The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1930-04-29
By HARRY CANNES.


IN May Day exactly fifty-three of Hoover's
magic sixty days will have passed. 1t is
time for Hoover again to issue his usual lies,
as he did after the March mass demonstra.
tions. On five different occasions since jan
uary 81 Hoover has announced employment is
improving" Each time his lies were nailed
by the figures issued by the department of Ia
Dor. But May Day comes at almost the end
of the period when the crisis is supposed to
have vanished to the limbo of the lost. Yet
on May Day find the crisis of American
capitalism at its sharpest stage.
We have Hoovers own word that December,
1929, was "the low point of business and en-
ployment, in the present cyclical crisis. But
Hoover said that on March in triumphant
spirit, in boastful declaration, like captain
who has passed the dangerous shoals and can
now announce to his parasite passengers, that
the danger is past.
In December, when the entire economic ma
chinery of American capitalism was being
shaken to its foundations by crisis whose
revelations are now travelling to every corner
of the world, Hoover said Everything is
normal"
The Elusive Low Point"
In the early part of March, when the crisis
was becoming than the December slow
pClnC hoover issued MS MONUMENTAL lie. say
ing employment has been slowly increasing.
and the situation is much better today than at
that time (December.)"
What is the extent of the crisis May
Day? I'VE will go into the month of May this
year." writes Paul Willard Carrot, financial
editor of the New York Evening Post (4-26-30)
without any visible evidence of an upturn."
March was worse than the slow point" of
December. On this point the Annalist april
IS, 1930) one of the leading mouthpieces of
Wall Street flatly declares:
''The Annalist Index of Business Activity
shows further decline to S9.4 for March,
which is slightly lower than the index for
last December, which $685."
All Along the Line
The Annalist Index is based on production
and distribution in the leading basic industries
of the country, and during March all of them
showed a further decline.
For the workers this was another tremend-
Gus blow Unemployment increased tremend-
ou-,y during March On the basis of the fig
ures of the United States Bureau of Labor
Statistics, over 100000 more workers were
added to the ranks of the unemployed bring
ing the figure well up to 100000 walking
the streets facing starvation. This is what
the Journal of Commerce april 10, 1930)
said about increased unemployment in March;
ences by advancing, the employment index
of the United States Bureau of Labor Stats
tics declined in March, dropping l per cent
compared with February. At the same time
the pay roll index fell IL per cent.
The AnnaGst shows even further decrease
in employment for March. They state:
"The Annalist Index of Factory Employment
| and The Annalist Index of Factory Payrolls
| show further decreases for March, the employ
ment index having fallen to 1872 preliminary
| from the February revised index of 946 while
| the rayrolls index has declined to 92.7 (pre-
liminary) from GAL. :"
| This decline in employment, says the An
nalist, is "the lowest since August, 1922"
| 1t Didn't Work
| Hoover on a grand scale tried to emulate
| the Dutch boy he had read about in McGuffey's
| reader who in the nick of time prevented
| flood by stuffing up break in the dixie with
his finger But Hoovers lying tongue
| futile. In this instance, history did not repeat
itself.
But what about April? What about the fu-
ture? For April we will let that Depart
ment of the U. S. Government which Hoover
himself so painstakingly built up in the inter-
est of the bosses strip him of his flimsy lie.
On April 10 the Department Of Commerce is
sued press release which said:
According to the weekly statement of the
/, Department of Commerce for the week ended
April II business, as indicated by the volume
of check payments, was about IA per cent
lower than in the previous week and about
| per cent lower than for the corresponding
| week of 1929. Operations in steel plants
during the latest reported week were
slightly lower level than in the previous week
and nearly % per cent less than year
| ago..