The Butler County press. [volume] (Hamilton, Ohio) 1900-1946, 1931-10-02

New YORK ClLy (lLNoJ-1 cure
for industrial ills in all nations lies
not in keeping men without work but
in finding way for men to work and
earn incomes for the production of
commodities, Matthew Woll, vice
president of the American Federation
of Labor and president of the Union
Labor Life Insurance Company, de-
clared in radio address broadcast
over Station WOR.
''If the state-and | mean any
state-is to pay money to maintain
it's workers, then the state must take
over and operate the machinery by
which commodities are produced" ;"
Mr.. Woll added. He continued:
"The institution that meets the
payroll must operate the business.
American labor is opposed to that
sort of socialistic state. 1t sees the
dole as a penalty for misgovernment,
as we'll as mismanagement in indus
try. Temporizing with such condi-
tions by the introduction of half
measures, by advancing toward So
cialism, by enlarging the powers and
functions Of the state for paternal-
istic care, places upon the backs of
the people one more huge incubus.
without curing anything.
Standards of Living Hit
"The Englishman who must pay
nearly $1,000 out of his $4,000 to the
government in taxes in this year must
reduce his standards of living by
nearly one-ffth. He will be able to
buy fewe clothes. He must buy
cheaper varieties of food. He must
live in a poorer home, and health
must suffer. The manhood and
womanhood and the childhood of the
nation must go down grade.
''It is an astounding contradiction
and one that the political leaders of
England do not explain, that while
the number of unemployed is expect
ed to be larger this winter, the needs
of the people for food and clothing
factories will not operate to meet that
need Money that families need for
clothes and food will be going into
the great government Golfers to pay
for an experiment in paternalism
come to grief.
"The trite statement that people
cannot be left to starve loses its
meaning in the face of the fact that
efforts to prevent starvation by false
methods in the end broaden the area
of starvation and increase the total
of misery.
Evil is Accentuated
ut must be apparent that by in
creasing taxes on the one hand and
by reducing the consumer capacity
on the other, the evil sought to be
avoided is really accentuated. Ger
tainly it seems somewhat difficult to
make out case for British trade re-
vival under the present conditions.
however commendable is the action
of Prime Minister Macdonald in
avoiding complete collapse of the
financial structure of England with
it's attendant dire consequences. What
British industry will now be faced
with is increasing difficulties of get
ting back old markets due to the fact
that other countries with lower stand
ards of living and lower production
costs in terms of gold have been
manufacturing on their own account
and have been guaranteeing home
markets for their products behind
tariff walls.
There is no government on earth
that can permanently stand the sup
port of two and a half million per-
sons by means of dole. Even any
prolonged effort of this kind must re-
suit in distortion of the ordinary
functions of private business and