The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1919-05-06
ENGLAND PAYS =
MILLION IDLERS
Great Industrial Army OF
Unemployed Depending
Upon Government
MANY REFUSE JOBS
AND CONTINUE IDLE
Scheme Was Started ass Purely an
Emergency Measure When ARMS
tice Was Declared, but Government
Fails to Introduce New Policy.

LONDON, May 6.--Well over one
million people in England are receiving
the government donation unemploy
nient and the number win be increased
by the stoppage of lancaster mills spin
ming American cotton. Over 100000
operatives have thus been added to the
list of unemployed, while figures cover
ing the entire country represent n Sc
rious industrial situation, as bad, or
worse, than the periods of trade depres,
sion before the war.
The statistical returns which have
been published week by week present
| Lancaster and Cheshire as the most Sc
riouslv affected area of the country,
with an unemployment rate of 39s per
10000 of the population, as compared
with a rate of 246 per 10000 for the
country as q whole.
i After five months of peace, industry is
still far from recovering its BALANCE 1t
is still suffering from lack of confidence
and from labor difficulties, for which
the delay in settling the future of trade
J, union restrictions on output is largely
IJdGH tIdiitH gives SpIilp Tftt-
: son for this slow return to full activity
In the cotton trade it is government re
lstrIctien on exports; in textile engin-
eering it is the holding up of pivotal
men in the army; in the building trades
lit is the slowness of local authorities in
pushing on their housing schemes.
But there is also the more human side
), to be reekoned with. The unemploy
= ment donation system, which gives 1
substantial grant for doing nothing, ha.
|, fitted in with the psychological reaction
after the war 1t would be hard to fint
> any industry which has restored It'll
Z standards of production Many en-
plovers argue that there had been NJ
Q realproduction since the armistice. Their
J is a general reaction from the close az
plication of war work. disposition t
take things easily, general unsettle
y ment of mind It has come out mos
4 strongly among the displaced wome
e. munition workers, Among them, ia
q more than among, the men. the eases o
d fenalingefing. of clear imposition, or II
- fusal to take Jobs when offered. oceu
d Stoppage of benefits is the sole detel
d rent. but, for reasons inherent in I'll
e rapidly improviscd system of paymer
10 through the employment exchanges,
pc is cumberson process which leave
e loopholes for the willy
These effects are distinct from Il
as wider questions of social policy il
he volved in such a step as the finanein
G of organized unemployment in the co
I'd ton trade from the state funds. Tt
~ hard to believe that these development
y were contemplated when the unemplo
nd ment donation scheme was introduce
N When put forward on armistice day
ne was made clear in tho official announc
he mcnt and III DIR. Addison 5 statement
en- the government 5 program that it was
Is purely emergency measure. TT
k- proposals" said an official statemeu
nd ARE solely intended to bridge over Il
to inevitable period of dislocation.
lst the meantime the government arc pres
!. ing forward with their scheme for &c
as eral eontributory insurance.
ch Dr. Addison on November II said
m was the government S intcntention
sct introduce such measure Gas early
de possible = This was five months ago
Ell a month before the general electid
TN Nothing apparently has since be
Wy heard of this general scheme. The go
ay crnment has extended the period ov
oss which donations can be paid, but the
~ has been nothing in official speeches
re- give hope of an early. change in polio
hd In its beginning he donation schel
a., was obviously expected TO be in effe
'ih of limited application. mainly apply
~ TO returned soldiers and civil "
~ workers displaced on the cessation
war contracts. 1t has in practice gror
ION to apply to every person unemploy