Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-02-09

opportunity to apply practical measures
for improving conditions which immedi-
ately confront us.
"in the case of individual industries,
MANAGEMENT has already made meas
urable progress in leveling the peaks
and valleys Of employment and lifting
from the shoulders of the workers the
burden of uncertainty, the demoralizing
effects of which we all feel. Some have
been able to assure their workers virtu-
ally continuous employment throughout
the year.
'"This has been accomplished by care
full planning to overcome inequalities
due to fluctuations in demand for COM
modities or to shifting conditions. Man
ufacturing and selling, the smaller
counterpart of the larger economic fac
tors, production and consumption, which
are involved in any general economic
problem, have been brought into more
or less continuous balance, insuring
uninterrupted operation. In a score of
industries individual plants have made
remarkable progress in this direction.
THE question now arises whether the
same methods can be applied on a
much larger scale and with much
greater effect by whole industries. Bust
ness executives are quite aware that no
industry stands by itself. If the auto
IuOUnG 4IlQuSIIy Tags, d uODSH OIIleIS
languish. If the electrical industry falls
behind, copper hesitates. AT the same
time all the members of given indus
try are adversely affected by these
larger causes and caught in the same
grip of circumstances.
This interdependence has given rise
to the tade association movement, which
has developed further in the United
States than IN any other country.
Perhaps the time has now arrived for
putting this type of organization to the
test. If the individual manufactures
can overcome the difficulties which
stand in the way of security and con-
tinuity of employment in his own, can
the industry as a whole obviate the
difficulties which stand in the way of
the same achievement in the larger
field? Can they, by cooperating with
other industries, avoid the dislocations so
devastating in their effects and the
occasion of such widespread distress?
Need for Steady Work.
eff a certain number of key indus
tries could give their workers the as
Surance of uninterrupted employment
and sustained earning capacity, they
would set up against the recurrent
waves of apprehension and distress that
characterize every business depression a
formidable barrier and buttreSS the
general sense of security which is so i'm
portant factor in the maintenance Of
business activity.
Here, at least, is starting point. In
the belief that something can be accom-
plishsd in this direction, the national
chamber is asking the service of men of
proven leadership in various lines of in
dustry to consider the practicability of
steps by which workers in certain key
industries may be given assurance of
some degree of continuity of employ
ment Different industries, it is true,
face different conditions, just as each
individual manufacturer faces pecu-
liar set of circumstances. But there is
certainly a sufficient community of in
terest, a mutually of advantage and
similarity of method in all industries,
which are inextricably tied together in
the same general enterprise, to serve
as a basis for a greater degree of CO.
operation among them in the attempt
to devise practical methods Of meeting
this great problem.
This is pre-eminently a task for
business. In no other way can per-
manently successful solution be found.
Ill conceived governmental remedies
might eaSily-as they have elsewhere
lead to greater ills than those which
thew are intended to cure /"