South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1915-03-16
RABBI CRONBACH AND THE
PROBLEM OF UNEMPLOYED.

the age has been produced locally, at
least, than would be possible through
the reduction of Rabbi Abraham Cron-
bach's Sunday sermon 10 booklet
form. for general distribution. The
problem OF unemployment has come
10 be recognized as something more
than PARTISAN political. IL is quite as
truly an economic problem, as is that
Of money. or that of credits IL may
have 10 be handled partisan political
IS. for the simple reason that employ
ers OF labor have not as yet evolved
into that UtOpian sphere where they
regard their businesses as clearing
houses for the elimination Of public
idieness. but fundamentally il is still
an economic question. Anyone who
has ever witnessed the fight that cap
ital always makes against any move
ment for shorter hours will find it
easy enough to realize that the estab-
lishment of any system of distribution
OF labor, that Will furnish employment
for all, IS going TO meet with .occa-
siOnai stubborn resistance.
The entire movement toward short
er hours Of labor, inaugurated by or
ganized labor, has been primarily
with the end in view OF furnishing
work for more men. 1t would require
1850 men employed eight hours day
To do the work of 1000 men at ten
hours per day, but. OF course, organ
lied labor has never been willing to
concede that the 1850 men should re-
oeive only the 1000 mems pay. Less
hours at the same wage. if not pos
sibly an increase of wages, has been
the union motto; naturally, an atti-
tdde that has been something of a
breeder of trouble. The difficulty at
both horns Of the dilemma has been
the there has been too much selfish
ness and too little thought of the real
economic service aimed at
Government employment bureaus,
Out-of-wOrk insurance, more system
attic buying. better-arranged vacation
seasons. shorter hours, and more di-
versiied manufacturing, are all means
10 the end of a more even distribution
of work. such as is referred to by the
nigh call for mathematical nicely and
human reforms very seldom work out
that way. 1t has been economically
proclaimed for a century that with a
proper distribution of work, no one
would need labor more than four
hours a day, and we could all live bet
ter than we do now, but somehow the
program has never been established.
We have been getting along on as
much OF the old catch s-catch- can"
basis as it has been possible TO con-
serve, capital and labor alike regard
ing the natural law Of self-preserva-
ton as a sufficient excuse for leaving
the less fortunate in such regard. to
float along as if SO much drift-wood.
our unemployed problem today is
merely a consequence If it serves to
wake us up TO the need of a solution,
well and good. but in the present at
mosphere OF reaction we are not overs'
burdened with hope.
You are hearing il now. and you
viii here il still more during the next
twenty months. that the one great So
luton is the tarin. and il will take an
awful noise 10 bear down on the public
ear more loudly. Exactly what differ
ence a tariff would make at the pres
ent time when imports are at a lower
ebb than they have been in a century.
Ne puzzle 10 know. but YOU may rest
quite assured that before long, men
accepted as possessing the brightest
minds in the land VIII be telling us
all about it and millions will believe
them.
The trouble is that from the aver
age American down. men do not think
far below the surface. while those
above the average, sometimes think
too much and too selHShly They get
excited once in four years over the
election OF a president and then they
md fault and cuss for the next four
years because things are not turning
out exactly as the speu-binders pro-
phesied Rabbi Cronbach did South
Bend "a distinct service through his
Sunday sermon lie pointed out
real way. but the trouble is that de-
spite the press giving il wide publicity.
in addition 20 his voice. only few viii
take the trouble 90 read il or give it
serious thought. and yet these few viii
say that the newspapers deal only in
sensationalisms and AFFORD their read
ers none of the opportunities current
for the absorption of advanced ideas.
We would like 10 see one of these ser
mons in the hand of each non-em-
ployed man in the city-and every
employer OF labor should have one in
each hand