The Connecticut labor news., 1924-10-11
EMPLOYERSLACK
 OF AMERICANISM
New England Situation Of Unemployment Due To 'TOO Much Prosperity" Workers Hear.

Providence, R. l., Oct. 11-While Big tBusiness is pleading for the American ization of the Immigrant and to a con- siderable extent finding fault with the restriction of immigration, it is in this section attempting to create Patron ize New England Products" campaign as part of the Made in America" eff | fort.
 There are reasons for such a cam paign at this time. In many of the New England industrial eenters fully half the wage earners have been idle for many months, while others have worked part | time.
 Ordinarily such conditions would bring the industrial depression" cry from manufacturers, but instead it IS announced by them that the country Is ! suffering from "too much prosperity" centage Standpoint, they are better off than workers anywhere else. While in certain sense this Is true-they are better off than workers in many other
 
 ton that exists. Something else IS i'll the mind of the employer. The action of part of the textile industry III an- nouncing wage reductions may be the forerunner of other similar announce ments.
 But inquiry has developed some in teresting facts. One real reason for un7 employment is the lack of real Ameri- canism on the part of employers and Big Business houses.
 Where is there opportunity for em- p1oyment for shoe workers when Bos- ton department stores purchase foreign made and imported boots and shoes to sell to the workers of New England when New England is noted as the lar gest boot and shoe producing center in the world?
 Where can American glass workers get work when the plate glass trust close their American production shops | butes plate glass imported from abroad?
 What must happen to American workers when Edison electric plants their American production shops and import lamps from abroad
 What must happen to workers i'll the woolen mills when American woolen companies close their plants and distrl- bute imported woolens to their trade?
 What must happen when the manu- lecturers of one of the best advertised | of ,fc 1oha ported hose for sale in America?
 What must happen to American workers when the telephone rust, having its own factories in America imports telephone material from abroad instead of manufacturing 1t Ill its American plants?
 It is pointed out that this policy of importing cheap foreign-mades goods while American plants are closed IS not calculated to impress the immigrant with the desirability of American citi- zenship, nor is it calculated to improve the condition of the masses of Arner1- cans
 Labor men point out that there should
  Business. New England cotton mills, which have been shut down for months have made no cry for legislative relief | such as is customary, so there must be | a condition profitable to the mills i'll the present situation. Much however, has been printed and said about the condi- | ton of the workers for whom there IS no employment,
 Those cynically minded point out that there may have been "too much pros perity" and perhaps wage reductions may find favor among employers as means of restoring a less prosperous condition Workers, however, point out that this is a measure which has been tried without success.