The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1924-09-15
THE OGRE OF UNEMPLOYMENT
(MOntreal Starr

| NMOHlTedl SIdTJ
| The problem of unemployment
is a hardy perennial which is most
vigorous of growth in the winter.
Many causes contribute to its Gre
alton and its severity is modified
by hundred intricate factors.
1t is only of recent years that
the problem has been approached
from a commonsense standpoint Or
that any serious effort has been
made to probe below the surface
and determine the underlying
causes that bring about this con-
dition.
Such an attempt is now being
made in Canada. A conference
has been called at Ottawa, at
which representatives of the Do
minion and provincial govern
ments are attending, with repre-
sentatives from the municipalities,
from private industry and from the
! ranks of organized labor.
They have gathered in an earn
! est effort to see if some practical
plans cannot be put into force
which will transfer men and WOm-
| en- who would otherwise be idle
into the wage earning classes dur
ing the hard months of winter
Modern industry is a delicately
| adjusted piece of machinery that
is liable to sudden and more or
less violent fluctuations. The
laws of supply and demand are
| regulated upon so many complex
factors that output is subject to
the widest variations often with
out any known cause being def
nitely determined.
In the past the only reaction to
a slackening of trade in the fac
tories and workshops of the Do
minion has been the laying off of
certain percentage of the hands.
or the reduction of the hours of
labor. What became of those who
| were laid off was not the concern
| of industry save insofar as the
large firms were asked to make
contributions to those charities
that care for the poor and needy.
Today not only Canada, but the
| whole world is getting away from
this viewpoint of the unemploy-
ment problem. We are beginning
to realize that there is moral re-
spOnsibility in this matter, and
that our debt cannot be liquidated
by large or small donations to
charitable organizations.
AS soon as the question of moral
responsibility is acknowledged it
is only natural that those whose
brains have created and developed
our large industries should apply
themselves to a study of the ques
ton Of unemployment on scien-
tific lines.
Those who are responsible for
the calling of the conference at
Ottawa believed that the normal
slackening of trade which takes
place in the winter can be sub
stantially moderated by careful
planning and by foresight.
1t is satisfactory, therefore. that
representatives Of our large indus
tries have been invited to the con-
ference, for they can lay before
the government the methods
adopted in their own factories Of
spreading the work of the year
over as many months as possible.
so as to avoid the rush season, and
to eliminate, so far as possible,
the slack period.
I Competent engineers in charge
Of big works of construction, and
| leading builders, have made state
ments recently regarding the pos
sibility of doing great deal Of
building work in the winter
months that at present is post
pOned until spring after the first
| frosts.
There is no reason for this. say
the experts. There are few days
in winter in which normal build
ing operations could not be car
ried on.