Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-09-01

effect Of reducing the earning and buy
| ing power of our people. The time Is
near-I believe it Is here now-when
the wise employer. before installing
labor saving machinery, will first plan
new employment for the workers his
machines are to displace. He realizes
now that every worker he drops is a
! customer deprived of purchasing power.
At the very time when he plans to
turn out more goods to sell he will
customers for his goods, and he knows
that If he does not pay higher wages
and thereby give the worker his full
share of the profits of this increased
production, the machine will defeat it
self.
We are all glad to see our various
corporations strong and prosperous and
regularly paying their dividends. But
1 wish some of our employers would
see one good way to make their divi-
dends earn still more. If some of
these extra dividends were devoted to
wage increases, think of the number
of new automobiles that would be
bought. In turn the maker of autos
would have more steel to buy, more
pianos, more radios, more of every
thing; so that in turn the dividends of
every business would be increased, with
the worker more fully employed.
New Industries Absorb Jobless.
Even the unemployment which may
have been caused thus far by labor
saving machinery is largely taking care
of itself. through the rise of new in
dustries to absorb the skill and energies
Of those who really want to work. For
example, the new industry of making
airplanes has opened up occupations to
thousands Of men who have found an
interesting and well-paid new occupa-
ton, while the motor industry has
created good business openings for men
in repair and paint shops, gas and
service stations, and operating CONNER
cial trucks and buses. AS have said
before, have no fear of the labor
saving machine so long as employers
maintain the present liberal scale of
wages and keep our people equipped
with purchasing power. Their wants
will then keep the wheels of industry
on the move.
We do have little unemployment in
America. Yes, even in the best Of times
there is unemployment. Much Of this
is seasonal, as we see now, when harvest
hands, berry pickers and those engaged
! in moving our crops have finished their
work in the fields and flock to the city
for employment there. But there Is
one thing about America and Amer
leans. It is our habit to go to the root
of things. Right now we are launched
on movement by which the Federal
Government and the several States are
planning the sterilization of employ
ment. There should be no politics in
the employment problem, The forty
eight States and the Federal Govern
ment should join hands to solve this
problem. We are Republicans and
Democrats and Socialists on election
day, but when we are in Office we are
to serve all of the people. am sure
we are going to solve this unemploy-
ment problem and solve 1t right.
Very soon every man and woman who
listens to me can help in solving the
problem. The census enumerator VIII
be along and will ask you NUMBER OF
uestions-among other things, whether
YOU are unemployed, how you lost your
| lob. how long you have been idle, what
new Job you prefer, what are your abll-
tiles, and similar points. This new
census we are about to take is going to
| supply us with just the information
without which we have been helpless in
| the face of unemployment, and 1
earnestly ask every man and woman TO
make correct and complete answers to
every question asked. We need these
first-hand facts, because it is only from
them that unemployment can be Crap
pied with and wiped away
Hoover's Conception of America.
believe every heart here in this
country beat little more warmly when
President Hoover said: my concep-
ton of America is land where men
and women may walk in ordered free
low, ~, bo iy1Honondonf C0ndIlNf nf
their occupations; where they may en-
Joy the advantages of wealth, not con-
centrated in the hands Of few, but
spread through the lives of all: where
they may build and safeguard their
homes, and give their children the FULL
est advantages and opportunities OF
American life; where contented and
happy people, secure in their liberties,
free from poverty and fear, shall have
their leisure and the impulse to seek
higher life"
The next few years, believe, will see
us much nearer that goal-again if We
wisely meet the job Immediately before
us. Just now the proposed new tariff IS
under attack, and I beg to point out
that these attacks are only a repetition
of those we have heard before. These
will die away, as they have before, when
the people understand what has been
done for their good; I have seen 1t
happen before. In 1922 there was OPP
position to the tariff act on the ground
that it would increase our costs Of pro-
duction. The costs have decreased.
They said the duties then proposed
would raise prices, and prices have
steadily fallen. They said the tariff
would cut down necessary imports of
goods we do not make ourselves. Our
imports have greatly increased. All that
is being said again, and the facts will
disprove it, as they did before.
During the recent campaign both
presidential candidates favored a pro-
tective tariff. It is the policy of the
party to which I belong, and am for
it. saw what tariff can do to create
employment when was a young man
and a worker myself. I was out of a
Job entirely too much before the Nc
Kinley tariff came in. had no such
trouble after it was in effect. American
industry has grown to be the marvel
and envy of the world because it has
been protected from low-wage compe-
tition. Today, when this competition is
more severe than ever, it must have
more protection. Fight for 1t II you
want to see industry hum and employ
ment steady for all.
Tariff Is Economic Problem.
We needed tariff before, and we will
get it again. That is one of the eco
nomic problems we can regard as solved.
We needed the restrictive immigration
act, and it passed, so that we now pro-
tect the American workman from cheap
labor abroad as well as from cheap pro-
duction abroad.