Evening star., 1932-05-18

nine years from 1920 to 1929, l,0OO, ,OUO
persons were added to the ranks OF the
unemployed
This constant growth Of unemploy-
ment is sign of fundamental unbal-
ance in forces directing economic
trends. In the last two decades our
methods of industrial production have
been revolutioniZed New machines
have in turn been replaced by newer
and more efficient machines, needing
still fewer workers to man them. With
the newest automatic glass-blowing
machines, one man can do the work OF
81 hand workers in making electric light
bulbs: in making small bottles. one
man does the work of 40 hand workers.
In steel production, one man does the
work of 40 in operating open hearth
furnaces and two men replace 128 In
loading pig iron. We have just heard
that in the gold beating industry. max
ing gold leaf for window signs, new
machine has been introduced to take
over hand work: where "a workers
were employed 81 were laid off and
the other 7 have only part-time work
These examples show what is happen
irg with the introduction of machinery;
they could be multiplied indefinitely.
Huge Machine Development.
So rapid and so widespread has been
the transformation to a machine basis
in industry since 1919 that the period
has been called the new industrial
revolution" The result has been enor-
nous reduction in the work time neces-
sary to produce the goods and services
needed by our people Careful calcu-
lations show that the shortening of
work time was three times as great
from 1919 to 1929 as in the two previ-
Gus decades. In 1899 the average work
week in manufacturing industry was
SO hours. BY 1919 factory worker
could do in Al hours work that took
his predecessor SO hours in 1899. The
necessary work time had shrunk by II
hours in 20 years. But in 10 years,
from 1919 to 1929, the necessary work
time decreased further, through the de-
velopment and financing OF inventions,
by 18 hours a week. Work which took
the average wage Garner normal work
week of So hours in 1919 took only "a
hours in 1929.
This progress gave an unprecedented
opportunity to increase the workers
leisure, and from 1899 to 1919 many
gains were made. Trade unions were
agitating for the eight-hour day. In
the 20 years from 1899 to 1919 the
average work week was shortened by
seven hours, from SO hours to So hours.
Leisure opened a new world of ex-
perience to workers. Time which had
been spent in the factory was spent
i'll recreation and self-development;
evening classes and workers education,
automobiling, movies" sports, trips
and visits, a more wholesome and full
rounded life. Workers took a new in
terest in community affairs, read more
books and newspapers, developed
more intelligent outlook.
Balanced Industrial Progress.
The reduction in work hours also
made possible a balanced industrial
progress. AS machines replaced work.
ers, work hours were shortened, pro-
viding more work: jobs were found for
those replaced. There was no evidence
of increasing unemployment
But since 1919 the balance has not
been kept. Although the work time
needed in our industries has been
shortened more rapidly than ever be-
fore. workers gain in leisure has been
relatively small. Machines have short
ened necessary work time by 18 hours
! 2 week, but workers gained only two
! hourc' leisure.
/ This unbalance accounts for the
present widespread unemployment New
machines replaced hundreds of thou
sands of workers, work hours were not
shortened to correspond and the new