The Carbon County news., 1931-07-16
THAT MACHINE AGE" NONSENSE
By GEORGE B. LOCKWOOD

By GEORGE B. LOCKWOOD
An almost unlimited amount of nonsense is written,
spoken and believed the subject of the machine age
and its effect social and economic condons its
tion of unemployment, destruction Of initiative, and its
creation of the need of economic and social order
When the proposals for the social and economic order
analyzed, they usually found to contemplate the
placing of the responsibility for straghteng everything
out on politicians dominating exaggerated state under
which people to be regmented and stepped in
to both efficiency and slavery.
Most of these theories are based not on facts but on
theories disseminated by socaled socioogsts and econo
msts who regard facts unnecessary nusances IF the
proponents Of these ideas would spend half the time in
studying the facts that they exhaust in broadcastng
sophstes the people would not suffer so much from lack
OF intelligent leadership.
1t IS OF course very tedious and unromantic to examine
the governments of manufactures These are at
hand for the years 1919 and 1929 the decade in which
the machine age is supposed to have demonstrated this
tendency toward the creation of unemployment by sup
planting handiWork with machine production and there
by destroyed the paychecks and deadened the souls of
American industrial workers. Curiousv enough these
figures prove the exact opposite of what is claimed by
these prophets of disaster the result of machine prouc
ton
The number of manufacturing establishments covered
by this in 1919 and 1929 was almost exactly the
same-the government tries to get them a-214 1888 in
The average number of wage earers employed in 1919
nine million; in 1929 252982 less: the decrease was
two and one-haf per cent in ten years!
Yet the amount Of power employed in production was
greatly increased during that ten years. The average
horse power per establishment was 37 in 1919 and 2O3 IN
99the average horse power per wage Garner increased
exactly fifty per cent
But during the enyear period wages increased over
billion dollars while salaries also increased more than
billion dollars. Yet there was general shortening of
hours.
In purchasing power wages and salaries increased much
more rapidly than real wages The Wholesale price index
IN 1919 was 283707. It was 188689 in 1929 In other
words $l88 would buy much in 1929 as $283 would in
1919 Retail food price dropped in price more than one
half between 1919 and 1929
This increase in wages and purchasing power Of wages
resulted IN creating many thousands jobs than the
machine destroyed 1t brought about the employment of
workers IN construction, transportation amusements re-
pair shops and the like outnbering the displaced work
ers more than ten to one
ay be added that the census of manufacturers shows
fhat despite machine installation the proportion of the
mont paid wages to the value of factory output is ap
pfoNlmaely the same as it was fifty years ago.
we are suffering IN this country now not from the op
efapn OF machines IN American industry, with increased
consuming power due to increased compensation for the
out because we have had at the hands Of Estates
inahsp TOO much economic system under which shrdlu
manshlp too much economic 'ntegration with the Eu
fopean economic system under which productive power has
through the of American mass produc
ilon methods without corresponding increase in consum-
ing power through increased wages This has caused
gut ct goods that has brought about world depres
slo IN Which we are involved This is situation that can
ana ought to be remeded If Americans were doing their
own work today instead of having SO much Of # done
IN foreign cheap labor markets. we would now be ncreas
ing both production and consumption There wud be no
depression There would be little pbi]osonbizno abon+
The evils OF the ''machine age, "