Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-09-05
BIZ A. M. SMITH.
.Copyrisht, 1890. by North American News.
HAnAF Alliance

paper Alliance.J
DETROIT, September S (N.A.N.A).-
1T Is not the employers that make I'M
employment" Henry Ford said, dis
cussing proposals that industry be COM
PEELED by Congress to take care Of the
unemployed.
There Is @ great deal of wrone
thinking along this line, and there Is
likely to be more. At that, we are bet
ter of than we were In previous periods
of depression, for at least the present
breakdown has not produced any false
prophets. We have only an occasional
politician who proposes to compel some
body to support somebody else without
work.
"Unemploym is a thing I hate
next to war. Where does 1t begin?
Here is a man laid off at the factory
What does that mean? It means that
the factory has no work for him2 And
what does that mean? It means that
somebody outside has quit buying. And
what does that mean? 1t means that
something has i.appaned to that buyer
And What has happened to him2 Well
somewhere back Of him there was an
influence that upset the flow of pur-
chasing power.
A Moral Upset.
1.-THE only cause of this is some vio-
lent interference with the normal and
natural exchange of the means of liv-
ing. 1t is never a natural interferen q.
Nature goes on doing her part, regard
less. 1t Is a moral upset. Something
happens to divert mems minds and
money away fr, legitimate business.
and the result is that honest industry
languishes. Unemployment begins q
long way back of the employer and e
employe. 1t has cause. At some
stages Of the cause people call it pros
perity and think 1t is great; at later
stages they think 1t is terrible. But it
is the same cause all down the line.
And 1t does not begin in industry.
There Is not factory in America
that was built for shutting down. En-
ployer and employe are both dependent
on the continuous operation and pros
perity OF every industry. When depres-
sion comes, business men are equally
the victims with the workingmen, and
often to q more serious extent. To set
up q theory that holds these two de-
pendent classes responsible for unem-
ployment is not intelligent. 1t begins
farther back.
IT am willing to believe that Con-
gresS could do something about 1t II 1t
would. But I know there are some
things that Congress absolutely cannot
do. Congress cannot compel people to
buy motor cars and other commodities
to keep e factories at full production;
Congress cannot compel industry to
pile up goods with no prospect of sale
or no money to lay for manufacture;
Congress cannot compel employers to
pay employees whether or not there Is
work for them to do or money to pay
them. For 1t is IL buyer that pays.
If every industry Is to be turned into
an. orphan asylum, the buying public
viii pay the bills. And the biggest bill
they will pay will be the ruin Of indus
trial efficiency and all chance Of gen.
eral prosperity. Thi. is tackling the
problem at the wrong end.
VIII Is the oney Idle?
But there are other things that Con-
gress can do. It can find out, for ex-
ample, how it happens that all the
money, previously in the use and con-
troll Of the people, is now lying idle in
the banks. How did it get out OF the
hands Of the people into the banks?
Congress might investigate that. That
money was once purchasing power, the
circulating life-blood Of the Nation.
Now it is q paralyzing clot 1t formerly
belonged to the people and could be
drawn and used for their legitimate
needs. 1t went into purchases and pur-
chases became wages, and a healthful
circulation was maintained
What happened? Why, it was taken
Tor something that gives no return; it
was taken in the peculative stock mar
ket. The difference between honest and
dishonest business is that in the former
the money circuIates back again and
maintains normal prosperity: in the
latter it collects in clots and causes
depression.
Well, at present this wrecking of the
Nations economic welfare Is legally
permissible in this country. You can
raid the peoples prosperity; you can
use the entire public machinery of this
country to work up a grand climax Of
baSeless ejaculation; you can cause the