The Waterbury Democrat. [volume] (Waterbury, Conn.) 1917-1946, 1932-02-02
NEA Service Writer


Notwithstanding labor as IL
it had lost faith in the stories the
economists, bankers and other
business sages used to tell APP
pears to be increasingly bent on
informing It's members just what
Is actually happening to them.
1t Is using it's own statistcians
and publicists to obtain and dis
tribute. the facts and the back
ground of employment. business
and financial conditions, on the
theory that the rank and file work.
ers are both anxious for and In
need of such information.
The railroad unions for years
have published here q four-page
weekly newspaper, Labor, edited
by former Congressman Ed Keat-
ing of Colorado. which covers ma
tional affairs from the labor view
point as we'll as actual labor news.
That Is one reason why you are
likely to find a group Of railroad
men at some remote junction bet
ter informed on public questions
than any other group OF workers.
tt rough the depression, the
American Federation of Labor has
issued q small Monthly Survey Of
Business" which has attracted IN
| creasing attention and has been
more and more widely kuoted. 1t
describes current situations in
simple, Ineligible language-the
kind in which you know what all
the words mean-and occasionally
losses in simple, significant charts
and graphs. The January issue
contained probably the most lucid,
comprehensive yet brief accounts
of the frozen credit condition. the
bond situation and the respltant
business restriction that this writer
has been. Also, similar explana-
tions of the federal budget prob
lem and the reparations tangle.
The point is made, which so
many people still don't seem to
get. that the banks hold about one
dollar in ten Of deposits and lend
the rest at interest. Manufacture
ers, merchants and farmers de-
pend on borrowing from that
moneyfor short periods for costs
of doing business and the banks
also invest in long term loans on
real estate and in bonds and stocks
Of reliable corporation. The one
dollar in tn Is normally ample to
meet reserves, but II depositors
suddenly rush for their funds the
whole credit mechanism Is upset,
banks must sell bonds to get cash
thus depressing bond prices still
further, press business men for
repayment Of loans and avoid new
loans in order to keep ready money
4.N In
farm and other commodity prices
dropped debtors were less able to
repay the banks, security behind
credits decreased and bank in
vestments in railroad bonds, real
estate and other securities declined
In value. The German financial
crisis scared everyone, stimu:v.ing
boarding and Withdrawals. Bond
pricesshot down, the A. F. Of L.
chart shows, at the same time and
at about the same rate of speed
with which boarding increased.
Careful estimates, the fedora
ton says, shows an average of two
dependents for each unemployed
workers. 1t conservatively esti-
mates the unemployed at 100000.
Another excellent example of Ia
Dor union tendency to inform men,
bers is given in cerful survey by
the International Brotherhood OF
Electrical Workers which under
takes to show the trend Of indus
try away from the old theory of
"a fair profit" 1t quotes, In its
monthly journal. bankers, indus
| trailists and economists to show
that speculation and the habit OF