The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1921-05-10

n to Normally. Believe Height OF
Unemployment Has Been Reached.
May finds between 100000 and A.,
100000 men and women in the United
States unemployed. A large percentage
of those who are unable to obtain
work live in the larger cities and IN
big industrial centers of the eastern
state and in the middle west. While
the unemployment extends to the west
and south it is not so severe in those
sections, and reports from the Pacitlc
coast indicate that a decided tone OF
optimism prevails there.
Big Improvement Forecast.
Despite the official reports on I'M
employment throughout the United
States business interests are optim1s-
tic. A gradual return to normally is
forecast. Thousands of men and wo-
men, forced into the army of the I'M
employed when hundreds of mills and
factories began to curtail business be-
cause of the nationwide depression
following in the wake of the world war,
have returned to their former jobs or
have secured work elsewhere.
The wage earners who returned to
work were forced, in most instances,
to accept lower wages and shorter
hours. Business interests declare it is
necessary to decrease the high wage
scale in effect during the war i'll order
to bring down the cost OF necessary
commodities. This attitude has result
ed in several controversies between
labor and capital, notably with the rail-
roads and in the buildings trades.
No Market for Coal.
While conditions seemingly are i'm
proving in most lines of business two
great Industries in the United States
face a situation considered acute.
Thousands of railroad employees have
been thrown out of employment as
result of the movement to reduce oper-
ating expenses and because of reduced
shipping, caused by the business slump
and the increased freight rates. Nine
ty-three railroads have asked the Unit
ed States Labor Board, now in session
in Chicago, to make sweeping reduc-
tons in wages.
Although the conditions in the an
thracite fields in Pennsylvania are con-
sidered fairly good there is little de-
mand for fuel, and the result of the
situation is shown in great piles Of
hard coal at the mines for shipment
In the bituminous fields Of Pennsyl-
vania, West Virginia, the middle west
and in Wyoming and other distant
states the situation is unprecedented
Excessive freight rates, together
with general business conditions
throughout the country, have resulted
in hundreds OF soft coal mines being
closed. Hundreds of thousands of min
ers are idle. In a few isolated cases
the miners are working two and three
DAYS a week, and smaller number
are working longer periods. During
the past few days, however, several
mining centers reported that orders
have been received which would war
rant the reopening OF the mines tor a
short time. The situation IS considered
so acute by the miners that many OF
them have gone to the farms to work
as 1aborers.
Reports of considerable unemploy-
ment show up from New York, Hi
nois, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Michigan,
Ohio and Wisconsin, while virtually
every state east of the Mississippi riv-
er and north of the Mason and Dixon
line is seriously affected by the wave
that has swept over the country dur
ing the last year. The report of the
United States employment service
showed that on January l of this year
the leading cities of the country, with
an aggregate population of approx
imateiy 32,50O,0O0, had total of l.
,8O2,755 unemployed. During the next
three months subsequent reports is
sued by the service indicated that this
number had increased somewhat in
those cities. Many industrial experts,
however, believe that the height of un-
employment has been reached, and
that there will be a steady decline in
the number OF unemployed after May
LIST. 49,,
New York city, Philadelphia, Chi
cago, Detroit, Mich, and Cleveland,
o., stand out as the centers OF the I'M
employment wave.