The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1930-04-17
World Is Near Parting of
Ways, in Opinion of
Norman Thomas.
ROBOT EPIDEMIC PERILS
Working at Machines for
Long Hours ASSailed
as Menace.
BY HARRY FERGUSON
United Press stan Correspondent

NEW YORK, April 17.-Norman
Thomas, a man whose hair mas
grown gray in the leadership Of
lost causes" sees the world today
at a point where it either can
plunge into chaos or emerge as a
well-ordered planet on which men
live their lives according to some
benehcent blueprint.
One or the other will happen, he
believes. within the next two gen.
eratiOns.
Thomas talked today in an in
terview with the United Press, OF
unemployment, of mergers, of the
dangers of men becoming robots
and he talked out of the richness
of a career that has carried him
from the pulpit of an exclusive
church to the slums of New York
as a social workers and through a
score Of political campaigns, none
of which he has won.
He is a Socialist, and as such he
has been defeated for political Of
fees from alderman to President OF
the United States. Thomas has
knoWn two Presidents Intimately
Warren G.. Harding, for whom he
carried papers in Marion, o., and
Woodrow Wilson, under whom he
studied at Princeton university.
Approves Some Mergers
AS a Socialist. he approves of the
merging of giant industries so long
as it serves an economic purpose
instead of being another method
OF racketeering"
The ideal situation would be"
he said, TO have government Oper-
alton. BY that 1 do not mean in
dustry should be run by mayors,
aldermen and congressman. mean
the government, as the agency OF
the people. should have control and
then appoint experts TO do the &C
tual administering.
I think We are at q crucial per-
iod, and 1 think there Is a definite
danger of men becoming robots I'M
less we move out of the chaos that
We are in. Why, just think how
ridiculous it would be for a con-
tractor to start putting up build
ing without having plans, and yet,
the world today is running without
a plan.
Competition Is Cause
That is a fundamental, an I'M
deriving cause, of such evils as I'M
employment. The stock market crash
last fall was only a superficial cause.
Fierce, unthinking competition Is
contributing to the chaos"
Thomas, who has earned a repu-
tation as a practical humanitarian,
is more interested in the present
than the future. He points out that
chronological unemployment" is
getting worSe-that is, to some ex-
terri. men are being Supplanted by
machines.
So he pleads for shorter work
ing hours, so labor may be distrib-
uted among more persons. And he
sees in shorter working hours the
blessings of leisure. the chance for
men and women to cultivate their
gardens and their minds after they
are through work.
Broadly speaking" he said,
archaeological unemployment will
solve itself in the long nun. BY
that mean that If machinery is
to play an increasing part in our
lives: if we are to have more ma
chimes. then there still must be men
10 manufacture the machines.
Makes Robots of Men
what will make robots of men
quicker than anything is to keep
them working at machines for long
hours each day until they go home
at night so exhausted that they
have no interest other than getting
q nights sleep.
Let such condition continue, let
the world proceed on its present
hit-or-niss system, and we surely
shall have chaos in two generations.
WARS and the fierceness OF in
dustrial competition so will reduce
us that. in the words Of j. B. S.
HaIdane. man and all his works
viii 60 down to oblivion
lrIx