The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1924-09-25
BIZ William z. kRusE.

/ quota law further restricting i'm
migration was hailed by certain old
line labor leaders as great boon to
the American working class. Here at
last they saw a cure for unemploy.
ment. There is just so much work
to be DONE" they argued according to
their labor pool theory land now
that we control this reservoir of com
mon labor we can assure a fair days
wage for a fair days work to every
honest man who wants job. Amer
lea for the Americans. Hooray"
They have their immigration law.
Only very thin stream trickles in
thru Ellis Island and this contains but
few common labor" types. Yet the
United States is today in one of the
worst unemployment crises in its his
tory. Among factory workers alone
100000 more are out of work this
year than "a year ago, according to
department of labor figures, while in
As out of So industries the workers
had to take wage cuts. Thousands of
farmers have deserted their land in
desperation. At least 100000 workers
are idle in the soft-coal field alone.
And this time it cannot be blamed on
the "furriner."
That immigration law was not
passed or amended in repsonse to the
demands of labor Laws are not made
that way in the United States-just
yet. With the exception of the steel
and textile barons almost our whole
employing class wanted that law, so
Of course they got it. And organized
labor wanted it too? Strange! When
ever labor and capital want the same
thing from the same government
somebody has hornswoggled labor.
Plenty of Native Slaves.
Our capitalists realize that even if
not a single laborer came from
abroad the development of our eco
nomic system is such that our native
army of unemployed common labor"
must constantly increase. Every new
invention or new application of me
chanical power in industry or agricul-
ture increases the productivity of Ia
Dor and throws additional workers
into the "slave markets" of the unem-
ployed For the owner of the indus
try every MISUNDERSTANDING device
means additional profit, for the work
ers additional competition on the al
ready glutted labor market. Assured
of plentiful supply of common la
Dor" in most of our important indus
tries why should our bosses risk
swelling our unemployed army by the
importation of large explosive" con-
tingents, fresh from the battlefelds
of Europe, and possibly already
tainted, despite the surveillance of
our consuls, with all manner of red
IDEAS?
Machines Displaee Workers.
The real substitute for the stream
of labor power that heretofore poured
thru Ellis Island is the application Of
modern power machinery. Since 1880
the amount of steam horsepower used
in factories has increased four times
faster than the number of human
hands employed, and engineers figure
roughly that each horsepower dis
places the muscular effort of two
men. Electricity has made even
faster progress and the newest ar
rival, compressed air, has already
nine million horsepower at work and
an estimated increase of two million
per year.
A single example of the effect Of
power application on the unemploy-
ment problem will suffice for present
purposes. Twenty-Five years ago the
air drill was applied to the metal
mining industry; it displaced four to
five men. At that time its effect was
expressed in terms of increased pro-
duction and not solely in the decrease
Of the working force. But today?
With the entire industry shut down
months at a time due to the dis
located world market?
Yet at this very time, with the in
dustry at lowest ebb a new drill is
introduced that takes the place Of
five or six old drills-twenty to thirty
men according to the old standards.
There is no demand for increased
production. The men are thrown in
to the street The jobless army is
that much bigger.
Electro-c Chemistry Does Its Bit.
There is not single branch of a
single industry that is free from this
development. Bricklayers once proud
Il y boosted, "You can never get ma
chimes to lay brick" There are such
machines, altho they are said to be
uneconomical. Yet the development
Of concrete building has crimped the
bricklayers' field. and only the pow
err of building trades union organiza-
ton has for the time resisted some
of the efforts to introduce power ma
chinery and method.
An even better example Of the ac-
feasibility of craft skill to the ruth