Henderson daily dispatch. (Henderson, N.C.) 1914-1995, 1938-12-08
Causes Of Unemployment
Not Removed, Babson Says
Continued from page One.)

t
ed namely, 100000 more are idle be-
cause during the past twenty years
we have adopted a ''rob-the-future'
policy for a former s'raise- as-you-go''
policy. For instance:
l. Our change of motive power from
horses, which consumed oats and hay
raised annually by labor, for gasoline
obtained almost freely from the earth.
2. Our change of industrial power
from bituminous coal, which was min
ed by labor and hauled by trains, for
temporarily cheap fuel oil which flows
in pipes.
3. Our change OF heating from an
thractite COAL which also gave en-
ployment to those taking care of fur
naces, ashes, etc., for the carefree oil
burner.
4. Our change from textiles of wool,
cotton, and silk, the raising of which
gave much employment, for rayon
cellulose and other artificial fabrics
made from trees that have been $50
years growing. rs
5. Our change of building construc-
ton whereby alloys, mined from the
ground, take the place, in many ways,
of older forms of construction. IS.
6. Other temporary substitutions
such as gasoline for sail power. tar
for gravel, farm tractors for mules
and forest products for leather. 81
What About Cures For Present
Conditions?
The focal point here is the decline
In the use of coal and the increase in
the use of oil. The use of coal could
be revived by putting a tax upon the
pumping of OIL the cutting down of
forests, the mining of certain metals
and any needless destruction of other
natural resources of limited supply
eve have coal enough, for /. eco yeats.)
This tax should be sufficient to cover
large proportion of the relief ex-
penditures
1 suggest this tax because otherwise
present relief expenditures may con-
tinue to be necessary until the oil he
gins to giT'e out; the forests become
denuded; and the mines become toe
expensive to operate If the internal
combustion engine, the oil burner and
similar inventions were like the DOW
er-loom-merely making labor more
efficient-vl would not suggest such a
tax.
do not now criticize the develop
ment Of water power even though it
completes with coal. The labor dis
placed under legitimate archaeological
improvements soon finds work in 9TH
er industries. In the cases under dis
cussion, however, the situation is very
different. This tax should be put on
because of the needless destruction
by one generation-of natural resour.
ces which have been million years
in accommodating and can never be re-
placed.
More Interesting Figures.
If 20 per cent of the oil now being
consumed was-by such a tax-5aved
for future generations it would in
crease the price of the remaining 80
per cent to. a figure where coal mines
would again be active and farmers
would raise alcohol as a part sub
stitute for this 20 per cent withheld.
This alone would Immediately create
a demand for 10000, 900 tons of Goa
or 3,250,00O,O0O gallons of alcohol
This would give the coal industry
a new lease on life and would be a
boon to hard-pressed farmers. To
make this alcohol would require L.
100000 600 bushels of corn. At an aver
age yield of 25 bushels to the acre,
this would put 100000 acres of farm
land back into production. Of course,
few men would be displaced by the
above taxation program; but the net