If you want a striking illustration of the challenges confronting the United States economy, visit the Baltimore Museum of Industry.
On a recent tour, I found myself standing spellbound before a glass case containing 1950s car radios. Regardless of whether they carried the logos of General Motors, Ford or Chrysler — or Germany’s Volkswagen, Sweden’s Volvo and Saab, and Britain’s Sunbeam and Triumph — all had been manufactured by Bendix in Baltimore.
Bendix, later split up and acquired by major defense contractors, including Raytheon, is pretty much forgotten these days. At its peak, however, it was an incredible electronics powerhouse, organized in 14 divisions with 24 plants. Much of the output went to the military, but after World War II Bendix also produced a variety of home electronics. For a big company, it was nimble, quick to spot new opportunities and discard old production lines.
In 1948, for example, Bendix gave up its production of home radios. Instead, it became a dominant manufacturer of car radios. It sold products directly to Ford and other automakers. In a world very different from today, Bendix was not only the Japan and China of its time, but for several years the sole source of car radios featuring a crucial invention: printed circuit boards.
So what happened? After a decade of buying Bendix products, Ford, General Motors and Chrysler started to produce their own radios. Eventually they outsourced production to other countries.
Bendix was not a local business, but plenty of homegrown Baltimore companies developed similar niches, because of their unique know-how and production methods. Among those still remaining is Ellicott Dredging, which has been around since 1885. Its excavators and dredges carved Panama Canal out of Central American jungle; today they are in use throughout the world.
President Barack Obama has singled out alternative energy as an area where he wants America to shine. He should indeed resist tremendous political pressure to prop up outdated technologies and industries, because such quick fixes would be costly and temporary. Instead, the government should insist on new solutions.
Obama is in for a battle royal. Many politically powerful industries will fight to maintain the status quo. The coal industry, a major force in Illinois and in many other states, is one example. Despite all the talk about “clean coal,” it is an industry employing outdated technologies and wrought with environmental problems.
Coal does offer many promises, but none is cheap. Having lived in South Africa and driven cars that burned synthetic oil literally squeezed out of coal, I used to think that that technology, pioneered by Nazi scientists, held promise. Maybe it still does. But the conversion process is quirky and very expensive, requiring huge amounts of water in a world that is running out of water.
Breakthroughs are possible, though. Just witness all the innovations now being tried in electric cars because several major manufacturers believe such vehicles are the wave of the future. Other alternative energy sources also are being tested, suggesting that the internal combustion engine may be reaching the end of its historic run.
If an energy revolution comes, it will not come quickly. Complacency is seductive, particularly at the time of a temporary drop in oil prices. But once the current worldwide depression ends, China, India and Brazil will resume their scramble toward industrialization, driving oil and commodity prices up again. So this is an ideal time for retooling and finding alternatives for gas-guzzlers.
This is also the time to reinvent buildings. Geothermal power, available everywhere, is a potent alternative in heating and cooling, along with solar power and wave energy. Obama should keep his promise and concentrate on those areas to regain America’s leadership in technology. The new millennium requires dreamers with bold solutions.
Antero Pietila is writing a book about how bigotry shaped Baltimore between 1910 and 1975. His e-mail address is [email protected].
