Evening star., 1939-05-01

Charles G. Ross. wear
The picture he paints is not CAL
culated to produce any glow of false
optimism. Even If the national in
come is increased to $50, 0,000, 900 900,
as he says it can be, the problem of
unemployment-which is the prob
lem at the bottom of all our trou-
bles-will not be wiped out. 1t will
in the Presidents phrase,
become much less acute" His cau-
tious language denotes a far greater
degree of realism in the discussion
of unemployment than used to mark
the administrations outgivings on
the subject.
Frank Facing of Facts.
There is a commercially frank
facing of disturbing facts In the fol-
lowing two paragraphs from the
Presidents message:
We have found, however, that
in spite of substantial recovery
as indicated by the amount of
employment, the volume Of un-
employment continues at high
levels. This is due in large
measure to two factors. The
first of these is that the net in
crease in the labor supply, due
to the growth of the working
population, is in excess of 5O0,-
600 workers annually.
The second prime factor in this
picture is the increasing output
Of the individual worker. At the
recovery peak in 1887, when in
dustrial production was at ap-
proximately the 1929 level, there
were still about 100000 unem-
ployed. From this and subse-
quent experience 1t is apparent
that comparatively high levels of
production mean substantially
less employment than formerly.
What is principally disturbing
in this correct diagnosis is that no
way has been found (outside Of re-
lief to take care of the workers who
are constantly being displaced by
the machine. 1t is the increasing
use of machinery, of course, which
accounts for the higher output per
worker to which the President re-
fers.
archaeological Unemployment.
A study made by this writer ir
1882, based on the findings of the
Bureau of Labor Statistics and the
researches of Prof. William M
Leiserson and others, showed thai
at that time two men in the manu-
featuring industries were doing the
work that required three men at the
beginning of the century. In the
first 20 years of the century the in.
crease in productivity per worker
was relatively small, but after 1920
when the machine age really go
under way, the increase went for.
ward with great strides. There ha:
been no letup in the process during
the depression indeed, it has fur.
nished an incentive to the employer
to find new ways of cutting hi!
labor costs.
What is to be done about the
growing body of what the economists
call "technological' unemployment?
There are those who say-or said
that there can be no such thing,
for the reason that workers dis
placed by the machine and by i'm
proved processes tend to become abb
sorbed in other lines of manufacture
and in the service industries. This
comforting theory, however true 1t
may be in terms of an astronomical
future, simply doesn't work out in
practice. The facts that are obvious
to anybody refute it.
The Solution.
DR.. Isador Lubin, the able Com
missioner Of Labor Statistics, made
an extensive survey few years ago
while he was with the Bookings In
stitution. to determine the fate of
workers thrown out Of Jobs by ma
chinery. He found that absorption
In other lines of work 'is not only
limited in quantity but takes place
in so slow and piecemeal fashion
that it frequently leads to the de-
struction of prevailing standards OF
living" Where absorption took
place, it was generally at lower
wage level and in a job where the
hard-won skill Of the worker counted
for nothing.
There is no blinking the fact that
the problem does exist, that It is
yearly becoming more acute and
that no solution of it Is in sight
Both In and out Of Congress, there
are those who would try to solve 1t
by putting some sort Of penalty on
the use of machinery. They would
try, in other words, to halt scien-
tific progress. To attempt any such
short-sighted solution would be to
confess that we have allowed the
machine to overmaster us. It would
be to apply, in any case, only
palliative: The machine Is here to
stay, and we have got to learn to
live with it.
What, then, to do? How are we to
turn the machine to wholly bene-
flcent uses? Mr.. Roosevelt states
the case when he says that until
our economic machinery can be re-
aligned to meet present-day con-
ditions, the problem Of unemploy-
ment will persist and the measures
adopted to deal with it must, there
fore, be carefully thought out and
their operation planned to extend
we'll into the future"
He states the case, but the solu-
ton, after six years of well-inten.
toned effort, remains on the lap Of
the gods.