Evening star., 1931-12-28
SOCIAL SCIENTISTS
OF z GROUPS MEET
Associations Discuss Topics
Ranging From Divorce
to Gold Standard.

Twelve groups of social scientists
opened their annual meetings here to-
day with topics of discussion ranging
from the gold standard to the divorce
rate.
The groups were the American So
Geological Society, the American Eco
nomic Association, the American Sta
tistical Association, the American Po-
litical Science Association, the Amer
lean Farm Economic Association, the
Econometric Society, the American
Marketing Society, the Association Of
University Instructors In Accounting,
Teachers of Business Law and the Ma
tional Association of Teachers Of
Marketing.
A Federal labor board to plan for
absorbing workers displaced by ma
chimes was recommended before Sec
ton of the American Economic Asso-
citation by Sumner H. Slichter OF Har-
ward University.
Opposes Shorter Working Week.
A debate between the academic and
preston featured the morning session
of the association.
An attack on the shorter working day
solution for unemployment was made
by Prof. T. N. Carver of Harvard UNI
versity.
-Four errors are found in the rea-
soning of those who advocate the re-
duction of working time as remedy
for unemployment" declared Prof.
Carver. The staggered week or the
staggered day does not reduce unem-
ployment. 1t only smearS 1t around
More leisure does not necessarily IN
crease the demand for goods. II men
are to receive the same wages for
reduced product per worker 1t Will raise
the money cost per unit OF product
II is a mistake to assume that the
same results will follow when the short
ened working time is adopted in all
industries as when it is adopted In one
or a few"
Stresses Wage Aspect.
These views were opposed by John r
Frev secretary of the Metal Trades De
partment of the American Federation OF
Labor. who contended discussion OF
Shortened hours of labor without con-
sideration of the economics of wages Is
futile.
TT is not a question of what the worker
will do with his leisure which is impor-
tant." Mr.. Frey said. The important
question is whether, with rapidly deVel-
Oping processes of production, we Will
divide the work among the wage earnerS
or deliberately crystalline permanent
army of unemployed.
Back of the question OF shorter work
ing hours is that OF WageS-a sounder
economic division of the wealth created
through manufactures. In 1928 the
total volume of wages paid In the united
States was S649 100000 less than the
previous year. The wage earnerS OF the
United States were that much less aple
to buy American products than they
were in 1927 although the volume OF
wealth created through manufacture IN
1929 was much larger than in 1927"
Scores Ford Policies.
Samuel M Levin of the College of the
Citv of Detroit, severely censured the
Ford employment policy. The failure OF
the fve-dav week to alleviate unem-
nInvment abandonment OF the historic
S7-a-dav wage. a negative" unemploy-
ment policv lack of cooperation With
the community emergency organization
and a hit or miss" lay-of policy were
some of the sins with which the Ford
management was charged.
The Ford wage policy" Prof. Levin
said. has offered no quarter 10 VlcIlmS
of industrial fluctuations. HoStS OF Foro
workers are denizens OF the puoHc soup
Kitchens and lodging houses, and thou
sands of others have been reduced to
dependence on public and private char
ity"
delinquency in American cities de-
creases almost in direct proportion to
the distance from the central business
district, according to a study OF seven
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