Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1915-01-22
LABOR

T,IVBN the bread line is being standardized.
II Out of 10 articles on labor questions in
the current magazines eight touch upon the
problem Of unemployment They reflect two
methods of meeting this question, one cura-
tive and the other preventive. The tone of
these articles is significant of the general
change in our attitude toward social prob
lens. There is no attempt TO patronize any
one for being out of a job Rather. the re-
sponslbillty for the thousands who really
want work and cannot get II is laid at the
door Of the employer and of society; on
the employer for not regulating his business
so as to equalize the amount of work be-
tween the busy and the slack season and
organizing and operating his plant more in
tegently; and on society for not providing
vocational education, public employment ex-
changes, etc. Briefly these articles empha-
size the workingman's right to work.
Perhaps a quotation from speech by Rob-
ert G.. Valentine Industrial Counselor Of
Boston best epitomizes this new construc-
tive attitude toward unemployment. MIR.
Valentine said ~:
Macgregor, in his Evolution of Industry"
points out that our standards of industry
medieval as compared with our standards of
law and of civics. He tells how, in the mid
die OF the 18th century n no-account Eng
lishman got lost in the streets of CONSTANT
nople, and Lord Pamerston threatened to
send the wnOle BnSlSh Heet TO dlg MIN up
However useless the man himself was as
citizen, he nevertheless stood for the sacred
right of an English subject to be safe any
where In the world. And out of the punch
of this incident showing the rights that
the individual would have in properly so
cialized society Macgregor draws this Won
derful statement:
mot till the case of John Brown, unem-
ployed arouses the same social anger as does
the case Of this no-account Englishman lost
! In the dives of Constantlnople or the case Of
rnnnnmDp1s
| till then will the standards of industry be on
| a level with the standards of civics and law"
The most comprehensive report on the sub
| ject is by John B, Andrews, secretary of the
| America Association for Labor Legislation,
published as a special supplement to the New
Republic (2). 1t advocates "a bill looking to
the establishment of national system of
unemployment exchanges, introduced in Con-
gress last April by Representative Murdock,
of Kansas" Action on this bill has been
| deferred pending report on the subject by
| the United States Commission on Industrial
| Relations. Mr.. Andrews writes:
| The main opposition has come from the
| side of organized labor which has apparently
feared control Of the system by the employ
| come bringing gifts" warned President j. II.
| Walker, of the Illinois State Federation of
| Labor, at the New York conference un-
| employment And he continued, "You know
we have been double crossed and deluded so
| often that when anything Is held out to us
! the first thing we look for is to see where
we are going to get the worst of 1t; and one
| of the first things that came to my mind
| was that It was possible that these we'll
| intentioned people might organize the labor
| exchange bureaus In such way that the
! entire unemployed army would be mobilized,
! and that the employers would have such ac-
| cess to 1t as to be enabled to use 1t at any
| point to break down the things that the or
| ganzed workers of the country have estab-
| lshed by fighting hard and long"
Carnegie on Hard Times
| Without going into causes or remedies Mr..
| Carnegie makes interesting references to the
| prevalence of unemployment, in an inter-
view he gave recently to Mr.. Babson, the
statistician and financial writer (3):
why" Mr.. Carnegie said, 81 cannot re-
member when have been so beset with re-
| quests to help the unemployed. In one mail
| delivery today were DO requests for help. For
| some time now these requests have been
! averaging about hundred day; before the
war the average was not more than 10 or 20
n day." why Mr.. Babson the last man in
| this room before you came was Seth Low,
| endeavoring to raise $500 900 for the unem-
| ployed in the city of New York alone. Think
| what the conditions must be throughout the
| nation ns a whole-and yet the newspapers
| talk about the good times!
| "Mr Babson. l have had long experience
| and have seen much of business When peo-
| pie are decreasing their expenditures and
| the Government is increasing the taxes there
| are no good times in sight There will be
| less money spent in New York this winter
| than at any time since the panicky years of
| 1S93-97."
An article by New York social worker,
William p. Capes, in the December North
American Review 90 raised distinction be-
tween the unemployed and the unemploy-
able which Is fundamental in approaching
the problem:
Within the last 12 months more consdera-
| tlon has been given to the need of men out
| of work by more individuals and organiza-
tions and more has been accomplished than
! In some time. The public is beginning to
appreciate the fallacy of bringing about per-
manent improvement by relying upon pallia-
tive measures, such bread lines soup
Kitchens and other means OF temporarily less
enng distress.
How many of the unemployed are unem-
playable? By segregatlng the unemployabe
| 80 that we can care for them and at the same
time endeavor to rehabilltate them. we should
make easier the task Of finding employment
for and OF keeping employed the capable man
who wants to work. We shall then be able
10 accomplish more through the organiza-
| tion OF the labor market. the establishment OF
labor exchanges and the regularization of
business
An editorial in Golfers is brief and to the
point (b);
Men out of work drift into our big cities
| as casually and normally as water drains
downhill It's the last place they ought tC
| come, but that is what they do. The prob
lem OF unemployment means that men have
| come to look at the work OF a community
| as a matter of making salable goods, rather
| than as a matter Of serving the communtty's
life The way out is to get the men in i'm
mediate economic authority to plan fol
spreading work through the entire year, ant
for distributing slack time instead OF lump
ing It, so that our industries VIII be more
continuous. If this can be done a vast dea
OF unemployment VIII disappear for good
New York city has made a start on TIN
through the appointment OF the Mayor
Gommittee on Employment, headed by tht
chairman OF the United States Steel Cor