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Students of the American working-class movement have often contended that the absence of a feudal background in the U.S. retarded the development of the working-class movement. The basis of this contention is that America is not only the one highly industrialized country without a powerful working-class movement but that it is also the one highly industrialized country without a feudal background. As early as 1886, Engels offered as one of the reasons for the weakness of the American working-class movement the fact that we "developed in a purely bourgeois fashion without any feudal past." Nevertheless, neither Engels nor any other writer has gone very far beyond mere assertion. There are of course many factors that account for the retarded development of the American working class. This paper attempts to explain the manner in which the absence of a feudal background contributed to the creation and intensified the operation of those factors. The proximate determinants of the strength of a movement for the emancipation of an oppressed class in a highly industrialized society are: (1) degree of actual oppression; (2) extent to which existing conditions are conducive to arousing resentment against and organizing or position to the given degree of oppression.

This paper is a survey of a number of issues that are concerned with information science, of importance outside the field as well as within, and generally caused by or related to changes in technology. Issues ore considered in four broad categories, those concerned with computers, communications, image recording and information content. Their importance lies in the fact that how they are resolved will affect the transition of the United States from a primarily industrial to a post industrial society. The intent of the article is to present the issues and their possible impact rather than to offer solutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the complex industrial society, educational attainment is one of the most important factors in determining the occupational and income levels to which a person can aspire. This fact assumes special significance in view of the rapid improvement in the educational level of American youth in the last two decades. Although half of the young people today complete a high school education, less than half of the high school graduates go on to college. These proportions might become larger if reliable information were disseminated widely about the potential rewards of completing successively higher levels of education. It is true that these proportions cannot grow beyond certain limits. People who have the capacity to acquire more than a modest degree of education do not have the motivation or the means to do so, and others lack the mental ability to pursue their education as far as they wish and can afford. A majority of youths in the United States who are willing and able to continue their schooling can justifiably expect to receive considerably higher incomes in the long run by completing their education through college instead of entering the labor market after high school.

The article presents major issues on the question of appropriate fiscal policy for encouraging economic growth, particularly in developed economies, although in part the analysis applies to underdeveloped economies as well. The first issue is that of whether the prime obstacle to more rapid economic growth is an inadequacy of savings at full employment or an inadequacy of investment necessary to allow attainment of the potential rate of capital formation as permitted by the volume of savings at full employment. A second and related issue is that of whether investment is restricted below levels regarded as optimum primarily by taxes, such as the corporate income tax, which, if not shifted, directly reduce the net return from investment, or primarily by inadequate demand for the products made with the investment goods. A third major issue is that of the conflict between considerations of equity and those relating to economic growth. Regardless of the merits of the two points of view on the question of the prime determinants of the level of investment, it would appear rather obvious that certain types of tax concessions, present or possible, affecting the return on capital should encourage investment, particularly by reducing the risk element. At the same time they violate usually accepted standards of equity.

Differences between underdeveloped and industrialized countries in labor productivity usually are so marked that one can take their existence for granted. When, however, the contrast is between two industrialized countries, such differences are less obvious and for any particular industry, often uncertain as to direction. International productivity comparisons sometimes are regarded as indicators of the relative effectiveness with which countries allocate and utilize their resources. Output per man or man-hour measurements ignore capital inputs which are equally with labor a real cost, albeit less easily measured. They ignore the fact that differing demand structures might require somewhat different types and qualities of product. They neglect the fact that differing resource conditions sometimes require different techniques of material handling and fabrication. It is conceivable, in some instances certain, that conditions in two countries so diverge as to call for quite different methods and organization of work. Where therefore one's concern is with the effectiveness with which resources are being used, what is needed are not man-hour output figures or even data covering direct and indirect expenses reduced to some unit of real cost. Ideally, what is needed is some notion of optimum resource use and the degree to which practice falls short of attaining it.

The article examines the books "Europe and the Dollar," by Charles P. Kindleberger and "The World Money Maze: National Currencies in International Payments," by Robert Triffin. It states that both books cover a range of topics ranging from balance of payments statistics to forecasting the international monetary order. It comments on Triffin's take on the dollar gap theory in the U.S. and mentions Triffin's views on international liquidity. It states that Kindleberger talked about increases in the supply of imports by the United States. It comments on Kindleberger's views on the implications of the U.S. transfer deficit and if it will result in a slowdown of outflow.

The article focuses on the physical and social factors that influenced the distribution of raw materials in developing and industrialized countries such as the U.S. The author notes that the unequal distribution of natural resources is one physical factor that influence access to raw materials while social factors stem from the uneven economic development that resulted to the need for raw materials. Other factors are derived from the demand of developing countries for primary metals such as iron ore and cooper. Information about the available oil reserves and world steel production are discussed.

The article discusses the difficulties that Asian countries encounter in their process of economic development. The author gives a comparison between the economic development of the U.S. and India. He notes that Americans started under conditions of extreme abundance of natural resources relative to population while the Indians started under conditions of extreme population relative to natural resources. Several factors are presented that affect the economic difficulties of Asian countries which include the underestimation of natural resources, change in demographic structure, and rapid population.

The article discusses the proposed plan for workmen's compensation and pensions for employees in the brewing industry in the U.S. The U.S. was the only country among the industrialized nations who failed to make a broad-based social insurance program of which nations such as Germany, England and other European nations had already adopted. Such program provides a secondary income distribution system which protects families from the consequences of old age, unemployment, sickness and industrial accident. With this, the United States Brewers' Association in 1910 had proposed to the United Brewery Workers International an unusual workmen's compensation and pension.

Here is a compilation and summary of statutes enacted by industrial nations with a view to stabilising contracts of employment for employees by restricting the employers' right of discharge. It is sought to accomplish this objective by the legal requirement that employers give their employees the stipulated advance notice of the termination of employment or pay them a specified compensation in ease of abrupt dismissal. While workers in some European countries have demanded a legal right to their employment for nearly three-quarters of a century, this type of social legislation is the product almost wholly of the last decade. Laws on the subject are now in force in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, China, Ecuador, France, Germany, Greece, Guatemala, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Peru, Roumania, Soviet Russia, Uruguay, and Yugoslavia. In the United States only a few states and Porto Rico appear to have passed this type of law in modified form. Present efforts to deal with the country's unemployment problem have stimulated interest in dismissal compensation legislation comparable to that of other industrial nations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

None of the problems facing the developing areas in our time is as potentially dangerous to their long term growth and stability as the steady migration of the skilled and talented in these areas to the industrially advanced countries. Particularly the U.S. has been a principal beneficiary of this migration and increasingly the question is beginning to arise whether current U.S. policies of technical assistance to the new nations are not being nullified in large measure by the departure from the new nations of those whose abilities are most needed in development. The Committee's report and its earlier published findings have intensified official American concern over and widened the scope of public debate on the "brain drain" problem and on the related issues of the adequacy of present U.S. immigration and foreign technical assistance policies, especially toward the new nations. For example, the anomaly of the U.S. providing various kinds of medical aid to underdeveloped areas, while at the same time "draining" these areas of their trained medical manpower, has been emphasized by one U.S. expert in medical education in whose opinion the present influx into the U S of foreign physicians represents a value to the U.S.

After several decades of continuing experience with structured interview surveys in the advanced industrial nations in which they originated, a great deal of knowledge has been accumulated on this technique, to the point that it has been codified in a number of standard texts. With the diffusion of the formal survey beyond its point of origin, however, it has become apparent that much less is known about the possibilities and limitations of this technique for the underdeveloped areas of the world. A first draft of the interview schedule in English was developed in the United States during the Spring of 1963. Later, after consulting with several mestizos and Indians in Vicos, a revised final draft was prepared and translated into Spanish by the author. The Spanish version was in turn translated into local Quecbua, a task that was accomplished in three stages by two Vicosinos and three mestizos, one of whom was the anthropologist of the Cornell Peru Project stationed in Vicos. The items were therefore classified according to whether they were asked in the early or in the late stage of the interview, with the breaking point occurring about half-way through the interview in terms of the number of questions completed and in terms of elapsed interview time.

It is a commonplace belief in the U.S. that the export of the free enterprise ideology should be made an integral part of United States foreign policy. This is in line with the American commitment to spread this mode of economic organization in the world. Thus, it is often proposed that foreign aid to less developed countries should be made conditional upon their acceptance of the free enterprise system for their national economic organization. The assumption is made that it is the best ideology for them to adopt, because it will achieve for them the economic affluence it has produced for the U.S. The adoption of the system of free enterprise by the less-developed countries is contingent, primarily, on two considerations. First, it must be more effective than a centrally controlled system of economic organization to achieve a speedy initiation and acceleration of the growth process. Throughout the world countries have adopted various systems of economic organization to promote their economic well-being. Growth patterns in these countries have been varied.

The article reviews the basis for the struggle between foreign investors in raw materials and host governments in less developed countries and consider what its next phase is likely to be. In these countries, most foreign investment is to be found in a relatively small number of materials such as petroleum, copper, iron ore and bauxite, among minerals, rubber, bananas, tea and timber, in the field of agriculture. Though the analysis is general in application, concentrates on cases of oil, copper and bauxite. The author states that in the international oil industry, as in so many other industries in which multinational enterprise dominates, the story begins with the U.S. domestic market. By 1860, within a decade of the industry's creation, leaders in the industry had extended their business from the U.S. domestic market to the export trade. By 1870, two-thirds of the U.S. production was being exported. For years afterwards, the international oil trade was dominated by exports of firms of the U.S., challenged only by Russians and the Dutch. The interest of the U.S. oil companies in foreign markets was followed eventually by a strong interest in foreign sources of oil as well. That interest arose in part from the characteristic oligopoly structure of the industry, generating a typical sequence of "imperfect" competitive responses.

This article seeks to examine the political behavior of African American community. It is well-known that African American communities in American cities generally lack significant social, economic, and political power relative to larger white communities. Midwestville is a diversified industrial city with a population in the range of 100,000 to 250,000 and is located in the general vicinity of a large metropolitan center. African Americans comprise about 10% of the population. With a perfunctory glance it may appear that representatives of this community, formal and informal, foster effective communications links to powerful external elements. On examination, however, it appears that this representation is ineffective, particularly in facilitating adequate communications links between the African American community and the power structure. But this community's representation is discordant, unstable, and unreliable and is divided among factions, each with its own ideas and approaches for the resolution of community problems.

The article highlights that people all the world over, regardless of political ideology, agree that the U.S. is the prototype modern society with the highest standard of living ever known. The mere mention of the U.S. conjures up images of massive urban-industrial complexes interconnected by elaborate transportation and communications systems and populated by a citizenry sufficiently affluent to boast not only a chicken in every pot, but also a car in every garage and a color TV in every living room. While the streets are not yet paved with gold, there is, of course, a significant degree of accuracy in these images of affluence. And the real problems and poverty have traditionally been considered deviations from the ideal, for, in the U.S., progress brought about by technological development has become the dominant theology. A higher standard of living is what the average citizen has always meant by progress, and one of the nation's largest corporations speaks for a great many when advertising that progress is the most important product.

The article explores the need to stop the unparalleled growth of population, and stresses the problems that may occur when the unparalleled growth continues. The author said that the U.S. and other developed countries must take the leadership in setting up world-wide institutions in which maternal and child health care is intimately coupled with family planning and population control advice. He suggested that the 2% unparalleled rate of population must be reversed to prevent insurmountable problems. He also recommended leadership-related ways that would help and prevent nations from having an overpopulation.

The article discusses on the technological advancement of the United States. In time of peace, technology provides the tools and proposes the methods by which life is maintained and improved. Improved methods of agriculture and of medical diagnosis and treatment make possible the lives of most men. In the highly specialized civilization which science and technology have sired, the very life of the community depends on transportation and communication as well. National and group leadership rests in large part on the facility for the development of science and technology. Technical and scientific progress rests in large part on an additive process of successive invention. This process is usually continuous although it may be speeded up by quantitative action or may be slowed by lack of men, materials, or facilities for work. It appears unavoidable that, sooner or later, all industrial countries will produce atomic bombs, especially if the technological resources of Germany should be exploited by those who are deficient in modern technology.

The article informs that when the first World War came to a close, the victorious Allies soon discovered that they were in no way prepared for the peace. In both Great Britain and the United States, to look no farther a field, there appeared grave problems that have not yet been resolved in either country. These affected the condition of labor everywhere. The internal trade, the foreign commerce, and the finance have not yet recovered from the impact of converting peacetime industrial functions to those of warlike preparations and the production of munitions. In this process the dislocation of labor was to be reckoned as an imponderable which would sorely trouble the minds of legislators and labor leaders. One remarkable feature most noticeable to the keen investigator after the last war was a disinclination on the part of great sections of labor which had been drafted into the munitions factories to return to work of any kind. The complicated the matter of reconversion and the starting of new industries. In this country war-weariness was most noticeable in many branches of industry long before the war came to an end. The government had to threaten and, in some cases, take over plants where strikes were imminent and the output of necessary munitions might be gravely affected. People had been working at the top of their bent and, when the strain began to tell upon them, they naturally desired a rest.