Cue the Sandwichman . . .
The world's fair bit in the article coincides with my tackling Pynchon's "Against the Day," which begins at the Chicago World's Fair and a plot by a plutocrat -- "Scarsdale Vibe" -- to sabotage a project to give the world free electricity. > ----- Original Message ----- > From: Charles Brown > Sent: 01:05 pm > To: [email protected] > Subject: [Pen-l] The Gospel of Consumption > > The Gospel of Consumption > > And the better future we left behind > > > by Jeffrey Kaplan > > > Orion magazine (May / June 2008 issue) > > > PRIVATE CARS WERE RELATIVELY SCARCE in 1919 and horse-drawn conveyances > were still common. In residential districts, electric streetlights had > not yet replaced many of the old gaslights. And within the home, > electricity remained largely a luxury item for the wealthy. > > > Just ten years later things looked very different. Cars dominated the > streets and most urban homes had electric lights, electric flat irons, > and vacuum cleaners. In upper-middle-class houses, washing machines, > refrigerators, toasters, curling irons, ïpercolators, heating pads, and > popcorn poppers were becoming commonplace. And although the first > commercial radio station didn't begin broadcasting until 1920, the > American public, with an adult population of about 122 million people, > bought 4,438,000 radios in the year 1929 alone. > > > But despite the apparent tidal wave of new consumer goods and what > appeared to be a healthy appetite for their consumption among the > well-to-do, industrialists were worried. They feared that the frugal > habits maintained by most American families would be difficult to break. > Perhaps even more threatening was the fact that the industrial capacity > for turning out goods seemed to be increasing at a pace greater than > people's sense that they needed them. > > > It was this latter concern that led Charles Kettering, director of > General Motors Research, to write a 1929 magazine article called "Keep > the Consumer Dissatisfied". He wasn't suggesting that manufacturers > produce shoddy products. Along with many of his corporate cohorts, he > was defining a strategic shift for American industry - from fulfilling > basic human needs to creating new ones. > > > In a 1927 interview with the magazine Nation's Business, Secretary of > Labor James J Davis provided some numbers to illustrate a problem that > the New York Times called "need saturation". Davis noted that "the > textile mills of this country can produce all the cloth needed in six > months' operation each year" and that fourteen percent of the American > shoe factories could produce a year's supply of footwear. The magazine > went on to suggest, "It may be that the world's needs ultimately will be > produced by three days' work a week". > > Full: http://archives.econ.utah.edu/archives/a-list/2008w21/msg00091.htm > > > > > This message has been scanned for malware by SurfControl plc. > www.surfcontrol.com > _______________________________________________ > pen-l mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l >
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