Montana labor news., 1934-11-29
End Profit System and End Poverty

The American people have been deprived since
129 of 2S7 billion dollars worth of goods and
services.
Destitution, even the fear of restitution, could
have been abolished in those five years.
The inability of the great majority of the peo-
pie to buy the goods our productive system is
capable Of putting out has resulted in %curtail-
ment of production at a time when people actual
ly need more than they have.
These are the chief conclusions of a recent
survey which challenges the continued existence
of the profit system. They were made as a re
rult of a f%actual, 7-month study carried on by
the Natl. Survey of Potential Product Capacity
under the direction of Harold Loeb. Begun un-
der the auspices of the FERA, the report was
finally made under the sponsorship of Commits
sioner of Homes, Langdon W.. Post of New Yrk
City. Leading technicians Walter N. Pola-
kov, Felix 7. Frazer, Pomeroy c. Merrill, VIII
liam B. Smith, Graham L. Montgomery, Douglas
L. Cullison, Montgomery Schuyler and James
L. Holdings - cooperated in the survey.
Our loss of Isl billions in five years was not
due to the depression alone, the survey makes
plain. Even in 1929, at the height of American
prosperity, the productive system, if limited only
by our physical capacity and knowledge, could
have produced about 81 billion dollars worth
of goods more than it die. As a result, millions
of people were inadequately fed and clothed.
Food, for example, was ample in quantity, the
report says: yet 10 million families - 50 per
cent did not have enough to eat.
Men and boys bought on an average Of a half
suit of clothes apiece when they could have had
at least TX suits, and sufficient coats, shirts and
so on, without straining our capacity to produce.
With 90 per cent of our people financially I'M
able to live in proper homes, and an annual re
placement rate Of is per cent termed utterly
unsatisfactory, 1,550,O00 new homes could be
built each year, instead of the 1920-1930 average
of $4,000, and without difficulty since there are
ample construction supplies available.
The same situation holds true for transporta-
ton facilities, health, education, personal com
forts, recreation and all human needs, the re-
port notes.
In all this time, the goods and services which
could have been produced, but which were not
produced, would have been sufficient to remove
restitution and the fear of restitution from fam
lilies possessing incomes of less than $4,000 a
year.
without taking anything away from the for
tunate 8 per cent possessing more than $4,000 a
year this could have been accomplished, the
report maintains.
"The difficulty must lie in our present econ
omic system" the survey surmises. After analy-
zing the causes, it goes on to state that IAN econ
omy Of abundance would result if production
were directed TOWARD the satisfaction of human
needs and reasonable wants and restrained only
by physical factors and the state of our know
ledge"
The report sounds a warning note to capital
lists. People will endure infinite suffering be-
cause goods are scarce, but it is doubtful if people
will long continue to endure restitution merely
because it is not profitable to produce the goods
they require"