The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1933-08-12

ere conclusive proof Of it. The fol-
lowing were the increases in employ
ment in the last few months: 0.5 per
cent in April, 0.3 per cent for May,
1.3 per cent for June, and OF per
cent for July. Unemployment is as
great as ever
Instead of more jobs. the Roosevelt
codes have only had the result Of
Increasing the exploitation of the
workers. The codes have provided
the employers with the means of
getting more production out of the
individual workers, by speed-up.
The infIationary squirt in produc-
tion amounting to rise Of so per
cent in the steel industry. has been
accomplished without any appreci-
25lH increase in the number Of
workers.
It is becoming more and more evil
dent that the rise in steel production
is based on war preparations. The
leading trade journal Steel admits
thai there is no evidence of any real
demand from the main peace-time
consumers Of steel the building in
dustry and the railroad industry. The
steel employers are open in their
acknowledgement that the feverish
Naval construction program is mainly
responsible fer the steel boom"
This fact OF increased exploitation
is most glaringly revealed in an ex-
animation Of the auto industry whose
wholly temporary inflationary and
seasonal bCcm has been so proudly
greeted BY the statesmen of the
Roosevelt economic program as the
dawn Of the returning prosperity.
The facts are these: For the first
six months CT this year there was an
increase in auto production over the
same period last year of about 10
per cent. Yet in spite Of this increase
Of aUto production, the index of
number of auto workers who pro-
duced these cars dropped from 50
10 81. While auto production was 60
ing W, auto jobs were going down.
Mere work from less men through
mur6erous spsed-upl
And even during the usual sea-
sonal increase in auto jobs from May
to June OF this year, the auto work
ers were re-hiTed on a wage scale
lower than the crisis levels of last
year, The increase in Jobs for the
month of June being over s per cent.
While the payrolls rose only about 5
per cent. Actually, this meant that
more wage cuts had taken place.
Increased Speed-up and exploita-
tion-and more hunger for the work
ers, this is the working out of the
Roosevelt economic program.
AND as for wages, despite the en-
II thnsiastic headlines of the CAPT.
talist newspapers, the basic rates of
pay for the workers Of the country
have shown no real improvement
from the starvation levels made at
the bottom of the crisis.
THIS is admitted in the latest re-
po-5 Of the United States Depart
mem Of Commerce which states
that:
TN June the hourly rates of pay
were only slightly changed from the
depression lows"
The report continues.
The average employment during
the first half Of 1888 was rs per cent
lower than in the same period of
1882, while psyrolls were 10 per cent
lower"
Not only is unemployment still at
the II million level of the lowest
point Of the crisis. but the drop in
payrolls is maintaining its tendency
of dropping even faster than the
drop in the number of jobs.
On top of this, the government
report reveals that the cost of living
index moved upward for the second
successive month, increasing almost
2 per cent, sizeable increase in this
index.
The conditions of the workers has,
thus, been in no way improved by
the Roosevelt program. In fact.
Roosevelt's program has made life
harder for the workers.
AS for the fundamental economic
n conditions, the Roosevelt program
OF stimulating production by infla-
tionary pressure, has only resulted in
situation that has created all the
conditions for another economic COL
lapse that will even overshadow the
swift overwhelming economic disas-
tiers of the recent past.
Roosevelt's program has failed to
solve the fundamental economic
cause OF the crisis-the lack Of mar
kets for manufactured goods. IN
stead his program has resulted in
the piling up Of manufactured goods.
on top OF the already indigestible
surpluses of unbought goods. All the
economic facts prove this to the
hilt
For example, the figure which
SHOWS how much retail goods is be-
ing carried by the railroads for mass
consumption, is tagging far behind
the total of railroad shipments. This
means that goods are being moved
to the dealers, but that is where they
stay. They don't get into the hands
OF consumers, who are too poor to
BUY. The report of the u. S. De-
partment OF Commerce admits this
when it states,
Indexes of distribution indicate
continuation of the lag in con-
sumner purchasing. Department
store sales in June were off by
slightly less than the usual sea-
scnal amount, and the improve
ment in chainstore sales was not
pronounced
1t would be simple matter to
fonfirm this statement Of the gov
rnment economists by statistics of
fetail sales. The fact is indisputable