New Britain herald., 1922-12-22
UNEMPLOYMENT NOT
 TO BE 50 COMMON
Plan to Reduce Number of Work
 less Men in the Country

for the prevention of future nnem- ployment crises and for the reduction of the normal number of worthless men in the country were put forth by Secretary of Labor JaTes J, Davis in his annual report, just made pub lie. Secretary Davis pointed ont the results obtained through the federal employment service during the indus trial depression of the last year and asserted that the employment service offers an agency for the solution of the unemployment. problem He said:
 Less than year ago 1t was esu-' mated that between five and six mil lion workers were without jobs. We were in the throes of one Of the great est industrial depressions we had ever known. There was a grave danger that the mere operation of the law of supply and demand would force drastic encouragement of wages which would seriously depress our standard of living and radically alter our whole economic structure. The na- ton fought its way through this period of unemployment. and today fhe demand for labor practically equals the supply. We are back at normal in our employment. But we have made tho startling discovery that normal in America means that anproximately million and half workmen are detached from any pay roll.
 Here we have two problems to meet-to prevent a recurrence of the employment depression which threw betveen i've and six million men into tdieness and to reduce the number Of our workingmen who are daily with out means of livelihood.
 we have a powerful agency Tn meeting both of these problems Aln the United states employment service. which, fully organized and equipped, would have its finger at all times upon the pulse of the labor supply and de- mand of the country. The past year this service, with Its ico-operating axencies, proved its effectiveness. It listed between 2.500,0o0 workers seeking employment, and placed near iy 1,5oo,0oo. Of them. in jobs without expense to the woyker4 or employer, Its usefulness and the need for its development are plain,
 .s"The causes. of idIeness- among our workmen call for Instant remedy Industriai strife and unemployment offer opportunities to the enemy of government too favorable for us tc overlook them. 4 Wherever worker and employer clash and wherever n1en are in enforced idleness, there is the opportunity for the interruptions em- ployer with his hired guard. his mer- cenary plug ugly. There. too, the uitra-red radical finds conditions ripe for his efforts. Both threaten the subversion of all government as they preach contempt for law and order, and by stirring the passions and hate of men bring to fruition their gospel of violence and bloodshed. These things are menace to our whole national existence They threatenthe fundamentals of our government. No duty is more pressing upon us today than that of safeguarding ourselves from these dangers.
 Should Be Willing. l
 Secretary Davis suggested that the workman himself, in order to meet periods of depression should be will ing to accept employment at other trades than he is usually engaged In. On this point he said:
 .'rhe lesson of the past year seems to be not so much problem of an actual dearth of employment but rather one of inability of the Amer ican workmen to adjust themselves to changing circumstances. We rec oRrlize that the exalted place of our craftsmen has been attained through specialization, but in specializing we seem to have lost sight of the fact that there are other lines of employ ment than those habitually followed. I would be the last one to suggest that skilled craftsmen should under take to become so-caIled Jacks of all trades" but I would urge upon every idle workman that when there is in- activity in his trade he use every ef- fort to adapt himself to some other line of work. Manifestly, the skilled workman can, if he will, do work of some other kind, but my experience has been that too often when idleness is forced upon him he rejects the thought of other employment for one or more of several reasons. He may not be able to secure as high wages in other employment; he may be under the impression that the sec
 
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