Evening star., 1928-04-08

/
Davis adds This need for new indus
tries and new occupations daily be-
comes more pressing. The Department
Of Labor is In constant receipt OF re-
ports of acute situations resulting from
the introduction of new machines. 1t
is believed in many quarters, however,
and with good reason, that this nechan-
ical development will probably proceed
as rapidly In the immediate future as it
has in the immediate past"
Upon one point there is no differ
ence of opinion, This is that ma
chnerv. efficiency, new methods. have
brought about great shift in en-
pioyment The matter for debate
/ rests in whether this shift has shifted
men from work out of work, or whether
/ it has merely shifted them in other
| lines of employment. No one knows.
| No one can say anything about it
/ with any degree of certainty.
/ Decreases in Positions.
Writing in the current issue of Ma
! tons Business. E. S. Gregg, chief
/ Statistician of the Western Electric Co.,
points out that between 1928 and 1925
| some 800. 900 factory workers have been
| displaced: that there has been a net
decrease of possibly $4,000 agricul-
tural workers since 1928: that approxi-
mately 100000 workers employed by
the railroads have been displaced since
1928 Where. he asks, have they gone?
He proceeds to answer the question by
a table, frankly based on gueSSwork
and partial information.
This table indicates that building
| exclusive Of roads, subwayS, etc.),
automobile, truck and bus operation and
maintenance; road and subways con-
l. F-t-A ~tN ,@& Nie
ceilaneouS); public service, including
school teachers: operation and mainte-
nance of apartments. hotels, and restau-
rants; telephone operation: operation
and maintenance Of Office buildings;
| electric light and power: sports. NOV
| ing picture production and exhibition,
etc, and oil production, have account
ed for an increased employment be-
| tween 1923 and 1927 of 2,l5o,000 per-
sons.
THE very fact which has caused
the largest displacement OF labor,"
writes Mr.. Gregg, that Is, machine
methods, may have also necessitated
an increase in Office help and sales
forces to take care of enlarged pro-
duction. Our improved standard OF
living has caused the demand for per-
sonal service of all kinds to increase
in large proportions"
Individual Status Analysed.
That is one way TO look at 1t. The
bottle-making machine takes the place
of So hand blowers, but because Of great
er production and better methods, 5S
additional employees are hired TO take
care OF the increased business. But do
the hand blowers take these positions?
While there may be no change In the
figure of employment when the ma
chine comes in what about the change
in the status of the individuals?
The newspaper and the linotype are
constantly being hauled out as exam.
pies of the machine and changed meth
DDS it brings The linotype win do the
work Of. say, four men. What hap
pened when the newspapers installed
iinOtypes? The printers who remem-
Der the event in Washington recall that
there was q temporary shift In employ
ment-men thrown out Of work on
newspapers obtained employment in
jobbing Offices But after q short period
Of adjustment the linotype, instead Of
throwing men out OF work, made more
work for them to do. There were more
newspapers, bigger newspapers ana
more printing establishments. Does
the machine tend 70 bring that result
wherever IL enters2
part IN the revolutionary changes in in
dustry since the war. There was a
great burst of inventive genius, accom-
panied By mechanical changes and
more efficient methods during the war.
These changes are still In progress. But
IL is not the machine alone that can
be blamed for throwing men out Of
work TWO competing plants are on
the same footing. One Of them installs
labor-saving machinery and augments
the installation by waste-desthbyin
old machines and old methods. The
first plant gradually enlarges its pro-
duction. gets more business. The other
plant fails, and when II fails Its en-
| ployes lose their jobs.
Machinery'S Part Discussed.
There are many who contend that
| this is the change that has thrown men
| out of work-the battle between old and
new ideas, between a new crowd that
| Is coming in, an "old crowd" that Is
going out. Machinery. they say, plays
/ part but small part only.
Down In Florida cigar plant closes
| its doors. Six hundred men are thrown
/ out OF work. Is Ii because Of labor
saving machinery? No. Is IL because
| people are smoking less tobacco? No.
| But the cigarette makers, the manu-
| factuTers Of smoking tobacco, have been
/ concentrating on building q market for
I their products. The cigar manufactur-
ers fall behind. More people are smok-
| ing, but they smoke cigarettes instead
Of cigars. The cigar plant is the victim
and falls by the wayside. The 900 cigar
makers lose their jobs. What becomes
| Of them? The union lists them among
4
| is no trace Of them. Is 1t conceivable
! that the 600 men VIII SIT around twid-
| ding their thumbs. waiting for another
| factory 10 open? They probably scatter
/ as leaves In the wind, and after a short
I period the large majority are absorbed
/ In other work
! Henry Ford wants plate glass made
/ on a moving belt The plate glass in
dustFy says II cannot be done. but MT
I Ford hires some bright young man who
! does IL. The process Teyolutiontzes the
I plate glass industry. Those companies
which hop on the band wagon move
ahead. Those sticking 10 old methods
| lose out, and with them their hired
| hands.
Textile Industry Cited.
In the English textile mills one work.
ef cares for four looms. In Italy there
is q great turmoil because MlIssoilnj
orders that one worker must care for
two looms, instead of one, as hereto
fore, In America q worker takes care
Of i0B automatic looms, In place Of
the women who formerly cared for
10 or 30. Experiments are going on
10 make II possible for one man 10 care
for i50 looms, or more. And while de-
preston In the textile industry these
4 A ~ Fn HsG at as
from one thing alone, one wonders how
much of IL iG due 10 this transition
from old 10 new methods: how many
mills are closing because they don't
keep step; how many operators are
Doasting that their machinery, bought
years ago, is az good today AZ IL was
then promising. In the meantime, u