The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1922-02-24
National Industrial Conference
Report Says Problem War
rants Deep Study.
MANY WHO WILL NOT WORK
Factors Entering Into Relations Be-
tween Employers and Workers
Emphasized-Average Worker
Loses AZ Days a Year.

New York.-Unemployment is q
continuous industrial problem, suffi-
cient in importance to warrant con-
certed effort by economists and bust
ness men to remove certain of its
causes, Is the stand taken by the ma
tfonal Industrial conference board, in
a report on "The Unemployment Prob
lem" The report gives comprehen-
sive survey of the extent of unem-
ployment during normal periods and
during the present business depres-
sion, discusses the causes and analyses
remedies suggested.
The object Of this study is to set
forth fundamental principles to be tax
en- into account in considering the
problem, derived from analysis of data
and experience, and from basic eco
nomic considerations, in order to pro-
vide d guide by which employers or
organizations may approach their I'M
employment problems more intelli-
gently.
1.-THE report" says statement from
the board, makes a careful distinc-
ton between idleness and unemploy-
ment, which refer to very different
causes. Idleness proceeds from three
principal sources: Unwillingness to
work on the part Of those who are
capable Of performing work; disabi-
ity, physical or mental, Of otherwise
willing workers, and lastly, unemploy-
ment of those who are capable and
willing to work, but cannot find work
because of Industrial maladjustments
within the plant or industry, or be-
cause Of general economic conditions
at home or abroad.
Causes of Unemployment.
The statement then takes up the
causes of unemployment. They fall
into two classes, described in the re-
port as follows:
/. Internal causes arising from con-
1itions within individual manufacture
Ing plants. These embrace:
(a) Personal factors such as strikes
and lockouts, and disability; (b) i'm
personal factors relating either to
failures Of management, resulting In
faulty factory organization, to high
production costs within the control Of
management, Ineffective sales methods,
lack of materials and equipment, high
labor turnover, or to failure Of en-
ployees because of ineficiency, or to
the displacement Of hand labor by
machinery.
In the aggregate these causes pro-
duce a more or less continuous per-
centage of unemployment from month
to month and from year to year.
2. External causes due to influences
operating outside Of the plant. These
are:
(a) OF economic origin, resulting
from seasonal variations, business de-
pressions, wasteful systems of COM
modify distribution, deficient labor
placement facilities; (b) Of political
origin, due to immigration and tariff
policies and international relation
ships.
at is estimated" the statement says,
shat In 1920 the total number of per-
sons engaged in gainful occupations In
the United States was about 41,000,-
600. Most of the available employ
ment statistics pertain to wage-earners
In the groups Of manufacturing and
mechanical industries, which numbered,
In 1920, about 12,S00,OOO. During nor
NAL times, it is estimated that about
100000 of these are out of work,
since. on the average, about AZ days
per year, or about IA per cent of his
total working time, is lost by each in
dustrial wage-earner. About seven
days of this lost time is due to sick
ness. Deducting this. the total loss