Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-02-14
DAVIS SAYS HOOVER
AVERTED DISASTER.
Radio Forum Speaker Gives
Credit to ParIeys in
Market Crisis.
Continued From First Page.>

II the machine ever controls us, civili-
cation is gone"
Mr.. Davis said the best employment
agency is the employer himself, and
That III our employers really put their
minds down on it, there would be no
employment problem"
Secretary Davis also said that elf we
can get a tariff bill that will protect
American industry, it will relieve much
of this unemployment" The American
business man, he added, cannot be ex-
pected to make plans for future devel-
opment and proceed with them until
he knows definitely where he will be i'll
the matter of protection when the
tariff bill is eventually passed"
Secretary Davis address in full was
as follows:
Hoover Action Praised.
Nobody knows what business would
be like today if it had not been for
President Hoover's prompt action. Be-
yond all doubt his conferences of in
dustrial and labor leaders saved us from
a disaster. That was the case after
every financial disturbance of the past.
AS 1t is, we have not escaped some of
the effects. November and DeceEahey
were extremely hard :--.cnIhS for us.
Since the frs+ 81 January the employ-
ment situation has improved, but we
have some unemployment-more than
we want to see,
For man to be out of a Job and I'M
able to find work is the most pitiful
condition / can imagine. l make that
statement from my own experience. 1
know what it is to tramp the streets
in search of work and without a penny.
My own father knew what it was to be
out of funds and out of job, and to
run up big bill at the store that he
had to pay later.
How many are in the same condition
today? The question is asked on every
side. 1t is we'll known that no accurate
figures on unemployment exist. It
would take national census to get the
total of unemployed. To do that
every year would cost millions of dol
lars. The task would be gigantic, and
it would take too long. The Depart
ment Of Labor. with limited appropri-
alton, can furnish only guide, an es-
innate. But that estimate Is correct
and reliable.
Bureau Works Out Index.
Since 1915 the Bureau of Labor sta
tistics, the fact-finding branch of the
Department of Labor, has got a good
picture of the unemployment situation
by collecting the figures every month
from the principal manufacturing in
dustrtes throughout the country. Eight
States collect their own figures and
turn them over to the Federal bureau,
In the other States the bureau sends
out blanks to $4,000 key plants. They
report the number on their paw rolls.
From these figures the bureau works
out an index which serves as a ba-
rometer on unemployment from month
to month.
I believe the $4,000 manufacturers
and business men who furnish these
figures are fair and honest. So are
the employees in our Statistical Bureau.
All are selected and qualified by civil
service examination.
We get our figures as to the railroads
from the Interstate Commerce Com
mission, where they are in daily touch
with the Glass / roads and their 1892
900 employees. The Bureau of Mines in
the Department of Commerce gives us
our figures on coal mining, covering
,376 mines with their 329, $50 miners
So the figures on employment put
out every month by the Bureau of
Labor Statistics are not census, but
they do furnish reliable guide. From
now on the national census is to cover
unemployment. President Hoover has
so agreed and approved. But even a
census covers only single year. Hence
we must judge from the facts gathered
from these $4,000 industrial plants and
other sources.
The big question is, how many are
unemployed? And what are we going
TO do about it?
More Than Financial Crisis.
We have been through more than
financial crisis. For some years we
have been passing through a critical
stage in employment. The railroads to-
day are hauling much more freight than
ever, and are doing it with 100000 fewer
men. Industry is producing Is per cent
more. with nearly 100000 fewer
workers. Our coal mines are producing
more, with fewer men. Every industry
In the country has been modernized.
New machinery new efficiency methods,
new consultations have driven out
manual laborers and skilled workers.
White collar clerks and bookkeepers
have been turned into the streets by
thousands. If you want to see what
consolidation and efficiency has meant
to employment just look around you
in your own home town. If you live
in an industrial community, you will
see any number of factories closed
down and for rent. They have been
consolidated with other industries or
moved to other sections.
Since I became Secretary of Labor,
nine years ago, complete and radical
change has come over the economic
structure of the country. That means
the industrial life of our people.
Recent studies by the Bureau of La
Dor Statistics show that with modern
equipment, management and efficiency,
a man in blast furnace produced more
than Az times as much in 1927 as he
produced in 1899. In steel and rolling
mills a man produced SO per cent more
in 1927 than he did in 1914. In a
shoe factory he produced "a per cent
more, in leather tanning, Al per cent
more; in cement, 81 per cent more; in
flour milling, SO per cent more.
Big Gain in Production.
In the making of motor cars a man
in an hour produced ga times as much
in 1927 as in 1914, and in tire fac
tory nearly four times as much. In
factory making sewing machine
needles a girl inspecting for defec-
tive needles could handle 5000 per
to inspect $1,000 needles an hour
nine times as many.
A magnetic crane today handles more
iron than could be carried and loaded
by so men. A mechanical conVeyor
or spiral chute now used for ship
loading in certain plant enables four
men TO do as much as 100 did with
trucks loaded and pushed by hand. I
could continue indefinitely with figures
of this sort, but the time allotted to
me on the radio will not permit.
These figures mean that unless con-
sumption keeps up with industrial effi-