The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1930-03-22


BY THE BUREAU OF AGRICULTURE
AL ECONOMICS OF THE U. S. DE-
PARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE.)
Herbert Hoover, Wall Streets prophet of
prosperity and Julius H. Barnes, chairman of
the National Business Survey Conference, one
of the sub-prophets, dare not question the
facts set forth above without repudating one
of Hoover's principal governmental depart
ments.
Yet Hoover gave a special interview to
newspapermen over the week end which is
headlined in Pittsburgh for instance, where,
as. in the adjoining steel and mining towns,
more than 40 per cent of the workers are un-
employed or working part-time, Hoover
Says Dawn of Prosperity Is Breaking"
Barnes began in the New York Herald
Tribune magazine section for Sunday, March
Is, series of articles headed Business Turns
the Corner" A couple of quotations from this
gem Of Munchausenism are sufficient to show
the lengths to which the prophets of prosper
ity are forced to descend in an attempt to
maintain the fiction of Hoover as the miracle
worker of American capitalism and the lie
that business is improving" Barnes says:
"To the business. men of America the
spring of 1880 marks the end of period of
grave concern. -. American business is
steadily coming back to normal level of
prosperity"
Further:
q" At present the trend is right /. :. .
a comprehensive survey of business condi-
tions as of March l.. :. =. shows at glance
that there are few bad spots in American
business =. {. and that recovery from the
admittedly bad weeks of late November and
early December is clearly under way =
Compare these statements with the factual
quotations given at the beginning of this
article.
Barnes article could be characterized most
correctly-and alIiteratively by typical
American slang word.
The Hoover Interview.
Let US return to the interview given by
Hoover, who, according to one lyrical boot
Ticker, without ostentation continues to
watch the details of the business situation with
hawk-like attention" Hoover, according to
this same authority, sis confident that bust
ness is on the upgrade. He feels that the rate
of improvement has been far more rapid than
in comparable cycles in the past
Once more! Read the statement of Herbert
Hoover's own department of agriculture at
the beginning of this article. ct is an il
Eliminating commentary on the executive abil-
ity of Hoover, the far-famed engineer and or
ganizer, as we'll as on the conflict of interests
within the capitalist class and their govern
ment, that. he is not able even to prevent his
department heads and other appointees, as a
result of the workings of Washington routine,
proving him liar)
The Hoover interview, however lit is syn
dictated by the Universal Service, Inc.), is more
sinister than optimistic. 1t has these main
points: s
First, placing still more of the burden of
the crisis on the working class while at the
same time stimulating hope for "better times"
by propaganda (such las the Interpretation
placed by the capitalist press on the interview
itself, and initiation of a few schemes for
"public works" which can be used for politi-
cal patronage as WE'LL by the Hoover machine.)
Hoover-The "Individualist."
There is no plan for governmental relief
for the millions of unemployed in the Hoover
scheme. We quote
1.-THE president, an indvidualist, sponsors no
plans for unemployment insurance, or doles. ."
But Hoover makes direct appeal to the
middle class to "take advantage" of mass un-
employment:
t". a.. The president would like to see home
builders take advantage of the increased eff
ficiency of labor incidental to the existing un-
employment to proceed now to build individual
homes"
So far as the kind of relief that is furnished
to unemployed workers by public utility COM
rz--c5, upon whose construction programs
Hoover places the greatest emphasis, good
example is furnished by the Pittsburgh and
West Virginia Railway now under coIistruc-
ton by the Pittsburgh Terminal Coal Com
pany t@ es
The twelye-hour day prevails on this job,
the wages are rs. to 30 cents an hour and
sl.2ss per day is charged for board. The
workers are hired by employment agencies
and the infamous three gang" system pre-
walls: one crew going from the agency to
the job, one quitting, and one working.
= Second, stimulation of foreign exports:
kin this point the interview says: "Little
has been accomplished in that direction, AZ
it has become increasingly evident that the