Evening star., 1930-12-07

SECRETARY LAMONT.
ment of factory output has been prac-
tically as great as in 1921, but en-
ployment has been maintained at a
much higher relative level, having fall
len less than 19 per cent from the high
average of last year.
This striking evidence that employers
have recognized the justice of spread
ing out work opportunities among as
many workers as possible and the wis
dom of thereby maintaining their or.
ganizations intact. Is further confirmed
by the study to which referred q few
moments ago. These 103 plants, en-
ploytng $4,000 persons, reported that
they were keeping on their pay rolls
nearly 10000 more workers than were
actually needed In direct production.
Many Of these establishments were ro-
tating work among available employees
or were utilizing their extra labor on
much needed repair and maintenance
work. can not emphasize too strongly
the desirability of some such system Of
staggering employment so that many
| industrial workers now unemployed will
be offered at least part-time employ
ment during the coming Winter An
even wider adoption of such measu
offers the best opportunity for prompt
aleviation of our present problems.
Important Gains.
The maintenance of wage rates vir-
tually unchanged at the high levels of
last year, the avoidance of serious in
dustrial strife and the relatively greater
stability Of employment in the present
| depression represent very important
gains over our experience in previous
depression periods-gains which are i'm
portant not only for their present in
fuence upon the employment situation,
but for the influence they will exert in
the future.
President Hoover has always advo-
Gated the pushing of public and other
large scale construction programs as a
corrective 20 periods Of depression. At
the White House conferences last Fall
the railroads and other utilities an
nounced an expanded program of con-
struction and betterment for the year
| 1880 which amounted in the aggregate
TO nearly three and half billion dol
lars-an amount well in excess of the
large total for the previous year Pub
Tic works and highway construction un-
dertaken this year aggregated another
three and half billion dollars. The
combined total will thus be close to
seven billion dollars, representing an
increase OF 10 per cent over the previous
year instead Of the decrease which
| usually occurs in periods of business
/ decline. Translated into terms of en-
ployment, this means that / 500 900 or
more men are gaining their livelihood
directly from this vast program of
public works and public utility con-
structlon and that the increase in this
class Of work this year has resulted in
the additional employment of close to
100000 workers who would otherwise
be unemployed
| In fIic '&I-z
menC mas contributed an important
snare. Federal expenditures for con-
struction OF all kinds will exceed half
a billion dollars for the year resulting
IN the direct employment of between
IOO,0oO and 100000 men, while the
president has recommended to Congress
an aodltlonal appropriation of from
SIooOO0,O 900 to $l5o,0o0.0O0. On Fed
eIal-alo highways alone during the past
tnree months, 21 per cent more workers
nave been engaged than in the cor
responding period of last year. Thus.
at time when industry has been Law.
ing on workers, the Federal, State and
local governments, and the. railroads
ana public utilities, have been helping
70 take up the slack by adhering CLOSELY
10 tne expanded program of construct
t4oh announced last Winter
Few Order Cancellations.
It was generally hoped and believed
IN the earlier months Of the depression
that II would prove no more serious
| than that OF 1924, which most of us
have forgotten. The conferences held
by the President added to the hope of
an early upturn. Many of the country's
leading economists and statisticians
prophicied with considerable Confidence
that business would recover promptly in
the Spring of 1880.
Money rates, which had been swollen
during the stock market boom, had
cropped TO normal, and capital for the
| conouct OF business and for investment
was reasonably abundant. There were
apparently few excessive inventories and
lew cancellations Of orders-factorE
which had precipitated swift price de-
| clines In 1921. No serious failure of
banks, brokers or industrial and COM
mercial concerns had occurred. Our
great business enterprises were then. as
they are today, in strong financial DO
sition.
AS matter Of fact, this hopeful out
| look seemed at first to be justified by
| various business indicators. In the first
quarter OF this year some Improvement
appeared in building construction, in
the production of steel and of automo-
biles and in factory pay rolls. stock
prices swung upward and commodity
ward turn.
AS the Spring and Summer advanced.
however, 1t became evident that general
business was still sick From time to
time turns Of a favorable character an
peared in this or that statistical indi-
Gator, giving hope that the bottom had
peen reached, but a number of abb
normal and disturbing factors inter-
Vened and dampened these homes
Among such factors were the tariff api-
tatlon, exaggerated for political pur-
poses widespread and prolonged
drought threatening the supplies Of feed
Tor animals and cutting down the buy-
ing power of farmers, upheavals in
Latin America. political difficulties in
Europe and continued declines In world
commodity prices
With Autumn the big problem before
us was that of further relieving the
actual hardshipS Of unemployment
We should be able to handle the pres
ent situation more successfully than the
task that confronted us a decade ago
| That depression, it is true marked the
first occasion in the history of the coun-
try when nationally organized effort
was made to cope with the problem.
But in this earlier period neither the
Federal, State and local governments
nor the industries organized to meet
the problem until the Fall of 1921
when the most acute phase of the de-
preston was upon us. In the present
emergency, on the ether hand. the con-
ferences called by the President imme-
diately after the stock market crash a
year ago gave start TO movements
which have not only furnished consid-
erable relief, but are now r1pening into
a much larger progrcm.
In October when President Hoover