United labor bulletin., 1915-01-02
ASK PANACEAF FOR
JOBLESS WORKERS
Responsibility for Unemploy-
ment Is Being Sought
Conference Held in Philadelphia This
Week to Discuss Vital Problem: Find
means to Prevent Social Waste

The second national conference of the
American Association on Unemployment
opened Monday evening of this week at
the Hotel Walton in Philadelphia with
Henry Bruere, city chamberlain of New
York, in the chair. Mayor Blenkenburg
OF Philadelphia welcomed the delegates.
who came from all parts of the United
States. The conference proceeded imme-
diately to the discussion of RESPONSE
bilities and opportunities for the pre-
vention of unemployment.
~What Awakened Employers Are
Thinking About" was the theme of Rob
ert G. Valentine, industrial counselor OF
Boston That we have SO long accept
ed the present chaotic conditions of in
dustry as inevitable instead of intoler-
have considered them a problem of the
individual plant only, and not as part
of . worldwide continuing situation"
declared Mr.. Valentine.
We have mastered the art of regu-
lar production where we can get regu-
larity of orders, but we have only
peeked into the problems of selling
through which we come in contact with
all the great irregular forces such as
styles and seasons A few progressive
employers are alive to this problem and
have even discovered great economies in
reEularized production and sales; but
most employers are still Indifferent
Workers Bear the Burden
"The Massachusetts, bureau of statis-
tics reported at the close of September
| that over 500 members of trade unions
were idle. This was IL per cent of all the
members reported. This takes no ac-
count Of the unorganized. unskilled
worimen- In each particular factory
the men who were laid off ceased to
become a direct charge upon the en-
plOyer. but clearly these thousands OF
men and their wives and children must
still he somehow fed and clothed and
honsed by working population reduced
in numbers.
To overcome the social wastes result
ing from this chaotic condition" the
speaier continued. ~involves a choice
between two lines of action: Society
must either advance rapidly toward a
socialistic control of industry OF limit
| the injurious consequences of unre-
strained individual action by thorough
| going organization of social insurance.
"Society at large must see to it that
| flexihility in industry and the freedom
| of The individual which society desires
to continue shall be paid for by all the
benefieiaries and not by the individual
| person or the individual group, whether
Of Workers. or employers, or consumers
II means the separation of the unem-
| ployable from the UNEMPLOYED. II
means organization of public labor cx-
changes. REPATRIATION of production.
cooperation between industries where
the ebb and flow come at different
times, as well as between private activ-
ities and properly timed public works
II means the provision OF unemployment
insurance contributed to by the state,
the employer and the worker.
A Tough Problem to Solve.
This means organization. A tough
problem of administration is presented
II is intricate and vast But once
touched by its challenge the imagina-
| tions of our people will ride over these
obstacles. for under no circumstance
should the worker be obliged to sub
siiizc the employer, the consumer OF
the state out of his own body and soul
| "Macgregor. in his Evolution of In.
| dustdy.' points out that our standards
of industry are medieval as compared
with our standards of law and our
standards of civics. He tells how. in
the middle of the eighteenth century. a
-no-sccount. Englshman got lost In the
streets of Constantinople and Lord
| Palrncrton threatened to send the whole
English fleet to dig him up. However
useless the man himself was as citi-
zen he. nevertheless, stood for the sacred
right of an English subject to be safe
| anywhere in the world. And out of the
punch of this incident. as showing the
| rights that the individual would really
have in a properly socialized society.
Macgregor draws the wonderful state
mont: Not till the case of John Brown
unemployed. arouses the same social
anger as does the case of this no.
account Fnglishman lost in the dives of
Constantinorle. or the case of Captain
| Dreyfus wrongly condemned. not till
then will the standards of industry be
on level with the standards of civics
and of law"
Urge Public Employment
Morris L. Cooke. Philadelphia director
| of public works. declared that the city
should increase the amount of public
| employment during times of industrial
| depression. Mr. Cooke added that il
the damage done to city through un-
employment could be accurately as
scssed the total would be so startling
that red tape. politics and inertia would
be broken through in the effort to con-
quer involuntary idleness-
| Among the other speakers were: For
the workers. John +. Tohin. president of
| the international Shoe Workers Union
| for the states. John Price jackson,
PENNSYLVANIA commissioner of labor and
industries. and for the discussion of ma
tioud responsibility. Meyer London
eongressman-e from New York.