Fireside Chats
By F.D.Roosevelt.
“Last autumn, on several occasions, I expressed my faith that we can make possible by democratic self-discipline in industry general increases in wages and shortening of hours sufficient to enable industry to pay its own workers enough to let those workers buy and use the things that their labor produces. This can be done only if we permit and encourage cooperative action in industry because it is obvius that without united action a few selfish men in each competitive group will pay starvation wages and insist on long hours of work. Others in that group must either follow suit or close up shop. We have seen the result of action of that kind in the continuing descent into the economic hell of the past four years.
There is a clear way to reverse the process: If all employers in each competitive group agree to pay their workers the same wages—reasonable wages—and require the same hours-- reasonable hours—then higher wages and shorter hours will hurt no employer. Moreover, such action is better for the employer than unemployment and low wages, because it makes more buyers for his product. That is the simple idea which is the very heart of the Industrial Recovery Act.
On the basis of this simple principle of everybody doing things together, we are starting out on this nation wide attack on unemployment…It goes back to the basic idea of society and of the nation itself that people acting in a group can accomplish things which no individual acting alone could even hope to bring about”.
“The New Deal”
By F.D.Roosevelt
Various and effective measures were undertaken by WRA (Works Progress Administration) to give work to the unemployed in the USA at the time of the Great Depression. During the eight years (1935-1943) there were built 651, 000 miles of highways, over 125,000 public buildings, over 124,000 bridges, 853 airports, there were laid out over 8,000 parks, among other things. Under the FWP (Federal Writers Project) and projects similar to that (aimed to aid unemployed writers, musicians, actors, artists, designers) more than 8.5 million people got jobs.
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The first industrial revolution is now a thing of the past and it is idle to ask whether men would have refrained from starting it, or would have directed its course more wisely, had they been able to forеsee the distant consequences of their acts.
But it is urgent that we should have these questions in mind as we enter the second industrial revolution. One of the reassuring aspects of the modern world is that much thought is now being given to the possible effects of the future applications of science.
The ethical problem posed by the utilization of knowledge are as old as mankind. But it is only during modern times that the question has become practically important as a result of increasing effectiveness of scientific methods. It is, of course, for society to decide what goals it wishes to reach and what risks it is willing to talk. But it is the task of science to formulate as clearly as possible and to make public the probable consequences of any step it takes and any action it advocates.
Three hundred years ago Bacon and his followers were justified in claiming that the important problem was to learn how to do things. There was so little that could be done! Now the main issue for scientists and for society as a whole is to decide what to do among that could be done. Unless scientists are willing to give hard thought to this latter aspect of their social responsibilities, they may find themselves unable to control the forces they have unleashed.
WORLD AROUND US
Great Britain
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is situated on the British isles.The British Isles consist of two large islands, Great Britain and Ireland, and about five thousand small islands. Their total area is over 244,000 square kilometers.
The United Kingdom is made up of four countries: England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. But in everyday speech “Great Britain” is used to mean the United Kingdom. The capital of the UK is London.
The British Isles are separated from the European continent by the North Sea and the English Channel. The western coast of Great Britain is washed by the Atlantic Ocean and the Irish Sea.
The surface of the British Isles varies very much. The north of Scotland is mountainous and is called the Highland, while the south, which has beautiful valleys and plains, is called the Lowlands. The north and west of England are mountainous, but all the rest – east, centre and south-east – is a vast plain. Mountains are not very high. Ben Nevis in Scotland is the highest mountain (1343).
There are a lot of river in Great Britain, but they are not very long. The Severn is the longest river, while the Thames is the deepest and the most important one.
The mountains, the Atlantic Ocean and the warm waters of Gulf Stream influence the climate of the British Isles. It is mild the whole year round.
The UK is one of the world’s smaller countries. Its population is over 57 million. About 80% of the population lives in cities and towns.
The UK is a highly developed industrial country. It is known as one of the world’s largest producers and exporters of the machinery, electronics, textile, aircraft and navigation equipment. One of the chief industries of the country is shipbuilding.
The UK is a constitutional monarchy. In law, the Head of State is the Queen. In practice, the Queen reigns, but does not rule. The country is ruled by the elected government with the Prime Minister at the head. The British Parliament consist of two chambers: the House of Lords and the House of Commons. There are three main political parties in Great Britain: the Labor, the Conservative and the Liberal parties.
Text A: British economy
Britain lives by manufacture and trade. For every person employed in agriculture eleven people are employed in mining, manufacturing and building. The United Kingdom is one of the world’s largest exporters of manufactured goods per head of population.
Apart from coal and iron ore Britain has very few natural resources and mostly depends on imports. Its agriculture provides only half the food it needs. The other half and most of the raw materials for its industies such as oil and various metals (copper, zink, uranium ore and others) have to be imported. Britain also has to import timber, cotton, fruit and farm products.
Britain used to be richly forested, but most of the forests were cut down to make more room for cultivation. The greater part of land is used for cattle and sheep breeding, and pig raising. Among the crops grown on the farms are wheat, barley and oats. The fields are mainly in the eastern part of the country. Most of the farms are small (one third of them is less than one hundred acres). Farms tend to be bigger where the soil is less fertile.
In the 19th century Britain secured a leading position in the world as manufacturer, merchant and banker. After World War I the world demand for the products of Britain’s traditional industries—textiles, coal and machinery—fell off, and Britain began expanding trade in new engineering products and electrical goods.
The crisis of 1929—1933 brought about mass unemployment, which reached its peak in 1932. Britain’s share in the world industrial output decreased. After the crisis production and employment increased following some revival in world trade and as a result of the extensive armament program.
During World War II Britain’s economy was fully employed in the war effort. Massed raids of German planes on British industrial centres caused considerable damage to Britain’s industry. World War II brought about a further weakening of Britain’s might. Great Britain is no longer the leading imperialist power it used to be. It has lost its colonies which used to supply it with cheap raw materials.
Britain produces high quality expensive goods, which has always been characteristic of its industry. A shortage of raw materials, as well as the high cost of production makes it unprofitable for British industry to produce semi-finished goods or cheap articles. Britain mostly produces articles requiring skilled labour, suh as precision instruments, electronic equipment, chemical and high quality consumer goods. Britain produces and exports cotton and woollen goods, leather goods, and articles made of various kinds of synthetic (man-made) materials.
The original basis of British industry was coalmining, and the early factories grew up not far from the main mining areas. Glasgow and Newcastle became great centres of engineering and shipbuilding. Lancashire produced cotton goods and Yorkshire woollens, with Sheffild concentrating on iron and steel. Bermingham developed light engineering. There appeared a tendency for industry and population to move to the south, particularly to the London area. (Britain’s industry is now widely dispersed.) Great progress was made in the development of new industries, such as the aircraft, automobile, electronic industries and others. A number of atomic power reactors were made. Grat emphasis was made on the development of the war industry.
Text B : US ECONOMY
The United States is rich in natural resources, the main being iron ore, coal and oil. The nation produces more than 100 million tons of iron a year. Four fifths of the ore mined in the USA comes from the Great Lakes region. Though a great deal of the ore has been used up, its resources have not been exhausted. Most of the coal mined in the USA is used by power plants to produce electricity. Coal is also used in the chemical industries for the manufacture of plastics and other synthetics. The production, processing and marketing of such oil products as petrol (called “gasoline” or “gas” in the USA) make up one of America’s largest industries.
The basic metals and minerals mined in the United States are zink, copper and silver.
Some of the main crops grown in the USA are wheat, maize, cotton, tobacco and fruit.
Cattle breeding and pig raising make up an important branch of America’s agriculture.
To make the farmer’s work more productive scientific methods of farming are employed and modern technique of freezing, canning and packaging farm products is used.
The United States is a highly industrialised country with various branches of heavy industry prevailing, namely, the mining, metallurgical, automobile and chemical industries as well as engineering. Many branches of high industry are also developed, among them are the textile, food and wood-working industries.
A great deal of attention in American industry is devoted to research and emphasis is made on the use of labour-saving machines. In the past few years the number of workers has increased only a few per cent, while the number of scientists and engineers in the plants has almost doubled.
Mechanisation and automation do away with thousands of office jobs, intensify production and increase labour productivity. But they also bring about a further growth of unemployment.
New industries are created as new discoveries are made in physics, chemistry and other sciences. Atomic energy, for example, has created a wide range of new industries. Electronics has become a major industry.
Throughout American industry great emphasis is being made on management training. A great number of schools are trainig young people to become industrial leaders.
American industry is distributed unevenly. Most of the industrial enterprises are located in the eastern part of the country. But industry is spreading out as there is a tendency to build factories far removed from the home plant and closer to natural resources and markets. Good transportation facilities and rapid communications systems make it possible for the main plants to keep in touch with branch factories.
The leading US exports are industrial machinery, electronic equipment, textiles, grain, iron, coal, oil products and chemicals.