Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-09-20
.MACHINE-MADE JOBS
BY FREDERIC J. HASKIN.


Some persons entertain the opinion
that the increased use of machinery
has the effect of steadily decreasing
the number OF jobs and is to be proper
~ blamed for the unemployment in
the United States and elsewhere in
the world. The fact is the reverse
The number Of men employed 90 the
result OF machinery has been null
tiplied
When cases are cited Of the intro
duction OF . labcr-saving machine
which does a given operation. formerly
performed by dozen men, in q small
fraction OF the time, it does appear on the
surface that men have been displaced.
It Is true that those particular jobs
and those particular men have been
displaced by the inanimate machine,
The truer economic fact, however, Is
that other jobs have been created and
the displaced men have wider oppor-
tunities because OF the addition TO the
total wealth produced by the new in
vention.
In the first place, 1t must be con-
sidered that whole new industry has
been established for the purpose OF
manufacturing the machine. Perhaps
not the same men who formerly pro-
duced the goods the machine now
produces will be employed In that In
dustry, but some men will and, through
process of redistribution, all are
placed in the course Of time. There
may be some Inconvenience during the
transition, but, In the end, there = q
net gain.
A period Of depression and unem-
ployment has Q tendency to propagate
the idea that the machine is to be
blamed for the phenomenon. That
this Is not true Is strongly indicated by
the fact that before the machine age
the world periodically suffered from
spells Of unemployment. Even when
work had to be done by hand man
kind experienced the same sort Of up
sets and individuals had difnculty in
finding jobs.
A glance at the machine building
industry, the industry which does not
make finished products for general con-
sumption, but makes the machines to
perform that work, gives some indi-
cation Of the additional jobs created
TO take the place Of those oblitefAted.
The great rise Of machinery has
been in the last 40 years, with the
pace accelerated since the World War.
Half Q century ago very few Of the ar
ticles now used were made by machinery.
Most Of them were not in existence, had
not even been conceived. A century
ago there was hardly any machinery
anywhere in the modern sense. The
old hand loom was q machine, to be
sure, but manual labor was required for
every operation.
Rise Of Machine Are.
Taking the last 10 years we find that
the value of all Industrial machinery
rose from $e06, $50 900 to $685., oil. 600.
This Is an increase Of 55T per cent.
All this vast wealth was q clear gain
to the Nation Yet these figures relate
only to the machines, the mechanical
agencies for the production Of con-
sumable goods. In the same period.
the value Of the goods themselves in
creased from SIS. 1900. 000, 900 TO $S4.-
298, 900, 900. Machinery valued at $685.
ESQ, 900 made goods worth $1S,e00, O00.-
900, but when we had machinery worth
IS, 366, 015, 900 we turned out goods
worth $s4. 298, 0OO, 900.
The men who made the machines
had Jobs at good wages and. by build
ing the machines they created jobs
for the persons who were to operate
them. There now are 10000 factories
in the Nation engaged in this machin-
cry building industry and they employ
some 100000 workers.
In passing, it might be stated that
these figures do not include the trans
portation industry. Different factors
enter there, but 1t is obvious that the