Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1922-07-13

wv ASHINGTON, D. c., July 8.-The report
wv of the select committee of the PreSi-
dents Conference on Unemployment,
appointed to inquire into the subject of bust
ness cycles, is expected in the near future and
economists and industrialstS are looking for
ward to its publication with much interest. 1t
will be based upon a study unique in character
and purpose The plan is to devise ways and
means OF equalizing the cycles of business
activity which bring about alternate periods of
keen activity and periods of depression re-
Sulting in unemployment.
The effort constitutes in effect an attempt to
harness and control the forces defined by
political economy. Heretofore these forces
have been regarded as wholly beyond the pos
sibility of human regulation.
Business cycles are as old as modern or
ganized business. Before the war the cycles
were held within nations, each nation or in
some cases groups Of nations, having series
of cycles. Since the war the whole world
has become SO interdependent in an economic
sense that it appears more than likely that
henceforth industrial depression in any coun-
try will be practically the same as to time
and effect as in other lands
Business grows increasingly active In periods
of peace. Prices gradually rise over a period
of years and wages rise with them, but usually
slightly behind them. AS the period nears its
climax prices and wages begin to shoot up.
There is tremendous demand for labor at high
wages and people are willing to pay almost
any prices for goods so long as they can
obtain what they want. Then comes collapse.
The prices which took a decade in climbing
fall literally over night. The depression from
which the United States is emerging now came
in the late spring of 1920.
The result of such change is that business
stops dead Stores which have goods on their
shelves purchased at the high rates dislike to
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the money they paid for the goods lost, and
so are slow to reduce their prices. The public
is unable longer to pay the high prices, many
persons being out of Jobs and having no
money. This means that factories normally
engaged in producing the goods shut down.
Railroad traffic falls off because there Is so
little to ship.
Keen Distress Results
The result of this is unemployment. The
transition from period of the utmost ac-
tivity and prosperity to one in which men are
walking the streets by the hundreds pof thou
sands out of work, takes but few weeks
Keen distress results and frequently, If an
election is near, there is party overturn.
The great task which the special committee
on bushes cycles is seeking to perform is to
discover means of equalizing these periods
Some people say it cannot be done Some
declare it is folly to try to make periods of
prosperity more restrained and periods of de-
preston less distressing. The plan has been
called an anti-home scheme designed to take
the romance and fun out of business. One
of the observers attending the first meeting
said the plan of preventing boons reminded
him of the tender-hearted farmer in one OF the
southern states who never used wagon but
invariably hitehed his horses to stone boat,
sort of sled which dragS on the ground
Questioned as to his reason, he explained he
used the dragging sled rather than the rolling
wheeled wagon because of his horses
"When | use a wagon" he said, sit pulls
so hard going up hills that ! feel sorry fol-
the horses. When | use the stone boat, ii
pulls so hard all the time that the horses
don't notice the difference on the hills
The proponents of the plan say that what
they desire is not so much to take the Joy
out of the boomS as to take the distress out
of the depression. DepreSsions in business have
been regarded as so unavoidable in character
that following the of 1907 defense was
made in lawsuit that mans failure to pay
the amount for which he was sued was due
to the panic which, it was claimed before the
court, was an act of God and therefore, 4
valid excuse for non-payment of the debt. The
court did not allow this construction to re-
lieve the man from responsibility but the fact
that such pleading was made reveals how
general is the idea that periods Of business
depression are beyond human control.
The theory on which the committee now
at work is proceeding is that much of the dis
tress can be taken out of periods of depres-
sion by providing, in times of prosperity, for
work which can be performed during bad times.
One of the activities most depended upon for aid
is public works. The proposal is made that
during periods of prosperity when work is
abundant and wages good, the Federal Gov
eminent and state and municipal government