The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1911-11-28

able and efficient organization Of So
ciety there could be no unemployment.
in the sense of capable wage-workers
wanting work and being unable to
find it. and then look at the amoun
of unemployment today in this coun-
try, we see injustice, inefficiency, and
neglect of our working people in the
economic plan and makeup of our
present society.
The United States is the only great
industrial country that has not taken
up the problem Of unemployment and
endeayOred to mitigate it's deplorable
effects. Neither the national govern
Inent nor that Of any State has any
adequate or systematic means Of as
certaining the numbe of unemployed
at any given time in any community
With us in America the problem is ex-
~ceptionally complicated, through the
factor Of an immigration kno to
all other countries. Were we to adopt
for the relief of the unem-
pIOyed similar to those in practice
either in Germany or Great Britain.
and make no provision for excluding
immigrants from their operation, the
risk would be encountered Of simply
providing better means than at -~es-
ent exist for distributing newly landed
Immigrants throughout our country,
50 get work which might be done by
labor already here.
For q century this government DOS
sessed, in it's unappropriated natural
an ever-reIiable absorber Of
labor seeking employment. Those re-
sources no longer perform that func-
ton directly, except in a limited de-
gree. We have arrived at the state
at which social action. in some form,
must to an extent take the place of
the individual effort which in the past
could be depended upon in a land of
opportunities, the principal of which,
the Tree West, was continuously open.
A Fedora commission has reported
that our labor market is overstocked,
especially in unskilled occupations.
Such is our national situation with
respect to employment, and its re-
verse. unemployment, viewed in it's
broadest scope and features. It is by
this view that judgment on the ques-
ton must be reached. If we permit
oureslevs to approach the subject
merely as guided by personal expert
ence, Or the interests of one element
or another in the community, or the
observations Of investigators VINO for
any reason do not go on to the end Of
their work, we may arrive at inaper-
fect conclusions Some wOrkinSmen
are rarely out Of employment; they
are the strong, the capable, the ener-
getic- If they look no further than
their own experience, there is no such
thing as unemployment Unfortun-
ately for the cause Of truth, the fact
kS lAAI A1kAAA3 LAACAs III IL O0A VI AAC
w~age-earning class. solve every social
problem-to their own satisfaction
merely in the light of what they them
selves have seen or gone through.
Many employers cannot find workers
when they want them: they conse-
Guently become irritated when told
that much labor is idle and say hat
the reason for It Is to be found in
Sloth. Employers whose work fluc-
tuates by seasons make widely known
at the beginning OF their live season
their plant Of inability to find their
complement OF workers at short no
tice; they send out no signals of dis
tress. however, at the beginning OF
their dead season, when they dismiss
all blu a skeleton Of their force. So
cial investigators may record such
facts as that snow-shovelers In mid
unemployment: they perhaps may not
give due weight to the explanation
that city out-of-Works are indoor
r. nnaccustomed to heavy U
culaI effort and u~nprovided with the
personal outfit necessary for outdoor
labor in eVere weather.
No; such narrow views are not SUI
fcient. The subject can only be
grasped nationally. or by large areas
Of the ountry and by taking into
consideration besides the category OF
wage laborers all sorts and conditions
of men and women who offer their
labor manual OF mental. for compen-
sation. IT we SO proceeded we snail
find in America a state OF economic
affairs relative to employment unlike
that existing in any h country. 1t
may be taken for granted that in no
European country is there such q pro-
portion as in the United States Of fair
iy successful grandfathers and faith
ers who, to their disappointment, can
not find situations for their boys Of
the present generation, with prospects
such as the elders enjoyed. The re-
organization OF industry and com
merce Of the last few decades has not
left 1t SO easy to mount the ladder
Of success from the lowest rung. Gen
orally, the ladder for small en-
terprises is no longer there. What
to do with their sons waiting