The science of social adjustment / by Sir Josiah Stamp.

  • Josiah Stamp, 1st Baron Stamp
Date:
1937
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: The science of social adjustment / by Sir Josiah Stamp. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    122/192 (page 110)
    mand) the Technocrats and others have been able to paint a picture of stupendous productive capacity— it seems necessary, however, to go beyond purely engineering concepts and face the problem of pro¬ ductive capacity in severely realistic terms First, on the manufacturing side can all the attendant sup¬ plies and processes be speeded up to correspond ? Does the human element stand up to the change ? Is the full and even load postulated at particular places really available ? But on the demand or economic side, supposing a considerably lower price is possible for the larger quantities available, after allowing for every production difficulty, what quantity will be taken off by the public at that price or at any price ? A quick limit of sale at any price at all is reached with many commodities, and ‘ plenty ’ is meaningless beyond a figure of supply which is harmonious with other factors of life. It might be a boon to make 100 fire-grates with the ease with which one is now made, and yet not really a greater boon, in any realistic sense, to make 1000 for every one now. There might still be a large section of mankind without them at 6d. a piece if all the etceteras which they connote were unchanged in their cost and use. There would be a definite limit to the demand for morocco bound Shake- speares at a penny, quite short of Sir Arthur Salter’s famous Hottentot not particularly wanting a copy. Every statement of technical multiples in produc¬ tion requires therefore much qualification and ex¬ amination, before the plenty which it connotes can be determined. Bnt in any case, there is a more serious limitation. If in fact there are only one or two such new machines in existence, and the bulk of supply comes from older equipment, the alleged plenty does