The Washington herald., 1921-05-04
SOUTHWEST NOTES
REVIVAL OF TRADE
IN ALL INDUSTRIES
Public Work Is Relieving
Unemployment in En-
tire Territory.
FARMING A FACTOR
Agriculture Absorbs Thou
sands of Job Seekers; In
dustry Awakening.
FARMING A FACTOR
By. WILLIAM ALLEN WHITE.

ST. LOUIS, Mo-, May 3.-Business
in the Southwest has hit bottom and
In coming up.
Business Is long way from orisk'
but Il In getting better than 1t was.
Unemployment Is still here. Tne
alleys back Of the newspaper shops
still are filled with men eager 10
get the first editions and read the
want ads, but the lines before the
employment agencies where un-
skilled men are sent out to contract
work on country roads and build
ing Jobs, while long, are shortef
than they were last winter. All
over the Southwest public work Is
relieving unemployment. In hum
dreds Of cities and counties In the
agricultural States. city and county
nav rolls are larger than all other
pay rolls in the community.
Road work, municipal improve
ments, public buildings, have alb
sorbed tens Of thousands OF idle
men, and the, open winter in the
Southwest has made this work the
economic salvation OF thousands Of
homes.
Farms Aid Employment.
Spring farm work is absorbing
thousands OF others. There is no
farmers strike. The average acre
age of the farm crops vii be as
large in the Missouri Valley as 1t
ever was. Wheat may not hold its
tremendous acreage. The Kansas
and Nebraska farmers are losing
much of their alfalfa acreage BY
bugs and pests that have come as
the result of an open winter. But
these ruined alfalfa fields, turning
yellow green this spring. will be
plowed under and planted in corn,
making more work for unskfiled
labor.
Seasonal work, Of course, Is not
productive of sound economic con-
ditions, but still relieves the bread
line and the soup kitchens sope-
what in great industrial centers
like ST. Louis. The RELIEF Is needed
for industry has not yet revived IL
il merely showing real signs of
awakening. Merchandising has re-
vived rather more definitely than
industry here. Men are selling
things faster than they are making
things. catching up with lszo'
Money IL getting easier. but indus
try Is waiting on something besides
credit. 1t is cheaper coal. cheaper
steel, and cheaper freight. These
things must change before industry
in the Southwest can resume its
activity largely. Coal and steel and
freight represent labor and manu-
facturers say labor must come down.
Yet there are now signs Of reduc-
ton. Unorganized unskilled labor
has taken its cut. Men are work
ing in the Missouri Valley for IS
cents an hour and glad Of a chance
for Jobs; odd jobs on road contracts.
sewers, under hods and in cement
gangs. But skilled labor is still
getting its dollar an hour. and the
closed shop has not been seriously
broken.
Printers, Strike.
The printers strike seems to be
somewhat better than a dog-fall
for organized labor in the South
west. The newspapers have made
the necessary compromise in many
cases and enough job offices have
signed on the dotted line to keep
enough printers at work to guar
antee a decent strike fund for those
who are out. The printers trade
is an excellent mirror Of business.
Business is opening up too well
out West for employers in the print
ing trade to lose money lighting over
four hours a week.
Newspapers in the Southwest re-
port an increase in foreign adver-
tising in the last forty days.
Copyright. 1881. BY the United Ssvs.)