The Lake County times. [volume] (Hammond, Ind.) 1906-1933, 1920-11-16
BIZ MILDRED MORRIS

u -0AASO1N6D RdONlAAo
GsrAFF CORRESPONDENT D. ". SERVICE
WASHINGTON. Nov. l6-Between p
100000 and 100000 workers are out o.
employment. department Of labor OF.
cials estimated today.
The estimate is conservative. accord
ing to Wade Skinner. assistant director
Of employment. speaking in the absence
of Director John b. Densmorc.
EXPECT T oAvERT DISASTER
The division of employment is getting
machinery ready to make nation wide
Industrial survey. When it's informa-
tion is complete the department of la
Dor and commerce are expected to act
to avert national disaster.
Labor leaders predict soup kitchens
and hunger riots the coming winter, un.
less stepsp are taken Immediately to
check what they claim is the worst wave
of unemployment since 1907.
A. +. or +. is woaRxED
Warnings that conditions such az now
exist breed Bolshevism. will be ISSUED
by the executive council of the American
Federation of Labor. If a statement now
contemplated. is drafted. calling on the
unions to resist nationwide slashing OF
wages.
According to department of labor Of
ficials conditions Will not be permitted
TO reach the alarming stage forecast BY
the labO rleaders. A strike by the pub
lie against buying is the underlying
cause Of the present slump in industry
they said.
SITUATION NOT SERIOUS
At the Washington headquarters the
Na nd faI
which represents the big employers of
the country. It was said the situation
is not so serious as IL appears. that q
re-adjustment of prices is taking place
and that retailers are bound to follow
the downward trend of wholesale prices.
There is enough work the board claims,
but unemployed workers refuse to ac-
cept jobs al reduced wages.
According 10 the department of la
Dor. the industries chiefly affected b.
the slump in production. are the textile
automobile. rubber and machine tools.
Reports from the west show that un-
employment is increasing through The
shutting down of construction and road
building jobs.
PICK OF JOBS AT HIGH WAGES
According to Assistant Employment
Director Skinner. the normal" number
of unemployed in the L. S. each year Is
1.OcO.000. During the years of the war
and from the signing of the armistice up
to the present time there was a short
age of labor. The unemployed could
have had their pick of jobs at high
| wages.
The increasing flow of immigrants has
| complicated the present unemployment
problem. The American Federation of
| Labor, supported by the department of
labor viii demand restricted immigra-
| tion through the raising of educational
requirements and distribution plan by
which large percentage of the incom-
ing European hordes may be diverted
| from factories to farms
DECREASE IN SHIPMENTS
II is usual at this time OF the year
for the railroads to lay off men in ceg-
tain departments. railroad union officials
stated today. but more than the normal
number of railroad workers are out of
employment because OF the decrease In
shipments of steel and grain.
| Lack of stabilization in industry.
i profteering and industrial unrest caused
| by refusal of employers to deal with
trade unions through collective bar gain
ing ere attributed by the American Fed
Grafton OF Labor causes for the slump