The Brookings register. [volume] (Brookings, Brookings County, S.D.) 1903-1971, 1921-02-10
THE NATIONAL CAPITAL
By j. E. Jones

pei ooHS are blHplOyeQ DIT lnlS TIME
than a year ago. A survey Of the la
Dor situation has been IN progress
under the direction OF the govern
ment, and while the above figures dc
not prove absolutely that nearly three
and a half million people have lost,
and are still out of their jobs, yet
in the summing up of the statement
the conclusion is quite inevitable that
unemployment reaches substantially
that figure. Michigan suffers most be-
cause OF the hardest hit of all in,
dustries is the automobile. Second
in rank in the reduction of employees
is the building trades, with approx
mately 81 per cent out of work. Tex
tiles and leather COME next. Follow
ing Michigan those states most af-
tgtied by the slump are Ohio, Illinois,
Connecticut, Massachusetts, Wiscon-
sin, New York and New Jersey. All
the large cities of the country show
highest in the percentage of unem-
ployed workmen.
When the bic volunteer army was
disbanded the federal and state Gov
4rnments were active In their efforts
TO place the returning soldiers in civil
employment, and the four million
We're absorbed in industry. Every
function in official activity was utilized
to make jobs" Today it is evident
that the business of "legislating
work" is not functioning; and what
ever the conditions are in industry
that are responsible for the great UNI
employment that exists. they must be
corrected ty economic and industrial
conditions working out their w sal
Tation independent of political putter-
ing. Only the farmers have clung to
the hope of relief from such meas
ures, but almost before the ink has
dried on the bill recently passed to
relieve them by resurrecting the war
bureau to finance and conduct foreign
trade, the farmers realize that they
are not going to get any substantial
help by the methods employed to help
them" by the route of new laws.
The expected return to good times
is based on the hope that manufactur-
ers and dealers have been ~disposing
of their old stocks, and that everyone
has been waiting for things to
change" Information received in great
volume in Washington indicates that
shelves and bins are empty every
where, and that those who have build
ing projects have been holding Off
in the expectancy of better credits,
cheaper supplies and lower labor costs.
Summed up, the country has initiated
Dickens Micawber in waiting for
something to turn up" to the extent
that Old Mother Hubbard is finding
her cupboard bare. Congress cannot
pass laws that will help the plight
of Dame Hubbard. If the above dag
nosis is correct then there is only one
solution Of the situation, and that rests
in renewed industrial activity. For
months the country has been fighting
high prices, and considerable progress
has been made in regulating them
through economic pressure. This ef-
fort has checked production until new
production has become a positive ne
cessity, for come what will, the
shelves and bins must have something
on and in them. This spells renewed
employment.
Recent reports show that there are
81, 600 900 life insurance policies i'll
force in the United States. People
who stop to wonder how the insurance
companies use the great volume of
money in their possession in such a
way as to make it pay a profit to the
company and to the policyholders may
be enlightened to learn that the street
railway investments of companies are
$4,000 900 in bonds, and $1,000, 900 in
stocks; electric power and gas, $S4,-
S74,681 bonds, and $4,000 900 in stock;
telephones, $26, 500 ,OOC. The public
utilities investments, which probably
cover the foregoing, are reported as
being 1927, 000,0 Mr.. P. H. Gads-
den, president Of the American Elcc-
trio Railway association, says that at
is absolutely necessary, if public util-
tiles continue to function that they
create a flow of new capital into their
securities" He regards rates to pub
lie utilities companies which will in
sure a return to the security holders
that will prompt them to invest, as
vital to the situation. Mr.. Gadsden
recognizes the fact that insurance
money is like the money of the local
investors and the banking houses, be-
cause investments, in the final analy-
sis, come from the public. Mr.. Gads-
den tells his associates, that in deal
ing with investors and with the public.
that they should be frank, and adj
V~prticp