Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1921-10-10
A CASE FOR R AID.

A CASE FOR FIRST AID.
Z When a man is smashed up in an accident 1t is
necessary first to patch him together as well as pos
! sible so that the various parts of his body will tunc-
! ton, not quite normally, perhaps, but we'll enough to
! serve until he can be given a more complete course
of treatment. If his injuries were brought about
by fast driving on a public highway we do not begin
by calling a special session OF the Legislature to en-
I act more effective laws against speeding. Nor do
! we defer our first aid steps until we have held an
investigation to determine through what officials
! negligence the speeding took place. When a build
! ing is found to be on fire the usual course is to pour
on water. 1t may be that the building was badly
J constructed, or that there had been negligence in
: leaving combustible material around loose. But we
do not begin by reforming the building practices or
prescribing better regulations for the care of prem
! Uses. We try first of all to put out the fire.
There is more unemployment in the United
! States than is desirable. The conditions are in part
due to the war. Among other contributing causes
there may be, possibly, speculation, prohteering, in
J, equality of taxation, low price of farm products, and
excessive demands by certain classes of labor. All
of these things have been mentioned in this connec-
! ton, and it is quite possible that all of them may
have had their influence. A conference has been
called to suggest ways CT dealing with the problem
of unemployment. The business of that conference
is not to prevent future wars, or to suggest ways to
prevent such evils as are mentioned above. Its pur-
pose is not to reform our social system or invent new
styles in economics. The duty of the conference is
to ascertain how first aid may most effectively be
given. how those who are willing to work and have
no jobs can be provided with jobs in the shortest
possible time. 4
In opening the conference President Harding
said: H.
would have little enthusiasm for any
proposed relief that seeks either p~alliation
or tonic from the public treasury. The ex-
cess of stimulation from that source is to be
reckoned a cause of trouble rather than a
source of cure. We, should achieve but
little in a remedial way if we continued to-
excite a contributing cause. ~
A man with the level sanity of MI. Harding has
not needed examples from abroad to convince him
OF the futility of dealing with unemployment by the
bestowal Of aims. Had he needed such an %illustra-|
ton he would have found it in Russia, where it was
sought to enrich the %populace by distributing among
its members the accumulated wealth of the country.
The owners Of the property were reduced to destitu-
ton, and its recipients, consuming voraciously, and
z producing nothing, are in worse straits than before.
If an illustration were sought in a society more
like Our own it would be found in England, where,
IN many cases, unemployment pensions are greater
than the wages of employed labor, and it is more
lucrative to be without a job than to have one. In
placing a premium on idleness England has multi
piled her troubles, and the professional loafer, in
stead of hustling for work. denounces the govern
ment that feeds him and demands that it increase
his income in order that the pleasures of idleness
may be increased.
The conference has decided that the problem is
chiefly one for local communities, not in the form
ing of bread lines or the erection of homes for the
Jobless, but IN so organizing and directing the local
facilities that the man who wants a Job can find it.
That is a sound and wholesome decision. And in
solving the problem there must be the cooperation
OF the man who employees, the man who has a lob,
and the man who has none, but wants one.