Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-05-12

next question would be, when to start
| this building expansion. According to
! this plan, that was to be when the in
/ dex of employment prepared by the
| United States Department Of Labor or
! by the Labor Department OF any State
shall show a decrease of employment
for three consecutive months, in COM
parison with the corresponding periods
I of two previous calendar years" A
4 board of control would then notify the
! President that business depression ex-
/ listed and to start the works.
/ The $4,000, 900 for river and harbor
work and the $10,000,000 were to be
/ released when the volume. based on
/ value, of contracts awarded for con-
/ struction work had fallen 10 per cent
average of the corresponding three
month period of the three preceding
I years"
You will see how disappointing these
plans would be when remind you that
the Government has no agency for COL
lecting such information on building
| contracts 1t would be dificult to do.
And that is not the only or the real
defect in such plan to cure unemploy-
ment.
Suppose there Is unemployment in
the ore fields of Hibben, Mimi, or in
the shoe and textile factories of New
England. This will not be shown in
any falling off in building contracts.
Unemployment is rarely distributed
evenly and might occur at points far
away from where public works were
needed.
More than that, you can see from our
annual building expenditure of seven
billion dollars that any prosperity re-
serve" of only $3.50, 100000 to stimu-
late public works could hardly be more
than a drop in the bucket. The 500
600 900 spent on rivers and harbors and
flood control would help unemployment
IN the immediate neighborhood of these
works. But even though Congress were
in session and ready to start this money
to work, what good could 1t do to re-
workers of New England? Only what
is reflected bacl; to us as result of
purchases made by those who are at
work elsewhere.
Works Out Plan.
Let me work it out for you in actual
figures. One hundred and fifty million
four hundred thousand dollars would
provide so days work for $50, 900 men
about IL per cent of the number nor
mall employed in the building industry
off the payrollS. AS rule, periods of I'M
employment run from three to four
months. Many are unemployed for six
months. The one beginning in 1898 ran
for nearly four years. To have given
100000 people 100 days work at SO a
day would have cost $1,000, 100000 In
1921. This $l50000,000 prosperity re-
serve would. therefore. cover less than
10 per cent of the situation of 1921.
This is not spoken in criticism. Any
effort to cure unemployment is laudible.
But 1t must be clear that If we are to
meet unemployment in any practical
way, nothing short of the Federal and
State revolving fund of several hun
dred millions suggested by President
Hoover will do.
To show you why this Is so. let me
cite what is going on here in Washing
ton. Congress appropriated $4,000, 900
for the erection of new Government
buildings. The Commerce Building, now
under way, will cost SIT 900 900, and
will be three years in construction. The
contract for the stone has been let to
the Indiana Limestone Association, and
amounts to 100000. What does this
do to stimulate employment among the
granite workers in Vermont?
Bringing this stone from Indiana will
require 1920 freight cars, where our
annual loadings in 1928 were more than
| 100000 cars. In hauling this stone
| from Indiana, probably not an extra
| train will be needed. A few trains will
have extra cars for hauling this stone
without adding to the train crews Or
| raising their wages a penny.
! If you really look into unemployment
! you see the Presidents proposal Is the
only one that measures up to the size
of the problem. His plan of revolving
| fund of several hundred millions does
not assume that normal public build
| ing programs shall be held in reserve
It does not mean that needed schools
and hospitals shall not be built. II
would not hold up public roads for some
emergency. Last of all. the Presidents
plan to cure unemployment does not
aim to compel great numbers of our
working people to roam from place to
place in search of employment.
Employers Seen as Great Aid.
Think for a moment what 1t would
mean to open public works in Arizona
to relieve unemployment in New Eng
land. Right here let me point out how
difficult it would be to get O plumber
a carpenter, a puddler, machiniSt, Q
shoemaker or any one else working al
a specialized trade to take up un-
familiar work It would be just as diff
f1cult as it would be to get q lawyer
in his dull season to take up some other
occupation. What migratory workers
mean to the country, we see on the
Pacific Coast among the fruit pickers
Families there follow the harvest sea-
son in the hope of a few days work
along their way Whole families are
loaded into the family car and trundleo
| up and down in search of work. The
most they can hope for is few weeks
employment in any one spot. And
that sort of life seems to be most de-
moralizing.
believe one very effective way to
prevent unemployment lies right in the
hands of American employers. We are
| just now much concerned about the
effect of automatic machinery in dis
! placing human workers. Beyond al
question large percentage of the I'M
employed In 1928 consisted of persons
| TINS fhr0wn nut Of their iohS nv uau