy the fruits of his labor...
...To me this indicates jobs for 30 million persons—well over one-half of the postwar labor force of the United States...
...It can be a new "golden age" in which the energies of the great mass of humanity will be released from oppression, fear, and neglect...
...For every worker in manufacturing and mechanical lines, more than 2 are required to provide everyday essentials—farmers, clerks, telephone, radio, power, light, and transport operators, barbers, postmen, and a hundred other similar activities...
...To put it baldly, war alone has thus far achieved full employment...
...Think of the opportunity to Lease-Lend or sell on the auction block a great part of the equipment which we have now outgrown...
...The CAA has budgeted a billion dollars of Federal aid for 3,000 such airports...
...Health And Hospitals Often I am classified as a dreamer, particularly when I talk about health insurance...
...Unless we can devise conditions of peace that will give men the opportunity to work, to create, and to enjoy the fruits of their efforts, there will be no peace...
...But it is increasingly clear to the average man that the money burden of the war can be paid only out of production...
...If we fail to maintain it, it will be because we surrender to ignorance and doubt...
...Therefore labor must benefit in the improved technology in the "World Ahead...
...The economists are now talking about the "multiplier...
...This war came at the close of the most astonishing decade in our history...
...Our first and primary essential is EMPLOYMENT—a nationwide, yes, a world-wide opportunity for all who want to work...
...From the day of peace we will enter the century of the common man...
...It will require 225,000 persons to build these planes...
...They will not only survive, but prosper, in the "World Ahead...
...The moment calls for action...
...If they are built in the first postwar year, they would supply employment for 450.000 workers...
...He wants to be heard on issues that affect his well-being...
...In the prewar economics, reductions in cost were all too often made at the expense of labor...
...No individual, and no people, can live in poverty and expect to be free...
...There is nothing which reasonable men undertake which cannot be accomplished...
...The project provided broad streets and landscaped parkways...
...With limited exceptions, the law requires that nearly 500,000 temporary and stop-gap units be torn down...
...This is not only a matter of medical science, but of facilities...
...Think of the highways as the servants of the new air world which is already a reality...
...Scores of laws have been passed defining the rights and obligations of labor and management...
...In the first peace year, there will be an actual demand for three million dollars' worth of repairs and renovations in existing housing...
...opening up the suburbs to the health and happiness of rural life...
...The doing is not as difficult as many might think...
...Hundreds have qualified as experts in this field...
...Therefore, I venture the assertion that these 4 social economic factors—the home, hospitals, transportation, and highways—would bring into play the immense power of the entire enterprise system...
...He wants some say as to the conditions and terms under which he must live and work, but he must recognize that there are fundamentals to survival...
...Cost Must Be Slashed The total volume of employment thus far mentioned is 11,500,000...
...Against these assets stand the grim spectre of the cost of the war...
...There must be airports to make such production possible...
...Finally, the prospects on the constructive side are without parallel...
...Think of relieving the congestion in our city streets...
...Many countries could use it to immense advantage in their present state of economic development...
...We have planned enough...
...Financial agencies, both public and private, will carry the contracts at reasonable rates of interest...
...If every responsible element in production today— Government, labor, and management—would take just one action NOW on a postwar program, the whole economy would move forward on every front...
...Yet labor relations are no more than human relations...
...The $500,000,000 so spent will generate employment for 250,000 workers...
...This means an expenditure of 8 billions...
...wide selection in design and color...
...We nourish no illusions about race superiority, or manifest destiny...
...Think of highways...
...The experiments have been costly, the mistakes many, but the instruction has been priceless...
...An additional output of utility cars would bring to many homes a car for service, as well as pleasure...
...We have entered an era when human needs take precedence over all other interests...
...The President's Committee on Highways recommends 3 billion dollars annually...
...It can be more truly a rebirth than any in history...
...Again and again nations were far too slow in appraising this irresistible force...
...Therefore, purchasing power declined...
...The day of low-priced transportation, with a low operating cost per mile, is at hand...
...Dare to envision 5,000 airports ready to serve the youth who have learned to live and work in the air...
...I am speaking from the experience of operating 7 hospitals on this basis...
...Such prejudices as we have are not yet deep-rooted...
...There was comforting release from the dread monotony of the all-too-typical industrial town...
...Designs are being completed for trains to be dispatched and controlled by continuous radio communication...
...There is no bounty sufficient to accomplish the task...
...spacious lots, and good materials...
...Still there is a dangerous pessimism abroad with the dawn of peace...
...Production and conservation are the essentials underneath all of our hopes for the good life...
...I suggest that we add another freedom to the 5 enumerated by the late President Roosevelt, namely, the freedom to produce...
...The time is short, and total peace may be nearer than we think...
...May God give us the faith and the courage not to fail...
...Again and again revolution came as the last resort to right the wrongs...
...Under their stimulation, the whole economy would move forward on every front...
...Please note that I said "program" and not "plan...
...The Time For Action Man wants to be treated like a human being...
...I know there is a suggestion of materialism about this proposal...
...The war has advanced science, invention, and technology by decades...
...The monthly installments can be low...
...Volumes have been written about labor relations...
...The whole concept of human welfare, which includes security, opportunity, the standard of living, appreciation of the participation in the arts, and every creative release of the human mind and spirit, are today dependent on the production and conservation of wealth...
...We don't need a sharp pencil to add it all up...
...Monopoly, bureaucracy, protection, subsidy, and all forms of "influence" will be under continuous attack...
...We can go further and insure the payments when illness overtakes the head of the family...
...There are no barriers or obstacles which can stop the productive forces of America, once they are organized and released for reconstruction and advancement...
...At least this many families can make a down payment...
...As an epoch of human understanding and cooperation, it can surpass all others in peace and goodwill...
...If we are wise we will be very certain that America Is not going back to the smug content of an era when the bulk of the privilege was enjoyed by only a few...
...breaking the bottlenecks in the metropolitan areas...
...Many potential buyers will be disappointed...
...Let's DO SOMETHING about employment...
...His ability to live abundantly and independently may determine our political destiny for centuries to come...
...Think of the vast number in the service industries...
...Eleven and one-half million engaged in building houses, highways, automobiles, airports, and transportation...
...In the new world that is emerging from the war there will be no place for special privilege...
...We will not escape it...
...The combination of these 2 essentials—the automobile and the airplane—will attract 100,000 American families...
...The cost of such medical care might be incorporated in the monthly payments on the home, freeing the American family from the fear of illness and the loss of income...
...It also means immediate employment for 4 million workers...
...The automobile industry has promised 6 million passenger cars in the first peace years...
...This would supply jobs for 1,500,000 workers...
...We know the productive power of this nation...
...If we have the wisdom and the resolution to keep our people employed, there are immeasurable potential resources for the building of the new America...
...There is nothing in the philosophy of the hand-out that can lead to anything but despair for the postwar world which is so rapidly approaching...
...I'll just ask you to do the multiplying...
...we cannot...
...It is an affirmative petition, full of hope and courage: Long may our land be bright With freedom's holy light Protect us by thy might Gread God our King...
...I am not an economist, nor am I trained in social politics—but this one thing I know: If we are to escape the booms and depressions of the business cycle, costs must be reduced, and living standards raised...
...Great 6 and 8-lane arterials, parked with trees and lawns...
...It is encouraging to read recent announcements that public health authorities are now thinking along these lines...
...Health service can be rendered on a self-sustaining insurance basis, at a price well within the reach of all...
...There can be no doubt that the major portion of everything produced represents labor—from the mine and the forest, to the most intricate finished product...
...And I have named only 4 of many essential industries...
...From these ingredients he made houses so attractive that the owners straightway set about making them into homes...
...Fortunately for us, as a nation we are young...
...Think of railroads...
...There is actually a vast number of workers today who have been dreading the thought that it will come to an end...
...Two to one occupied with providing everyday needs...
...Construction and transportation are the most powerful forces in the business cycle...
...Think of them as already foreshadowed in the beautiful New York parkways...
...In the light of the postwar demand about which we already know, there is enough business in prospect to keep us fully occupied for years to come...
...What happens in America in the 5 years after the war ends will determine first, whether we can escape the very evils against which we are now fighting, and second, our ability to assume world leadership in the advancement of human freedom...
...There is no magic source of wealth for the reconstruction period...
...The record shows how governments ignored human needs...
...Think of homes—not just shelter against the elements—but homes in the true spirit of the word...
...If freedom to produce is taken literally, it will not be difficult to show that it comprises virtually all of the freedoms, so recently and so eloquently expressed...
...It does not mention hate or prejudice or conflict...
...The formula was simple—uniformity only in service units...
...Labor relations are human relations...
...We need not repeat the mistakes of the past...
...There is the demand for many more...
...A vivid illustration is the tragic fact that countless men and women in America, England, and in the British dominions, have been for the first time in their lives enjoying the opportunity to work and save...
...Recently, I visited a unit of 400 such homes...
...Our capacity to produce has exceeded by a wide margin the most extravagant estimates of economic research...
...This is a prospect of tremendous promise...
...No individual, and no people, can consume all that they produce, and expect to progress...
...Here also are jobs for thousands...
...We know now what we can do...
...A friend of mine tells me of one of his professors who became famous and was remembered by all his students because of one oft repeated phrase: "Gentlemen, for God's sake, do something...
...He resents being either exploited or neglected...
...We are ready to build 1960 models of almost everything: homes, household equipment, transportation, power, light, heat, textiles, in short, all the industrial arts...
...The highways and the skyways are one...
...The down payment," said the builder, "is only the first step, but when the buyer has put 2 Saturday afternoons into making a garden, he is sold for good...
...To live abundantly and take part in a productive economy, our people must have health...
...If we could only filter the prejudices out of our experience, the decade could be the prelude to the finest chapter in our history...
...In these 2 great forces are the spiritual attributes which we call "the American way...
...The age of the air is upon us...
...Employment in this field alone, could keep 400,000 workers fully employed, not only for the first year, but for many years in this basic and essential industry...
...It does not ask Him for relief from pessimism and despair...
...fast trains built of light metals...
...Think of automobiles...
...A community nursery supplied shrubs and trees, for as little as 10 cents each...
...Some Specific Examples But lest I seem to be generalizing, let me give a few of a hundred specific illustrations of our prospects...
...I am convinced that 2 million homes should be built for ownership or rental in the first year and a half after conversion...
...We cannot allow this war-housing to become the slums of the future...
...With the thrill of accomplishment, the builder told how his dream had come true...
...The hymn "America" closes with a prayer to the "Author of Liberty...
...Millions of our people have never known what home really means in terms of space, light, sunshine, trees, and comforts...
...The family plane and the helicopter are nearer than we think...
...The future is ours,—not to recapture,—but to build...
...This could well employ an additional 1,400,000 workers...
...If American industry builds and equips modern hospitals in 1,000 American communities in the first year after the war, prepaid medical service could then be organized around these facilities...
...Automobile manufacture will provide direct employment for 3,275,000 workers...
...Postwar demand for private airplanes will probably exceed 100,-000 units...
...With this point of view I take issue...
...some will proclaim that there is no hope for the future on such a foundation...
...Organized medicine is beginning to see the wisdom of this sound principle...
...Don't ask me how to apply it...
Vol. 9 • May 1945 • No. 21
