Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1920-12-04
UNEMPLOYMENT
By Frederic j. HaSkin

with us again. Unemployment is in evil
dence almost everywhere in the United
States, according to reports reaching the
u S. employment service In some little
factory towns it means only a few hun
dred men out of work. In New York 1t
means 100000 men out of work in a SIN
gle industry. So far it has not meant
bread lines nor other symptoms OF acute
distress. And no one can tell how bad IL
is going to be. That depends upon how
quickly and easily the price-adjustment is
made-or rather, makes itself.
But the man out of job is sgnifi-
cant figure. He is the hardest of all rad
icals to answer. You may say that the
agtator who criticiZes institutions talks
bosh, but the man who wants to work and
knows how to work and cannot find the
chance, surely has real case against So
| ciety. He is the man of all men who Will
| listen when someone tries to tell MIN that
the nation Is organized the wrong prin-
| ciple and ought to be made over. There is
no use asking him to be content, when his
stomach is empty and the door to MS
| job is closed.
To prevent unemployment is worth more
as a step toward suppressing radicalism
than any amount Of red-baiting and an
archist-exporting. Yet unemployment hlts
us periodically and we have never yet
made any intelligent effort to take care
I of it.
The Employment Service
The nearest thing to an effort in that
line was the creation of the U. S. employ
ment service during the war as part of
the labor department. 1t was not pro-
vided to take care of unemployment, but
rather to help in overcoming labor short
age Nevertheless, it was an organization
for studying labor conditions, and its ma
chinery could be used against unemploy-
ment as we'll as against shortage
At present this government bureau is
just barely alive. During 1919 it received
appropriations of $5,50O,000. For 1920
and 1921 congress has given it 100000
and 1925, 900, respectively. In other words,
it has received just enough to keep it
| in existence with skeleton organization.
The Nolan bill, which has been reported
favorably by the house committee on la
Dor, would make 1t a permanent bureau.
Unless this bill is passed it will presum-
ably go out of existence.
How would the employment service go
about preventing unemployment If it were
made a permanent bureau? The most d.
rect and effective way would be for 1t TO
open employment offices in every indus
trial city of the country, with its wash
| ington office acting as a clearing house.
| BY such a system, it would bring the man
and the job together, and reduce unem
ployment to a minimum. II thousand
men were thrown out of jobs by the closing
of factory in Massachusetts, at the same
| time that a thousand were needed for a
state road-building project in Pennsylvania,
| the employment service would know 1t,
and move the men where they were needed.
| This would not solve the problem, OF
course. 1t would not create jobs. But it
would give the man out OF job re-
source a hope. 1t would make the size
and nature Of the problem evident. 1t
| would be an immense advance over the
attitude of indifference mixed with futile
philanthropy with which we have always
met the unemployment problem before.
This national employment system, as
it was operated during the war, collides
with our political ideals 1t is regarded in
many quarters, as violation OF states
rights, and an extension of the evil of pa
ternalism. There is no present prospect
of re-estab1ishing such system. Sentl-
ment, as the saying is, goes against it.
States and Federal Cooperation
| But very similar system can be estab-
| lished by cooperation between the federal
government and the state governments. It.
is such a system that is contemplated by the
| Nolan bill, and which the present officials OF
the employment service hope to establish.
Thirty-three states already have employment
services, with offices in about 200 cities. If
| some federal aid were offered, it is probable
| that the rest of the states would establish en-
| ployment services, and that all OF the prln-
cpa industrial centers would be served In
return for a small federal appropriation, these
state services would be bound to furnish the
employment service in Washington with all
available information concerning labor condl-
lions, and they would also, perhaps, be COM
PEELED to maintain certain standards OF ef-
this way a system similar to the federal sys-
tenn, with Washington acting as clearing
house. would be established without violating
states rights or extending very much the au-
thority of the federal government
A Labor Survey
The u. s. employment service, while walt
ing to see what the congress is going
to do to it, is preparing to make survey OF
the labor situation. Such a survey is MADE
once a month now by the bureau Of labor
statistics, but the employment service con-
templates much more intensive and extern
sive effort. The country will be divided into
nine geographical divisions, and agents will
be established in the principal Industrial
cities of each. These will make bl-monthly
reports showing the exact conditions or the
labor market in all of the fundamental in
dustries in all parts Of the United States. This
information will make clear to employers, to
labor leaders, to congress, the exact condl-
lions at all times. 1t will supply the facts,
which is certainly the first step toward SOW
ing any problem. The Chamber of Commerce
of the United Statey IS understood to nave IN
dorsed this proceeding. Manufacturers are
beginning to realize that the man out OF
lob is their worst enemy, if they wish to
| maintain the industrial status-quo in this
| country And 1e is an enemy Who cannot be
put in Jail or shipped to Russia me only
way to get rid Of him is to find him Joo
Hence the manufacturers favor job-hunt1ng
machinery.
The most direct way of overcoming unem-
ployment Of course, would be to provide
work for all who we're willing to work, by
state or federal action. Thus it has been sug-
gested that the unemployed be put to work
at the reclamation, under government super
vision, of swamp and desert lands-a task
which must be done before long. But this
again would be paternalism. 1t would con-