Perspective on Democratic Industrial Government
| Date | 01 November 1942 |
| Published date | 01 November 1942 |
| Author | Ordway Tead |
| DOI | 10.1177/000271624222400108 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
46
Perspective
on
Democratic
Industrial
Government
By
ORDWAY
TEAD
IT
IS
given
to
no
one
to
foresee
the
shape
of
things
to
come.
Yet
as
the
oak
is
implicit
in
the
acorn
when
the
right
conditions
prevail,
so
some
un-
folding
of
forces
that
may
be
shaped
to
our
human
advantage
should
be
our
conscious
concern
as
we
look
out
upon
the
industrial
relations
scene.
Amid
all
the
talk
of
&dquo;winning
the
peace,&dquo;
it
needs
to
be
remembered
that
the
economic
realm,
domestic
and
international,
has
had
its
profound
conflict
areas,
has
given
rise
to
activities
which
were
by
no
stretch
of
the
imagination
demo-
cratic,
has
worked
on
implicit
premises
which
placed
private
interests
ahead
of
interests
of
general
welfare.
And
un-
less
these
&dquo;hot&dquo;
areas
in
our
common
life
are
attacked
as
places
where
democ-
racy
has
to
be
implemented
if
it
is
to
exist,
no
peace
will
be
won
in
the
eco-
nomic
aspects
of
our
life.
These
areas
have
to
do
with
the
eco-
nomic
structure
in
the
large-with
the
centripetal
tendencies
in
large-scale
pro-
duction,
with
the
semimonopolistic,
administered-price
industries,
with
in-
dustries
having
strongly
consolidated
trade
associations.
And
they
have
to
do
with
the
administrative
structure
within
the
individual
corporation,
within
the
industry
as
a
whole,
and,
inevitably
after
the
war,
within
certain
industries
viewed
as
international
units.
In
all
these
phases
of
American
life
our
pre-
tensions
to
democracy
lack
reality
and
need
an
honest
consideration
of
ways
forward.
I
have
no
blueprint
prescription
with
respect
to
either
of
these
areas,
but
I
see
grave
need
for
awareness
as
to
the
nature
of
the
problem
in
its
democratic
orientation.
The
basic
issue
is:
How
can
the
broad
economic
and
the
specific
administrative
phases
of
our
industrial
operation
be
ordered
and
conducted
as
democratic
instruments-not
by
indi-
rection
or
accident,
but
by
deliberate
intention?
It
is
still
too
easy
to
dismiss
this
problem
by
assuming
that
phrases
accurately
reflect
reality.
Such
phrases
now
current
are:
&dquo;the
resumption
of
free
enterprise&dquo;;
&dquo;the
restoration
of
the
opportunity
for
individual
initiative&dquo;;
&dquo;the
provision
of
a
free
market&dquo;;
&dquo;the
regimentation
of
economic
planning&dquo;;
&dquo;the
need
for
complete
economic
plan-
ning&dquo; ;
&dquo;the
need
for
public
ownership.&dquo;
From
the
right
and
from
the
left,
it
would
seem
that
formulas
take
the
place
of
realistic
formulations
and
lull
us
into
a
sense
of
clarity
where
there
is
no
clarity,
and
of
knowing
explicit
operat-
ing
methods
where
such
methods
have
still
to
be
invented.
NEW
INFLUENCES
It
is
important
to
be
clear
at
the
out-
set
that
the
end
of
this
war
will
not
in
important
particulars
bear
any
close
analogy
to
the
end
of
the
first
World
War.
There
has
been
a
reshaping
of
our
economy,
internally
and
externally,
in
the
last
twenty-five
years,
which
has
brought
to
the
fore
influences
newly
powerful
in
their
operation.
Some
of
these
influences
merit
brief
mention
because
they
help
to
suggest
for
our
thought
the
larger
tendencies
at
work.
The
Atlantic
Charter,
despite
its
vagueness,
implies
the
existence
of
new
criteria
as
to
what
comprises
fair
play
and
a
fair
chance
in
the
international
economic
realm.
The
Four
Freedoms
of
President
Roosevelt
end
with
&dquo;free-
dom
from
want,&dquo;
which
calls
fresh
at-
tention
to
a
concern
for
conditions
which
would
realize
greater
abundance
for
all.
Capitalistic
operation
is
before
the
bar
of
public
opinion
all
the
world
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