The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1930-05-28
We Need a Running Start

we lNceQ q running OCdrC
Circulation of the blood is essential to life In the hu-
man body. 1t builds up against the waste and loss of
tissue and keeps the vital functions active. The social
and industrial organization which is society, the COM
,nunity. the commonwealth and the nation similarly re-
quires circulation-of employment and money. production
and consumption, buying and selling. Otherwise the
economic organism %atrophies and becomes anemic and
we have stagnant times, periods Of economic distress. un-
employment and collapse of trade and industry.
We need more industrial and business activity at this
time that we may recover from the setback given the
country by last falls stock market debacle, with its de-
Utilization Of luxury buying, therefore Of stagnating bust
ness in one department in a way to cause the effect to
be felt throughout the entire organism. The country will
not fully regain its former prosperity until the old i'm
petus is regained by business. More work, thereby taking
up the slack Of unemployment. will start this swing Of
the pendulum.
The public and private organizations that are planning
on new construction work during the next six months
have it In their power to give the nation a very strong
boost on the climb back to prosperity.
Offhand, the increase in employment which these prof.
ects can provide may not look very impressive. The ulti-
mate effects, however, will be greater than appears on
the surface. All departments of our national economic
system are tied in together so closely that you cannot i'm
prove one without helping to improve all.
Frances Perkins, commissioner Of the New York State
Department Of Labor, makes this clear in a speech re-
Gently delivered at q conference Of welfare agencies in
New York City.
If a million nsen were put to work on public and pri-
vate construction projects, let's see what would happen"
she remarks.
Each man would, before very long, buy five pairs of
sox, one pair Of shoes, one suit Of clothes and three shirts.
Just think what this would mean to the clothing indus
try-orders for 100000 pairs Of sox, 10000 900 shirts. a
million suits of clothes and a million pairs of shoes.
"And that is only a beginning. The families Of these
men have been stinting for months doing without things
they have needed for nearly a year. AS fast as these
million men would be paid they would buy in addition to
the essentials Of food and clothing for themselves and
their families, furniture. radios and perhaps even auto
mobiles. Their children would again buy candy and ice
cream"
That makes the proposition clearer. Let these extra
construction jobs once start and the business revival will
get an immensely important stimulus. Not only will
more men be employed; the money that they earn and
spend will cause the employment Of men In totally unre-
lated fields.
It seems funny, In q way, that the sum total Of ma
tional happiness should depend so largely on whether
new highways are paved and new buildings are erected,
but that is Just the situation we are in. Considered as q
group, our advance on the pathway toward the better
life Is to be gagged In terms Of 50 many million pairs Of
sox and shoes.
There are moments when it appears that the new
science Of ind~ustry-the use OF mass production, the
maintenance OF high wage scales, the strange new econ
omys that calls for the elimination Of poverty as . mat
ter of sef-interest-mAy bring US into IN era In human
affairs tncomparably' more magnificent than anything
ever dreamed Of before. That is why the restoration Of
prosperity is 50 tremendously important.