Smyrna times., 1937-03-18
FINISH 2-YEAR
FIGURE QUEST
Await Report Of Labor Bu-
reau For Study By
III. L. Ickes
PURSUE LONG SEARCH

Washington. - Fifty statisticians
in search of a figure have finished a
two-year quest which carried them
through swamps and forests, down
into pits and mines, through the din
of steel foundries and planning mills,
and through more than a million
dry-asdust documents.
And now triumphantly they flaunt
their quarry-the figure 2.5. 1t rep
resents the ratio between indirect
and direct employment set forth in
the long awaited report of the De-
partment of Labor bureau of labor
statistics on the Public Works ad-
ministration's non-federal program,
which is now being studied by Ad-
ministrator Harold L. Ickes and
his aids.
When men are given employment
on public works they use materials.
To prepare these materials, other
men must be put to work. This has
always been evident. What baffied
economists, government officials,
and industrialists was the relation
ship between these two classes of
labor What they wanted to know
was this: for each hour of employ
ment in building operations, how
many hours of employment are Gre
ated in the preparation of materi-
ais?
Pursue Long Search.
Two and one-half hours is the
answer. This figure was the object
of the long search by Department
of Labor statisticians marshaled by
Herman B. Byer. chief of the bu-
reau's division of employment and
public construction.
To obtain this figure-this simple
2.5-Byer's corps of half hundred
statisticians and statistical clerks
carried the search into every part
of the country, while 400 con-
tractors and sub-contractorsh handling
PWA jobs swamped Washington
headquarters with monthly reports.
More than half billion dollars
worth of material orders were
studied. Planning the campaign, By
er and his statistical strategists de-
cided TO penetrate the unknowns of
the three principal factors in ma
terials neutrality-suspicious., fab
rication, and transportation.
For raw materials field workers
invaded West Virginia mines and
Indiana quarries. They interviewed
employers of swamp labor in Mis-
sissippi and legend famed rough-and-
ready lurnberjacks of the West
coast. Open to them were time
sheets and other records, for in
dustry was as much interested in
the study as was government.
Checking the second process the
statisticians found the cooperation
of great steel corporations assisting
them in their search. They learned
what raw ingredients were required
for the finishing of great quantities
of materials. They already knew
what labor was required to produce
these materials. With cost ac-
counting methods they ascertained
employment needed for fabricating
finished materials.
Study Transportation.
Then came transportation. Every
type of transport - from mules to
fast freight was studied and the
findings tabulated. Surveyed were
the working hours of engineers, fire.
men, and brakemen; of truck driv-
ers, muleteers and stevedores.
Searching through records of
these three essential processes in
materials preparation the research
ers found that the expenditure of
$3.50, 900, 900 for materials needed in
the first three years of PWA's nom
federal program had created 741,-
000,0 900 man-hours of employment in
private industry. Compilation of site
employment records of contractor
and sub-contractors showed total di-
rect employment for the same Pc
riod amounted to 299, 900, 900 man.
hours. These two figures-741, 900, 900
and 299, 900, ,000-obtained after dill
igent search were the basic figures
in determining the ratio of 2.5 to 1.