Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1921-10-15
EMPLOYMENT PROBLEM
SERIOUS IN ENGLAND
So Writes c. G. Rupert, Local
Business Man Visiting In
Great Britain.

~haticc w tNdptiA va hhS AstthNoi0l
Hard Fibre Company, who has been
on visit to the British Isles since
July 3. has written friends In this
city the following very interesting
letter regarding the labor situation Is
he has found them there:
The question OF employment is, at
the present monet. a serious one In
f. gland as is In the States Few In
dustries are operating at more th1n
half their capacity and hundreds of
thousands OF men who want to work |
cannot find employment. Without an
income they cannot live unless sup
ported by the public. The taxpayer
already is burdened With all he cam
endure and II Ia not to be expected
that he can contribute much, and for
an indefinite time, 10 support the gre..t
mass of unemploy yed-and yet, these
men and their families mus have
food and shelter, NJ M-etins are held
daily by the guardians of the poor:
the ministers of State and Parliament
will shortly be called In session to
discuss .the subject and try to fnd
a remedy--but there is nothing that
statesmen or financiers car do to re-
litNt iitttttts Inv tdufs Va kfltH Nll~
uation is the stoppage of trade and
its revival is the only remedy. The
internal trade of England OF little
account and offers employment to but
small fraction of the people. Her
great foreign trade is. under normal
conditions. depended upon TO supply
her people with work. Her great cot
ton mills, for instance, can supply her
people with all the cotton go, they
can use i'm a year by a single week. 4
run. The other 81 weeks produces
goods that are shipped to all parts
of the world. Under present conditions.
however, her customers abroad have
ceased 10 send her orders and her mills
are closed. Russia. Germany, Ita.ys
Turkey, and l.unor other COM
munities want cotton cloth and = .er
things that they have been accus-
toned TO buy in England, Just as
badly as they ever did. and even
more so. but they do not order be-
cause they t-.,..ut pay for them. t
is a well establish principle in H.
ternational trade that all shipments #
merchandise into a country must be
paid for by shipments OF equal vaiue
of other classes of n. 'cl lndise out
of that country, so that these nations
that want cotton cloth must ha (
ready other merchandise with which 20
pay for it. And her we come 10 the
real cause of this stagnation of our
industries bcsh in England and the
States. The countries to whom we
want TO sell have been so devas.at
by war and famine and disease tlsi
their people have produced nothing
with which TO buy. They ! we bo ghi
on credit to the limit OF q cir ability
as is shown by the rates OF exchange
in their curreney and now they hav,
stopped. The remedy, then, Is not ii
anything England or the u. $. can dc
at home within their own borde. ol
among their own people but IL lies
in what they can do to revive In
dustry in the remote corners OF tn,
earth.
THE first step mu I be in helpir
! to establish stable forms OF govern
, ment so that the workers can agair
return TO their homes and. in safe :
resume their us' - occupations. IL 4
[ the great object Of the League OF Ma
tions to bring about by its powerful
: influence this stable form of govern
! ment in the countries that cannot &C
! complish il within themselves anu, %
: far, the results have been good. thank
TO the exertions of England an
: France who have had but little h,lT
? regret to say, from the lifted States
, Germany has been Obliged TO reduc
, her army TO the size of a police fore
and her people are gettin TO wor
. with will. II VIII not be man. month
! before she will begin TO shis abroa
: great volumes OF merchandise wit
!, which TO pay her deb. Russia heed
: a few hundred thousand English an
! American loops sent into her countr
a TO restore order and ct her people {
work. They would not have to flgf
any more than our troops on the Rhin
have to d now, but their presenC
would restore order in the land an
Russia could then get TO work an
produce grain and other products wit
which TO buy our merchandise. Th
! solution of this trade problem, {
II course, leads to one apparei ly cor
= Trajectory conclusion and, that is. tha
!. the great creditor nations, especi4l
y the United States, must be prepar
TO import vast quantities of foreig
d goods in payment for the goods whic
: we shipped abroad during the wa
period and this influx of merchar
y disc will, perhaps, cause further UT
employment among our workers-bt
/ this does not necessarily follow. w
n viii not import the same kind of good
: that we export. America will ship
= Germany. for instance, automobile
i wheat, and cotton, and take in pa
n the products which Germany can pre-
duce cheaper than we cal produ.
al them; such as chemicals, dyes. po
Y. ash, and fine handmade tools. We al
l. both gamers by the transaction. En-,
al land will ship to Russia her cottc
4 cloth and take her wheat, lumber a
be minerals in exchange. Coming back
n, the point of the whole matter, v
'e cannot put our workers back on the
a. jobs until we help establish firm go
IL ernments all over the world so tn
other nations can also put the
el people TO work"
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