The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1928-07-24
new ENGLAND IS
Scene or DECAY
OF CAPITALISM
Thousands Are Jobless
While Industries Die
By LELAND OLDS
Federated Press).

NJ CAEA AACA 4 ACSDJs
What does the protective tariff
mean to the Massachusetts factory
worker3 Less than s25 week If
he Is lucky enough to have job
But there Is chance In that he is
unemployed. This is the answer Of
the June report of the state depart
ment Of labor on factory employ
ment. That these wage earners
must now choose between two major
parties, each supporting tariff for
protection, appears grim Joke.
Death Throes.
The situation In Massachusetts,
warrants more careful study than the
monthly fluctuations Of employment
In other states. June reports from
New York and Illinois show a slight
change for the better which appears
characteristic Of factory employment
throughout the country. But Mas
sachusetts continues to slump. The
conditions which made New England
the pioneer manufacturing center of
the country have changed.
Massachusetts employment is a
symptom Of the aging of capitalism
The economic order which developed
in western Europe and made Eng
land mistress of the world establish
ed an outpost in New England. That
order Is decaying and the decay will
spread as the industrialization of the
world proceeds at an increasing pace.
The Massachusetts, report for June
indicates a decline of 2.5%o in fac
tory employment compared with
May, of 148o compared with June
1927 and of 269e compared with the
average for the years 1919 to 1928
Since 1919 the employment level has
fallen $40. This means that where
Massachusetts factories gave jobs
to about 714,000 workers in 1919
there were only 100000 on the pay
rolls in June of this year. The de-
partment figures the normal number
of factory workers in the state at
about $4,000.
Sharp Decline.
The cotton mills, oldest and great
est employers of factory labor in the
state, report less than half as many
workers as they employed from 1919
to 1923. On the basis of the aver
age for those years as 1000 the
figure for cotton mill employment
in June was 1890, a drop of 438e
from June 1927. The sharp decline
from a year ago is due in part to
the New Bedford strike but indica-
tons are that conditions in the in
dustry would have forced shut
down anyhow and the New Bedford
mill owners were glad to place the
responsibility on labor.
All other branches of the textile
industry show sharp reductions in
employment compared with June
1927 Wooden mills report employ
ment down go to level about 1870
below the 1925 average. Hosiery
and knit goods manufacturers re-
port a 1870 drop to a level 1870
below the earlier average. Manufac-
turers of textile machinery are en-
ploying only 51To of the number ir
the earlier years, drop of more
than PIC in the last IL months.
The boot and shoe industry, which
also established New England as ar
early capitalist center, is similarly
on the rocks with only $3.50 of thu
average number of workers employ.
ed in the year 1925. Compare
with year ago it has reduced its
working forces 179o.
The metal trades, grouped to.
gether as the foundry and machine
shop industry, are continuing on
the down grade with only $50 as
many workers as in the earlier
years. Since June 1927 the manu-
facturers in this group have laid off
more than 1919 of their workers.
Stagnating Towns.
Massachusetts cities associated
with the rise of American Industrial
ism are feeling this decay. Textile
cities like Fall River, Holyoke, Lawr-
ence and New Bedford; Brockton
and Lynn, famous for shoes; Spring
field, Worcester and the smaller
towns where metal manufacturers
early established their plants, all
are trying to escape the fate which
is sapping the capitalist life in them
Massachusetts, is a forecast OF