The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-10-11

I t0-&sFf z 1tf6G<9S S tauy nave tO Oc
 sold in the orient-when aze prospec- tive buyer is thousands of miles from 2the producer and when so many things can occur to cut down the buying pow l CT of the prospective consumer, is it al- Together astonishing that we have pc zriods of excessive production, periods of
 scarcity, and as a consequence fluctua- Stion in the demand for workers? The statement is made by the Russell Sage Foundation, after an exhaustive that there are constantly I in the United States from one million Ito six million unemployed. Does not this one fact explain much of the pres lent day dissatisfaction with our mod ern industrial system?
 What can be done about 1t? It would be foolish to deny or to ig- more the existence of widespread dis ssatisfaction. The depth and extent of 1t have been impressed upon me since recently started asking all classes of men how they feel about the presiden- tial election. La Toilette clearly is the choice of large number of our wage
 earners. He is accepted as sort or protest against the way capital" has been and still Is running things. This widespread dissatisfaction being
 admitted, Is it not the duty of all re-
 sponsible citizens to give thought to its
 cause and then to strive earnestly to
 remove or at least mitigate the cause? Secretary Hoover has declared that there are even in prosperous times about a billion people in this country out of
 work. Very rarely, if ever, does the
 number reach the six million maximum zmentionen by the Russell Sage Foun- dation. Of course, of the minimum of
 one million it must be recognized that a large-a very large-number are either
 out of jobs because they do not want
 to work for the time being or are not fitten to do efficient work.
 Yet, when every allowance has been made for these considerations the tragic fact remains that practically there are 1.-two or three millions of workers unable to find full time employment and un-
 able, therefore, to earn reasonable
 living.
 Upon who does the responsibility for this deplorable condition rest?
 It isn't sufficient simply to reply z"upon our complicated modern system of doing business nor does 1t avail any,
 thing to blame the government of any political party.
 If our industrial system Is not work ing satisfactorily, is it not clearly up to those at the head of our industrial system to address themselves diligently R~-NN~-~-~
 remedy?
 Happily, something is being done. Unhappily, not enough, is being done. The Presidents conference on un-
 employment, an influential gathering
 Representing employers, employed and the government was held at Washing ton the last time unemployment was
 widespread and the subject was then discussed comprehensively. Sensible
 suggestions were offered and plans were laid to bring about various reform
 measures. The visible fruits, however, have not been tremendous.
 Through his ardent advocacy of
 standardization and elimination Sec-
 retary Hoover has been able to accom-
 Engineers, executives and also aca- demic theorists have been applying themselves to the study of the much discussed but little fathomed business cycles. Only the other day railway
 executives got together to do their part
 in insuling steadier employment than heretofore for railway workers. Their efforts promise to lead to very substan- tial results.
 The garment industry has given the problem very serious study and one inn portant group, in addition to taking steps to reduce seasonal unemployment, is experimenting with unemployment in- surance.
 But leaders in other industries-the coal industry is a conspicuous example have not only accomplished little or nothing, but apparently are not making any genuine effort to accomplish any, thing.
 If our industrial and financial and business leaders cannot make the mod ern industrial system work to the sat- isfaction of the majority of the rank and fila of fha DQoDIe ara likely t0 vofe for a reshuffling of the cards.
 You and may feel, we may think,
 we positively know that drastic action would only make matters worse. But
 unless we can educate the majority to this more conservative view we must