The Waterbury Democrat., 1937-07-23

AAAAAA w " DGghA ON9Aa w v - - N~--~~~-F and that there were no men on lhe shady side of fifty At all. l had not SO noticed but at his sug- yestlon I did.
 "what of itP" I asked. "The fob has to he hurried along, the cost of hand labor would be prohibitive, and anyway speed has to be kept up. This Is the age of progress"
 "Yes?" he countered. "Hur- rled up SO that people won't be inconvenienced2 Progress to what? Whats Inconvenience ! when something better Is in- volved2 Where are we pros greSsing and what Is there when we arrivep"
 What do you mean, some- thing better is involved?"
 "A livelihood for men who are willing to work and who can't get 1t because machines do their work quicker and cheaper"
 well, young man, what would you suggest7 Do you want to turn the wheels of advancement backwards2 DO you expect the city to hire q lot of men to do something at ten times the cost and twenty times the length of time 1t takes that steam shovel and those trucks to do2 You're nutsl"
 "of course I'm nuts," he agreed amiably. I'm just nutty enough to believe that 6 city is not the same thing as . factory or . mill. I think . city g0v- ernment should look at It's clt- lscns as something 8 little bet' ter than machines. I'm think ing that the inconvenience which people gre being put to isn't to be compared to the in- convenience of men who are unemployed and hungry and in despair about their future. I'm thinking of the cost, too. My old man pays taxes. But I'm thinking also that there's some' thing more in life than the cost of things.
 "What for instanecp" 1 de- manded because by this time there ~waJ quite c group listen. ing to the philosopher express himself and not a few exclama- tions of approval Of his philos- ophy.
 "VVhy just living and helping others to live" he answered graVely. T don't suppose 1t has occurred to you that when this thing we are looking ct out there reaches It's climax, when men are dsplaced altogether by machines. that VIC are going 10 be faced by ! problem that is not SO easy of solution as the contract price of Q job Of pav' ing c street. We are going Co have men with less and less work to do, and what are we going to do with them? We VIII have the alternative of shoot. Ing them or feeding them. And Che cost Of either will be some- thing pretty steep t0 pay. Well 50 long. Here comes my bus"
 "Oh, so you do believe in eer. tain forms of machine age prog. ress?" I jeered. "How would you like to have to hoof t home or walt for 6 horse.ear to take you there2"
 T gueas I wouldn't be so bad. iy off" retorted the philos. opher. T wouldn't get home 60 quickly but 1 would get the exercise. And I might have . better appetite for my supper"
 But 1 asked you what you would suggest to take the place of our American progresS% l fired after him in indignant Ro' tarian fashion. What kind Of q iabor.saying device would you approve7"
 "The kind that substitutes a washing machine for house. keepers and things like that" he shouted out the bus window. "But not labor saving devices that throw men out Of work and keep them out. Yoa see I am a nut. I believe that the laborer Is more important than the de- vice because the lab0rer is . human being and the device k just . devlce."
 Who's Nutty?
 Of course the youthful philoS' opher was nutty. We can't go back to things as they were in grandpas day. And what would the Republican and the American have done to my Exchange Place thinker If he ha. expounded such convictions in their editorial sancta. Tarred and feathered him perhaps? Or worse, mace him read their morning and eve- ming denunciations of the city administration for what they love to call its "inefiiciency." l can imagine the screech which would come from the Terrible Twins of Printers Alley if the administra- ton had done the Exchange Place re-paving work in the oid- fashioned way. If 1t had taken on all the men able to work m Waterbury and put them on the job. What accusations of loading up the payrolls with prediction workers! must be as nutty as the youthful Exchange Place philos- bpher because, when think 1t over I too would like to see men