The New York herald., 1921-08-21
HARD Times SPREAD
thin in GERMANY
Evils of Industrial Crisis
Diffused, Making Misery
Less Acute.
COUNTRY NOT so UPSET
Wheels Still Turn and
Strikes Fewer Than in
Many Other Lands.
OWING TO ORGANIZATION
Short Day and Using Unem-
ployed in Public Works
Ease Situation.
OWING TO ORGANIZATION

SC0tS OF G6TnlGu tpUuSWy ana aLS re-
organisation after the aodr. 1t sholos
the complicated organization OF Ger
man labor and the e.rtent of Gorer1i-
Dsent control of industry, based on the
fundamental idea that eUery one has
a right to t0orb and q ltUing aCd1e
This idea is applied to all leading tn
dustry and Government control makes
Il possible to keep necessary indus
tries going eue,s though their operation
Is not profitable to the otOners of the
ptonts. The strength of the German
labor movement, 1t Is held by political
eDperts. makes such system eDpe-
dient. Despite this, hoaoever, the state
OF German industry 7o1o Is such that
there are more than q million German
sDorlcers on part time, and million, or
one- fourteenth of the total number OF
trorkers, unemployed. Efforts to soIve
this unemployment problem are de-
scrsbed
GysctuI Correspondence to THE NEW York
HERALD.
New York Herald Bureau,1
Berlin, Aug. s.
statement that Germany is less upset
by the general Industrial crisis than
lands with higher currency, the reason
for this lies only partly here. That the
machinery in German factories still
turns despite absence of heavy orders
and that strikes and other unrest are
fewer than in many other countries
is due in part to the high organization
Of the German labor market.
Labor is distributed throughout Ger
many by national bureaus cooperating
closely with employers and trade
unions. This has permitted a sys-
tenatization of employment which
spreads misery from hard times thin
over 60.O00,000. and does not leave it
SO acute in any particular regions that
rioting and revolt follow.
After brief mention of the general
organization OF employment in the
present German crisis, two features
are worthy of particular note: the
emergency labor scheme for putting
unemployed at general utility jobs and
the short time labor day now operat-
ing In many industries.
During the revolution of 1S4S Louis
Blanc and other idealists in Paris tried
70 work out community workshops where
every citizen was guaranteed work and
a livelihood. Thousands Joined these
labor squads until the workmen stood
in each others way and had to be put
at something to be prevented from fight
ing each other. One absurd task they
were given was to move hill from one
place and to pile 1t up In another. Mean
while the revolutionary Government
printed paper as long as people would
accept it.
The fundamental idea in 1s4S as to-
day. behind the workers demands is the
right of every one to work and living
wage.
The insistence of the German workers
carries particular weight in Germany be-
cause any big political demonstration
might gather momentum enough to over
throw the Government. The workmen
also have their leaders In the person
of Majority Socialists in the Govern
rnent and an even larger representation
In many of the municipalities. They
therefore are In a particularly strong
position for making their demands heard.
Million Unemployed Now.
Germany has officially a million un-
employed, this being fourteenth Of the
total number of workers Were the
number of unemployed In proportion to
the stagnation in German industry and
reduced business, at least a fifth or a
fourth of German workers would be on
the streets.
The number OF unemployed Is easily
determined from the national employ
ment bureaus and from the sick fund
lIato ~ xxy,t t~l4 al
These offices monopolize most of the
business of employment and discharge
and are for the most part composed of
an equal number of employers and OF
workers. The latter are usually at the
same time the local labor union leaders
so that the decisions these boards take
represent the opinions of all the parties
most directly involved. the employers.
the workers and the trade unions.
An employer in Germany, consequent
ly, is not free to employ whom he
chooses. He can pick the individual
man. but he must choose from lists ap-
proved by the bureau boards. He is
even more handicapped In discharging
his men. He must, in line with the
works-counci law, first justify this
move before his factory works-council.
an elected board representing all the
employees. AS a preliminary step to
discharge the employer Is expected TO
reduce his staff to part time and part
pay. IL he decides to close down alto
gether he must first Justify this deci-
sion before the works-council and q
Government board. The latter passes
on the utility Of his factory, and IL IL de-
cides II essential to general interest the
Government can call upon him either to
continue running II himself or to turn IL
over to a board which can.
At several works the workers offered
TO take over the factory themselves and
keep II running at a profit Most OF
these experiments, made shortly after
the revolution. however. have failed. In
one instance a key and lock works near
Essen, the workers have been success
ful and the owner is content to have a
share Of the proats and be rid of the
h--usying labor troubles.
The German manufacturer Is not in
clined to step out of his factory. Most
prefer, therefore, to run them at a de-
mined to pocket losses as long as they
can get credit from the banks.
There are over a million workers in
Germany now on part time. Hours have
in many factories been reduced success
sively from forty-eight to thirty-six, al
which limit the employer usually gets
the approval of the works-council TO dis
charge a part OF the men. Most work.
ers prefer approving the discharge OF a
part OF the men than 10 be reduced
themselves to a scant wage.
The employer Is Obliged to give them
facts about the difficulties In his busi-