THE INDUSTRIAL CITY

[Music] the Detroit industrial community like more major industrial communities makes many products iron and steel industrial chemicals computers business machines and pharmaceuticals [Music] although its factories produce a diversity of goods one product dominates [Music] this city produces more automobiles than any other city on earth it is the world center for the manufacture of cars and trucks [Music] automobiles produced at a rate of over 10,000 a day at peak capacity automobiles the most popular product of American industry and one of the most complicated each car is made of over 15,000 individual components each one of these components is either manufactured in the Detroit area or is readily available from outside suppliers [Applause] [Music] a modern complex of transportation systems by rail by air on waterways and on highways gives ready access to supply sources and to markets throughout our affluent nation perhaps the greatest market for industrial products is close at hand the Mid America region is heavily populated prosperous and wealthy enough to buy its products in this region major industries are clustered in cities like Milwaukee Wisconsin Chicago Illinois Gary Indiana Toledo and Cleveland Ohio Pittsburgh Pennsylvania and in Canada Toronto and Windsor Ontario in their power and in their production potential these cities have an advantage equal to that of Detroit located in the heartland of a rich continent they lie close to populous markets have ready access to sources of supply and lie along major arteries of transportation the welfare and well-being of each of these areas depend on its manufacturing muscle on the health of its major industries any one of these cities might have become the motor city of the nation why Detroit in the early 1900's Detroit was the home of a handful of perceptive merchants and inventive craftsmen among them Elie olds Walter P Chrysler and Henry Ford these men pioneered the building of the automobile industry with Ford in the forefront they created systems of high volume production in Detroit the idea of mass production was perfected it was a system of continuous movement of bringing individual parts to individual workers armed with machine tools and stationed at single posts the moving assembly line made production faster and less expensive the growing wealth of America in the first decades of the 20th century created an increasing market for reasonably priced automobiles and brought them within the financial reach of large masses of people with Ford's model-t the automobile was no longer a rich man's toy as the demand for industrial labor grew so did the emigration from Europe attracted by tempting employment policies Henry Ford's $5 a day wage had great appeal to a struggling Irish farmer a Polish peasant or a German laborer the cultures imported by these European workers are still evident today the present industrial labor force numbers well over half a million they are the descendants of European immigrants and workers from the rural South an army of individual workers workers supplying manpower for a diversity of jobs workers under constant pressure to keep up with this high degree of mechanization people our industry and industry rides on wheels wheels for production wheels for transportation and we nose for communication for special orders and inventories who's got it where is it what's its status right now computers and assembly lines dictate the pace for the population of an entire Factory thousands of workers perform thousands of different jobs with so many people working together under these rigid pressures conflicts can arise most problems are easily settled on the spot but for those that aren't the worker has the protection of his Union unions have become powerful voices in the industrial community voices that not only settle grievances for the individual worker but negotiate for fair wages and reasonable working conditions generally this makes for good labor-management relations but when negotiation fails in the 1930s and 40s working conditions and factories cause dissatisfaction among many workers this dissatisfaction prompted the rapid growth and recognition of labor unions today unions have gained a firm place in industry labor unions are a voice a bargaining agent a source of protection they speak to the companies for the workers unions play an important role in the total welfare of the industrial community with prosperity in industry the industrial city pays off in profits in wages and in consumer goods the industrial city becomes a city of spenders retail sales exceed billions of dollars a year [Music] the well-being of the merchants who supply the goods and services is directly dependent on the well-being of Industry and here unlike other kinds of cities the factory worker is the main support of the economy there is money to spend and money to save the industrial city stands far above the average in bank deposits and savings accounts the prosperity of the city is reflected in home ownership and in home improvements largely in one and two family houses that make up the greatest part of residential neighborhoods the affluence of the industrial city is reflected in the luxurious residences of professional people and leaders of industry the automobile plays a unique role in the growth of the city today as the city prospers it expands where once it had population centers it now has population rings spreading farther and farther from the city into the concentric circles of booming suburbs in their need for space new homes and new factories also push outward and create an increasing need for transportation from the central city mass transit cannot serve the far-flung factories as efficiently as the car thousands of workers drive their own cars to and from the job in different parts of town congestion is a major challenge to the central city to accommodate the mounting traffic problems and the growing number of vehicles the city must constantly construct more and better arterioles as congestion groves [Applause] [Music] more serious than congestion is pollution [Music] not only pollution of air but also pollution of water more crucial yet his poverty which undermines the morale of the city a poverty caused by neglect bigotry and by decay crime haunts the streets of the industrial city crime caused by deprivation discrimination and a sense of futility the city in struggling against urban problems relies heavily on resources and the planning of its leaders government and business management and labor the clergy and the professions seeks solutions together the city needs enormous help in its public services perhaps what the city needs most is a heightened sensitivity and concern for those who are helpless and ignored unemployment among the unskilled which in the past has been a threat to the welfare of the city today can be eased by industry which has the responsibility to find jobs for the jobless to train to teach and to guide the unskilled ultimately beyond all other efforts it is what the industrial city produces that counts good salaries lifts the standard of living high industrial production creates the nation's wealth [Music] the future of the industrial city depends on its people on its future generations it is their education and their training their ability and their imagination which must finally set the pace for even more and better goods greater quantity higher quality produced more efficiently than anywhere else in the world is the heritage the constant quest the most vital battle of the industrial city [Music] [Applause] [Music]