Evening star., 1924-02-10
By SHELDON s. CLINE.

fecrenChment and StaSnatlon. NO
moro piling up of unstable goods
and materials upon which some one
must take a loss. No more seasons
OF unemployment, with their accom-
paniment Of social unrest and human
suffering.
That is the target at which the
Department of Commerce is aiming
today, and that it is getting the
range and already scoring hits will
be seen a little later on. 1t causes
Secretary Hoover to see red and use
Unparliamentary language when some
one tells him that booms and siumps
are necessary attendants Of business;
that because there always have been
these ups and downs in national
prosperity there always must be. In
these days of the radio and airplane,
1,e regards it as an affront to human
5nte1ligence to assert that business
cycles cannot be controlled.
Group OF Earnest Workers.
Mr. Hoover has gathered about him
= group of earnest men who believe
with him that solution of this prob
1em is about the greatest service
which it is possible today could be
rendered the nation and the world.
They have gone about the job with
out blare of bands or beating of
tom-toms, but they are getting re-
suits. And it is results that count.
When medical science tackles dis
case it seeks first to ascertain the
cause-to isolate the germ. Then it
looks for remedies. curative and
preventative. Mr.. Hoover and his
aids have gone about in the same
way their attack on business chills
and fever. They first diagnosed the
case to determine the wherefore of
these periods of boom and slump.
Determination of the causes pointed
the way to a remedy.
Sought Expert Advice.
In order to reinforce his confidence
that the program was based on sound
reasoning, Mr.. Hoover sought the
advice and counsel of some of the ma
tion's leading business men and econ
omists. Among those he called into
conference were Owen Young, pres
ident of the General Electric Com
panya Clarence Wooley, president of
the American Radiator Company; Jo-
Seph H. DeFrees, former president of
the United States Chamber of Com
merce; Matthew Vol. vice president
OF the American Federation of Labor,
and DR.. Wesley Mitchell, eminent au-
thority on economic subjects. After
siX-month study of the problem,
these men agreed in declaring that
the Hoover program was sound.
At the beginning 1t was necessary
to eliminate from the program Of
correction the possibility of hard
times resulting from disaster or nat
ural causes beyond the control of
man. Human ingenuity, for instance,
could not forfend the consequences
of drought and crop failure, but
America is happily free of such dis
nsters on anything like Il national
kscale. Great business panics Of the
past have resulted from artificial, not
natural, causes.
Big Cost OF Little Slumps.
Nor is it alone the big boom and
xho big panic that the Hoover pro-
gram seeks to guard against In
many lines Of industry and business
there are periodical boomlets and
Slumplets, which, while they cause
no great commotion in the whole
pool Of national prosperity, are re-
Rponsible in the aggre gate for an
immense volume of losses, of un-
employment and of suffering among
rollers and those dependent upon
their toll. 1t is necessary that these
sporadic outbreaks of business sick
ness be averted, both because of the
distress they entail and because their
cumulative effect is liable at any
tiIno to bring on an epidemic.
During the slump of 1921 the Presi-
dent appointed d commission on un-
employment which worked under the /,
auspices Of the Department of Com
iuerce. That commission went deeper
than an observance of the surface
conditions of unemployment. 1t
sought the cause. 1t sought the |
cause Of a condition Of general de-
preston. Work could not be found F.!
for the people during u period of de- |
preston. 1t was a human problem i
that Secretary Hoover was driving at ;
"a problem Of preventing unemploy- |
ment-the most bitter of human mis- J
Gry. The solution, obviously, lay in
the avoidance Of periods of depres-
sion with their unemployment. What
I,0
blumps? Could those causes be re-
moved? |
Boom Father OF Slump.
7 No such agency as a government |
department., with its many resources,
had ever before isolated that prob |
lem and stood it forth to be measur- |
ed and thumbprinted. 1t did not take |
long to demonstrate that the father |
of the depression is the boom. 1t /
WAS but necessary to examine the |
history OF booms for a hundred years in |
this and in other countries to settle |
that. point To the student Of these |
phenomena, therefore, the appear
ance Of a boom should give warning
for action to prevent d slump, nat
urally. was at the appearance Of the |
boom. Could anything be done when |
this warning appeared?
Naturally 1t would be advisable to
know of the coming of a boom as
early as possible. One Of the indica-
tions that a boom is on the ways is |
al' increased volume Of manufactur-
ing which il likely to producc q labor