The Daily Alaska empire., 1936-02-13
THE CHRONOLOGICAL UNEMPLOYED.

THE PSYCHOLOGICAL UNEMPLOYED. Despite the criticism of those o-called rugged in- divdualists who still insist there is always job for the woman who seeks it, there remains in this country the problem of technoogca unemployed Which means that large groups of persons who have been forced out of employment by improved machinery and general advanced methods of production.
 Consider for example, the romantic old teegrapher Tsday throughout the states automatic printers dc the work of thousands of the former dot and dash men. One person often girl sits at machine, with a keyboard similar to a typewriter and starts typing (known in the trade punching) AS result Of inventive genius. the words she types the machine are automatically copied on receiving machines in offices all over the country eliminating scores Of re- ceiving teegraphers The sort of elimination of power is found in dozens of other industries. These the technological unemployed. What then is to be done for them, or perhaps better to say, where are they to find means of livelihood? Harold L Ickes Secretary of the Interior and Ad- ministrator of Public Works made excellent point this connection in a recent address in the National Capital when he said:
 With the depletion of natural resources
 there has gone hand in hand a sharp curtail-
 ment of opportunities for employment on the
 farms in the mines and in the factories. Year
 after year, due to improved processes more
 produce and goods being turned out with
 less human labor. The result is what has come
 to be known as technological unemployment.
 It has been estimated that in 1929, which
 supposed to be the peak year of American
 prosperity for all time, there were in this country between two and two and half mil ion men ready and willing to work who could find no work to do There seems to be no limit to the output of American inventors and tech ncians And it is reasonable to suppose that time goes on, there will be more and more unable to find employment for techno- logical reasons,
 What do we propose to do for these men? Without making struggle in their be- half shall endure the building up in this country of a permanent class to which shall grudgingly dole out a bare living? Or shall we seriously address ourselves to the
 problem of creating worth while employment
 for all the men and women of America who
 want to sustain themselves by their own efforts in the honorable and traditional American
 manner?
 It may not be the only way out but to my
 mind one of the soundest and most statesman
 like undertakings in which we could engage
 would be a system Of useful public works,
 which while taking up the slack in employ
 ment at the time would add to national assets. Obviously, such a program
 should not be undertaken unless it could be kept free of politics The nature, the size, the extent and the location of the projects should
 be determined by the best brains the country contains solely the basis of facts, unaf-
 fected by prejudice uninfluenced by those who possess power. That ancient and dishonor- able institution. the American pork barrel
 should be rolled down the precipice of public disapproval to burst its slaves beyond repair the hard rocks of scientific and objective determination of what undertakings should have priority for the greatest good of the country as whole
 Personally, I favor program Of public works in a time of unemployment because both socially and economically, it is much to be preferred to the dole.
 As Secretary Ickes says sound program Of public works may not be the only answer but surely it is enc that is worthy of serious consideration in at- tackng the evergrowing problem of technological un- employment. Relief. the dole, was an emergency measure absolutely essential to keep people from starving. but the dole permanent feature of our existence is not pleasant picture It is admittedly destructive of morale. It weakens the moral fibre and tends toward developing class whose sense of pride and personal integrity is permanently under mined. As nation of all parties and creeds dc not want the dole What then, if not public works do we want solution to the problem of technologi cal unemployed? New invention is taking a share but far it is eliminating power faster than it s creating jobs