New Britain herald., 1928-03-28
MAKING A REPORT ON UNEMPLOYMENT

as conservative about it as political exigencies would warrant. It was i Senator Wagner of New York, a ' Democrat, who recently sponsored q resolution calling upon the labor 1 secretary to give the Senate and the nation accurate figures about unem- ! ployment It was Senator Nagners opinion that the total of unemployed was in the vicinity of 4.oo0, 0,00o. The actual total probably lies midway 1 between the figures of the senator and the secretary.
 Secretary Davis is to be congratu- lated, however, upon being inclined 10 look upon the unemployment situation with uneasy eyes. He says candidly that the situation is ''seri- ous," although not as bad as had been painted by the Democrats who sought to show that much unem- ployment could he part and parcel of Coolidge prosperity. What we now happen to know is that Cool idge prosperity does not mean job for everybody at the highest possible pay. The law of economics. it ap- pears, were not set aside by a be- neficent nature when MT. Coolidge took his seat in the White House. If that is what the Democrats sought to show then they have~ made q pendulum; it swings regardless of who happens to be at the head of the government.
 The conservative report of Sec retary Davis calls attention to the fact that there are s43.S74 fewer employees in factories. and 109,233 less on the railroads, than in 1925. The figures alone do not tell all the story. for production in the factories has increased with fewer workers, and transportation on the railroads has been made more efficient with a smaller standing army of en- ployes.
 These are days of mass produe- tion. and that means more than pro- duction only-it means fewer men employed per unit of production. This amazing plishment is due entirely to the use of more and bet ter machinery, which has been dis placing men to greater extent than since the days when 1t was first in- vented, the days when the birth of the factory system revolutionized society. The automobile industry has been leader in mass production with greater production from each man and machine. A large motor plant let it be known recently that it's labor cost per unit in 1926 was 50 per cent of what it was in 1928.
 Even in 1925, the year with which Secretary Davis compares 1927. saw a large decrease in the proportion of workers employed in industry compared with the output. In 1925 the manufacturing industries of the nation employed 7oo,ooo fewer oper- atives than in 1919 or a decrease in aggregate employment of A per per cent below 1923, or 6.s per cent below 1919. But the total of manu- factured articles i'll the United States reached a total peak in 1925 of more than e billions of dollars, an increase over 1919 of 1s per cent. The actual growth of manu- lecturers was much greater than the figures indicate, as the value of raw
 
 ducts had greatly decreased in 1925 as compared with the former years.
 With machinery displa cing men to q constantly greater extent the ques- ton naturally arises, what will be the end ? It yet may take some years before the minimum point has been reached, If it ever will: possibly ma chimes in time will be so perfected duce what three produce even now.
 This is one Of the economical phenomena of the time. The eco- nomists state that the only method for society to adjust itself 10 such conditions is to create additional new industries 10 give employment 'o the workers displaced by ma chinery. The automobile and radio industries are our newest, and they have given employment to hordcs who have been crowded out of other industries by machinery: the moving picture industry. and the theatrical industry it has stimulated, have ab- sorbcd thousands also.
 There gre more than 1on, GOO few CT persons employed on the rail- roads, for instance: but who will be SO rash as to say that more than this number are not employed in the truck business. developed vii hin the last deca de, and which like the railroads is q transportation in dustry?