THE TVA 1s A bureaucracy. The common supposition is that bureaucracies are slow to move, awkward in action, uninspired by inventiveness. The construction of the Norris and Joe Wheeler dams of the TVA are well ahead of schedule, and will be finished in 1936. They are already one-third completed, a little over a year after the creation of the Authority. Thebusinesscurrent model town of Norris, near the Norris Dam, is more than these-fourths built, after careful attention to architecture, town planning, and other requirements of permanence. Cheap electricity is already being sold in the Tennessee Valley; what is more, a subsidi¬ary of the TVA has induced manufacturers of electric appliances to make simple, cheap, standardized models for use in the district, so that these cost less to the consumer, yet greatly increase the volume of sales. A useful electric refrigerator, shorn of some of its gadgets, is to be bought for $79. It can be bought an the installment plan, financed by this subsidiary at just over 5 per cent interest. The subsidiary is the EHFA (Electric Home and Farm Authority), and it is making business for private electrical manufacturers. At the same time cheap rates make it possible in Tupelo to operate an electric refrigerator, electric range, and electric hot-water heater an about $7 a month for current.industrycurrent
The bureaucracy known as the TVA is manned by a staff with a spirit not to be found in any private enterprise 1 ever heard of.
businesscurrent Relations between em¬ployer and employee produce a team spirit which would be the envy of any corporation. More than that, employment includes the opportunity for education and training, so that men now working, for instance, an the Norris Dam are being fitted for permanent usefulness and economic value when the dam is finished.
Those who visit Tennessee and those who visit the great construction Centers in Russia remark the same thing-the astonishing enthusiasm of the people an the job. What creates this enthusiasm in both communities is the same. It is the sense of doing something constructive and creative, for the common good.
industry current This is not the profit motive, supposed to be the only one which can keep the world going. It is the Service motive, and in the Tennessee Valley it is already producing results better in every way than those to be had from the profit motive.
