The people's voice. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1939-1969, 1940-04-10

Voice agrees or disagrees with the
for this department should be brief
some degree at least, effectively.
WHY WE HAVE UNEMPLOYMENT
The critics of the Roosevelt admin
]istration are placing much emphasi
on the fact that we have nine or tel
million unemployed, and since no on,
can dispute that our unemployment
lproblem is acute the unsuspecting citi
zen accepts this economic evil as re
lflecting discredit on the ability Of oul
national government to cope with The
evils of our very complicated econom
lie system.
Without study or thought many O.
our otherwise intelligent citizens have
developed personal prejudices and {
class conscientiousness that is under
mining our economic system.
1t Is not my purpose to attempt tt
detract from the Importance Of our un-
employment problem = obviously this
is recognized as our number one prob
lem-but to place responsibility fol-
unemployment, and to find a cure fo1
this problem, one must have a com
prehensive understanding of the ele-
ments entering into our economic
structure. So let us examine some OF
these elements, in an effort to find
the cause, and thereby become better
qualified to prescribe a cure.
! October of 1929 is generally &C.
lnnnfod "a - = for
employment so far our purpose com
parsons based on this should reflect
a comprehensive picture In October
1929 the federal reserve board adj
justed index of industrial production
stood at 118, and there were AZ, 900, 900
persons at work in the United States,
with only 100000 unemployed; 10
years later, in October of 1899, the
production index stood at 120, and
there were 44,O00,000 at work and g.
100000 unemployed. You will note
that production in 1899 stood two
points higher than in 1929, yet 3,000,-
600 fewer people were employed, this
in spite of the fact that 100000 jobs
were saved through the shortening of
the average work week from SO hours
in 1929 to 40 hours in 1899. Analyz-
ing these figures we find that ma
chinery and labor saving devices re-
placed 100000 workers.. While these
100000 jobs were eliminated, 5,000,-
900 new workers were added to our
increasing population, making a total
of 100000 new job seekers, added
to the 100000 unemployed in October
1929, make up our army Of 100000
unemployed. 1t is generally conceded
that II our economic system is to
survive and democracy to succeed, we
must put this army of unemployed
to work in productive employment
and since industry will only produce
that which they can sell at a profit
we should have some knowledge of
the economics entering into the struc-
ture of our Industrial plant 1t is
estimated that our American Industrial
plant is operating at about SO percent
it may therefore be assumed
assimilate all of our unemployed in
productive employment. Examining
some OF the elements entering into
our failure to accomplish this, we find
that of all goods produced in the
United States, 1879 are sold to con-
sumers and 21%o are capital goods"
These consumer goods are such items |
rs food, clothing, automobiles, homes, |
he material that go into them and |
other articles bought and used by the
average American family The capital |
goods include machinery, factories,
abroad equipment, motor trucks, Of
ice buildings, roads and other things
lsed to transport consumer goods. In
simple terms capital goods serve only
me purpose: to make and distribute
goods and services, it will
therefore, be seen that American in
lustry exists to serve consumers. It
s important then that we consider
where and who these consumers are
tight here / think is the crux of our
Whole problem.
Much has been said about industry
icing willing to go ahead with expan-
ion if the government would just let
hem go without restriction, but when
ye consider that capital goods which
) plant expansion, forms only 21%o of
ur production, and that these capital
Gods are created to serve consumer ,
Gods, first consideration must be :
iven to consumer goods, for with a !
onsumer demand, the production of
apital goods becomes necessity as ;
ell as a good investment and will >
lerefore lure idle money from out of !
iding.
Since we normally export only eight :,
, nine percent of all goods and serv- !
es produced, it is clear that our in !
lie American consumer. $3.50 of all !,
Imilies and single persons in America !
ave incomes Of less than $4,000 a ),
sar; 64% of these are wage earners
Id clerical workers, including teach :,
8; $3.50 are farmers and 11%o bust :,
,ss men, while 1870 of this group :,
I'VE incomes under $780, Never -
eless because there are so many of :,
EN- 100000 in all, they buy 1870 -
all consumer goods sold on the =
merican market. =,
1t is significant that low income !,
miles, chiefly workers, buy $3.50 of 81 q
food products sold on the Ameri- =.
n market by farmers and manu-
cturers. They spend 77% Of all y.
oney paid for housing, including cleo
city, gas. coal, furniture and other 70
SITS Of house operation and furnish
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