Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-04-21
Past Industry's Deadline
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prime Of life and without physical OF
mental disability, merely because Of ar
assumption that having attained matur-
ity thsy have therefore passed the
point of maximum efficiency, Is not
only absurd but wrong from an eco
nomic standpoint.
Condition Is Growing.
The condition not only exists, but is
growing. It should and must be COM
bated now if we wish to avoid the evil
effect of widespread unemployment 10
or Is years hence. Even now there are
many thousands of men and women
throughout the country who are MAIN
tanning a very precarious hold on life
because of inability to obtain employ
ment after passing the age deadline.
Pick up almost any newspaper, almost
any day. and in some obscure corner OF
it you are likely to find some such item
as this:
Dependency due to Ill health and
failure to obtain employment is believed
by the coroner and police officials to be
responsible for the death of John Doe,
age AZ, whose body was found in q gas
filled room at 216 Water street early
this morning"
Careful investigation of many of the
cases would probably reveal that the
ell health" or nervous breakdown
was due to worry over inability to obtain
steady employment. Go into the in
dustrial centers of America, mingle with
the hundreds of men who use the serv-
ices of labor agencies, ask them why
they are there, and time after time the
reply will be, Il haven't been able to
find steady work for two years; the mills
won't take on anybody over 49,"
All this is a condition and serious
one-not theory. 1t is a condition
that must be faced and one that must
be dealt with in practical, construc-
tive manner. The remedy cannot be
know something of the causes.
Fall to Discriminate.
In the first place, we have laid such
stress and given so high value to in
duStrial efficiency" that we have
ignored the difference in economic eff
feet between discarding machinery and
discarding human beings engaged in in
dustry. The obsolete machine is re-
placed, in many cases, by one which
makes unnecessary the further employ
ment of 8, 10 or score of men who
have acquired skill in their work over a
period of many years, but who are not
particularly fitted for any other occu-
patton.
Find other employment for them, and
they continue to produce and thus to
benefit society. Leave them stranded,
without employment, at As or SO years
of age, and they not only leave the
world poorer by their lack Of produc-
tiveness, but they cut down the market
for other mems labor and goods by nee
eSsarily curtailing their own purchases.
Men out of employment buy no auto
mobiles, radios, new clothing or the
thousand and one things that are me
cessities" for men and women employed,
but unattainable luxuries for persons
cut of work.
Human Side Of Case.
That, of course, is the -blooded,
economic argument for continued en-
ployment of older but still capable men
and women. The human" argument
has been we'll stated by one of the Ma
tons leading lawyers, George w. Wick
erSham, former Attorney General of the
United States Mr.. Wickersham, after
calling attention to the fact that there
are 13,000@aged persons being cared for
in the 30 homes in New York, and that
another 5000 are without such care
while they remain on an ever-growing
waiting list. said:
1T can conceive of no Sadder fate
than that of the old couple who have
faced lifes problems together and who
have known no greater happiness than
the Joy of their mutual conpanionship
being forced to separate at the time
when they have no one but each other,
the man to wither away in an institu-
ton for men and the woman to grieve
put her heart in home for women. Ex-
perience has shown that one or the
other usually passes away after few
months of such separation. The Home
for Old Men and Aged Couples is one
of the few institutions in New York in
which elderly couples may spend their
last years together"
Centuries ago 1t was truly said:
what is one mans meat is another's
poison"
So it is with the development Of the
modern industrial system. Intricate,
ingenious machinery has made possible
quantity production at low cost, and
made available to the mass Of people
in the United States comforts and con-
veniences not otherwise obtainable. But,
at the same time, it has displaced
thousands Of older, skilled workers, who
can and have been replaced by lesser
number of young. unskilled men and
women, willing and able to work for
less money, but fully capable Of per-
forming the comparatively simple tasks
connected with watching and super
vising' the operation of practically
automatic machinery.
Fewer Employees Needed.
Fewer employees with experience and
skill are needed now in many industries.
Speed, more speed, and still more speed
Is the insistent demand. Sharp-eyed
men, with inventive faculties, are regu-
larry employed by all large industries to
inspect and reinspect plant operations
constantly to find ways to speed pro-
duction and cut costs. And though age
usually increases knowledge, skill and
Judgment, IT'D rings no increase of the
speed of worker.
Public health generally has benefited
by modern methods of sanitation and
the medical discoveries of the last half
century. Human life has been con-
served. In 1870 about 20 per cent of
our population consisted of persons of
40 years of age or older. In 1920 there
were nearly 81 per cent in that class.
The expectancy of life of the average
man has been increased from 40 to Sc
years Of age during the last two gen.
erations. In 1901 only Al, 900 out Of
100000 people reached the age of IS.
but in 1920 $1,000 out of every 100000
reached that age. And while the num-
Der Of older people has been increas-
ing, the need for workers has been de-
creasing because of machine produc-
ton methods. If industrial produc-
ton were at the same rate per worker
now as only 10 years ago. 1873 men
would be employed where 100 previous
~ worked. Instead, we are able to