Document RjxvNkYBw7Np8XRJV3OBrrqYz

GDCI GDCI Founder s Day Luncheon Message Omaha (Nebraskal Hilton, FOUNDER'S DAY October 2, 1925 GDCI Recognizes Leaders at Founders Day Ceremonies' A highlight of GDCI s 197S Semi Annual Meeting In Omaha was the Oc toiler 2 SPIRIT Of St, founder* Day ltn*cbei>n The program. Co /hainyl ly GDCI Past Presidents C t. Kallcm and G fl Reed. |r.. was dedicated to the SPIRIT OF S6 which witnessed the founding id Gypsum Drywatl Contractors Inter national and to the recognition of those industry leaders In whom this spirit evoiced tie wisdom and ftuppoft whkh nuiimui the organ* Italicm and growth id Gypsum DryWall Contractors International Keynote speaker at the luncheon was A,ndrcw | Watt, whose timely remarks arc published cm this page following Watt* address. GDCI Chairman cd tin* Hoard HnU-.t $ Rrlsenfelrf and Presidi-t T | Voglr presenlc-d plaques to those* founder* and industry learleis wIk,*c names, hy Resolution. were InscnU-dlnlheCUCI ll.ill of f ame Concluding the program was a round table discussion during which live founders and leaders present were invited to share their Ideas altoul (Ik* SPIRIT Of '5fe and Its continuing vital role in the growth and progress r,l (AX~t and lire Drywall Industry Andrew J. Watt Andrew | Walt, fxcculive Vice President id United States Gypsum Company joined U S G as a sales manager in 19Jft During World War II he served in the U S Air Force until T945 when he returned to US G as a paint salesman in tire Pntslrurgh district After per forming in a numlicr nt sales and marketing positions, he served as Vice President ol Merchandising, Vii e President cd Advertising and Promotion. Vice President id Mar ki-lmg arrd as Senior Vue Piesi dent In I'M,? he was els*cled In lire nnanl of Directors and in I'M,9 he was designated an Tuecntrve Vice President Wait is a director of A P Green Refractories Company, Mourn, Missouri, and Kinkead Industries. Inc , Chicago. Illinois, both U $ G subsidiaries He is past presirlent of tire American Hardlmaul Asso ciation and the Gypsum Assorla tion I have Irccn tcqnesicd tr keep the* timing ol llus talk on tire short side id 20 minutes, and the direc tion of it (minted to the "Spirit of 5f> " ft is not possdde to accept this invitation or to ntr-ct this request without some reservations Tor some id us looking backward to 19`rb could Im* nostalgic, and with nostalgia as a l->t the whole thing could turn Into a sermon fn that runner (ion | am re minded of a rather aged lady who had ht*c-n a long lime memlx-r ol her community and her church Alter the service one Sunday morn ing she shook hands with the min ister and ronmienled, "that was a wonderful sermon- fust wonder lul (verything you Said applies to sonteone I know " My fondest ht^re would be that ear h ol you would take what t am going lo say mirre personally than the aged lady, but even il I lead you to think it is good f<* others I will have fulhlh-d part of my pur- To jet the stage I intend to quote in pait bom a speech I was privi leged to read sorne time ago I rln not want to lx* a< r used of plaglat ism so I will tell you that the S|ieech was made by Walti*r H Wdslon. ( h.mman til the first National City < ocfKrcatiort. in fefrroary of 19/4 ' Anyone In our *or iety whose eyesight arnl hearing are not In tally impaired is likely lo fxdieve that we Jie on a collision course with Doomsday Cr-rtainly lt,e energyshortage lias prodoc ed no sc arcity in the dielofir id crisis Ctmsideiing the amiMinl of time and space devoted lo piedit lions of impending disaster, it would l lI i 22 appear that the media have sought to validate a variation of Greshams law Rad new* doves (Hit good "The compulsion to turn every scrap of hail news into a full blown crisis distorts oor per spective It ocrIic ts lo n-miml us that troubles may lx* news, but they are hy no means new This negative emphasis ignores the decisive role of human in genuity in a free society ' Prophetsul doom have a sr-c ond weakness Tliey fail to ap plet tale man's inherent ability to ad|ml and iiiimv.ilc The- lint i\h economist Thiwnas MatjhuS predu lerl in 1290 that the im balance between population growth anil fond production would cause the world to starve to death llu- dexsnssayers called it Malthus' iron law As lime has proved, it was neither time nor law like many ol our current crop of transient pqierts. Mai thus fell into IIk* oldest trap of all in the pcognosiicaliongamc He unrlereslimated everyone's intelligence but his own. he was incapable of imagining that exit of the Industrial Revolution would come reapers, threshers, combines and tractors He did not foresee tire era of cheap en ergy Nor did he envision chemi cals and Icrtiluers creating Stic h alxindanre that foolish govertv ments wiHild pay farmers not to cultivate the soil A third fault ar<'Hints f<x die inability of the doomsayrus cVfc iirately to predict what will hap|H.*n. Iliey cling lo the belief that there are accepted alisoItileS in a world of rapidly thang ing valor* systems As the f m ih h [xirt Paul Valery, put it. we often tend to lx^ marching bur kward into the future f tamph-s .iImhicm! A f'residt n lial commission apixxriied hy Herfierl Ihxivef in 1929 later re ported to franklin 0 Roosevelt on how to plot our course through 19S? Fhe report was in 11 volumes prepaied hy S00 -ie searchers ' I he summary re quired 1.(410 pages Yet there was not a wind alxxit atomic energy, je* propulsion. antibi otics. transistcKS or many oilier significant developments hitWixlds fair of 1919, which was dedicated lo the World of In miMinw. not only laded to sug gest any of these advanc es. hut did not evert entertain the idea ol space travel Herman Kahn's opus on the year 2tMl0 never men tinned {xdlulion, nor was (here any real emphasis on the energy shortage The people who liave come closest to predicting the future are some of the science fiction writers, unencumlioird by rlal>ocute research or pres tigioos committees, but with the (outage lo dream lules Verne s svild imagination proved to lx* more piophelic than the ealeu lations ol Malthus "Our later-day Maldmsians. whose fexecasts are often dignilied with computer punt outs, which substitute for on enoads in modern dav oceult piediction. appear oblivious to the lact that man, given the proper in cenlive and Iteedom to act. has repeatedly found substitute* for dwindling materials The United Slates was denied 90 per cent of its source* of natural luhlx-i during Wndd Wt It. tml technological ingenuity c reap'd svntfK-tc whiter whirls is now nsore widely and (U**ibly us**d than the natural product One of the most common sulntant es in tin* world is haxoite but it was not regarded as much of an asset until the wav t<> make aluminum was pr-rfes tc*d Coal was rxU I'vcfi toosislered a re senior Isefixe the Steam Age. nor was uranium highly valued lx-lixr-the Atomic Age Since the Indsistiral Revohition. fesounei have grirwn e*|xxH-ntially, step by step, with mans alxlily to apply fresh technology lo his need* These eqtenence* of yes terday a>r relevant tcxTay I do not assert that history repeats itself, but offer a reminder that the human strxy diet not lirgm with today's r risis 'Iru-rgy rs no exception lew Ament ans r*vc-r ri-rm'mlxv that from tin- tune ol the American Kevnhilion sinol the ( ivil War. ,iiii.i|ur sixm i- ol art do ial light mg was th* whale od tamp No one should have nredr-d a ( rxigressrooal commission In jxe diet that the supply ol wh.de oil could not forever keep pate svtth the demand of a grsxvtrtg nation "The tragedy of nor Civil War disrupted whah* oil production and its |inre shot up to 12 5S a gallon, .dmost dotibfe what it had Ix-c-n in IrtV) Naturally llte'e were < tit s of profiteering and demands fen Congress lo do some thing atmot it ' lire gov eminent, however, made no move to ration whale cxI o lo Itee/e Ms (xtcc. or to pot a new taxon Ph* excess prolils'ol the whalers who were benefiting (com the increase in price* In stead. pm <*s were permuted to rise lire result, tlx-n as rvxv, was predictable Consumers Ire g.m to me less whale od and the whalers invested more money m tx-w ways to increase their productivity Meanwhile men with vision and capnal lx*gan to ilevt-fnp kerosene and cither (xtrolcun, jxcMhrcts The fust practuaf generator fix exit dixx electric lights was Innlt in 1M7S My 1M'M> the puce ol whale oil had (hopped to 4<l cents a gallon Wliale txl lam|>s were no longer in vogue, llvey *il rvrw m museums to remind 25