New-York tribune., 1919-05-29
More Jobs Than
Workers
To the Editor of The Tribune

Sir: Your article in to-dav,s rx,
regarding the unemployment scare !, ma
cuharly gratifying. 1t at last dome.
strates to the public what we VIII.
have been in close touch with this ,,,4..u
ever since pre-war days have known ~.
there are now, and have been since 1917
more jobs than workers in all lines.
"Choosey" Job-Hunters
You state that some part. at leas, :.
due to the fact that men rctnr,;ro
civil life are "choosey' In this Won
right. l have had to send away from o,~
employment bureau where all service :,
helping the man or woman to tba :.
is absolutely free-literally hundrods ~
young men, and few young women who.a
ideas of their worth. of their ab;,;4,.
at once grasp technical problems and \.
come efficient, were not packed up hv srs
ticient self-reliance to take Jobs that ub,s
mastered, would pay from $40 10 S55
week, on lower wage as learners sss
to S2S a week
Ny files to-day show calls for skii,oA
and unskilled labor among printers sr
gravers, photographers, bookbinders al
vertising agents, paper jobbers. ink man
facturers, etc, for which l get No O.,
plicants
Salary as. Ability
Many registrants for work show
preference for salary and lack of com.
mensurate ability, and l have no doubt
that this extends to every line of trade
We spent money without counting tbs
cost to circularize our allied trades g..
jobs for soldiers. sailors and marines u.
put in a complete cross-indexing svste,
to meet the rush we fully expected he.
cause of Dr.. Kirchwey's walls in the nuh.
lie press. We put this service at the Dis
posal of the Federal employment area.
cies, the Brooklyn Victory Celebratiol
Committee and the re6mplovment ser,;c.
organized by the Merchants Association
We granted interviews to Dr. Kirchwev,s
assistants"
The net results of all these have bern
The Federal employment bureaus hsv.
referred few applicants to US. The ma
jority have never been in the service or
the United States, had absolutely no analj.
tications for the jobs we had listed with
the bureau as being open, and some o.
the applicants sent by Federal hurean,
were aliens.
The unemployment service began TO oct
in touch with US when likely applicants
came to them for assistance. but tbei-
system of handling the work was either
so complicated or so unsystomatic that
am puzzled to this dag for an answer to
this question:
If the Merchants Association is desirous
of support from all lines of trade in tho
matter Of rcemployng men and women re-
turning from service why does it not
profit By such when freely offered and
accept the services of those who are
skilled in tins work-serviccs offered With
no string thereto-to properly svstenati.
the work?
mpi'iue Statistics
In closing, permit me to state two factq
First. the majority of those sent to me
by the Federal bureaus have been loud in
their criticism of its methods The bur
den Of their complaint has been that those
in the bureau we're more interested in
compiling statistics that would perpetuas3
Jobs for themselves than in placing ap-
plicants in touch with positions. q hired
one such soldier because his analysis Of
the bureaus methods was 50 keen THAT he
impressed me man l could use in
the work we conduct
My second statement of facts IS ths.
our employees were taken for var nur-
poses in such quantities that every branch
of our allied trades suffered, and some
plants definitely closed; yet, now tha. IN
war is over, we suffer from continued lack
of employees. There was no startling nor
tality among printers; we do not know how,
many printing house employees arc sill On
the other side, but We do know that "a
our trades at least, all facts give ann
have given right along, the lie to the lo q
and daily emanations Of DR. K rchwev
D. ". GREGORY
Business Manager. The Now York Ma 81
Printers Association. Inc.
New York, Nav "a. 1919.