The Wilmington morning star., 1940-10-24

lleV0 III tuen 81 1QuCIl. ILdl LA1Cy WILL
never be happy until they a clasp
them to their own chests and put
their brand upon them. II
they could only get control of them,
they plead, they would take so much
better care of them, honest-to-good-
ness they would.
This tune is, Of course, only a re
hash of the tune of 1885. In that
election year the affection of these
republican leaders for the laboring
man also rose to a high pitch. But
after election day, they and their
friends did all they could in the con-
gress, before administrative bodies,
and in the courts, and in the press.
to beat these measures down into the
ground.
What are the plain facts about
employment today?
There are nine million more men
and women employed in private in
dustry now, than were employed in
March of 1885,.
In the month, Of August of this
year over four hundred thousand
were added to private payrolls. In
September, another five hundred
thousand workers went to work in
our industries.
Answer To Statement
The millions that have gone to
works and the other hundreds of
thousands now going back to work
each month in private industry, are
the unequivocal answer to the brazen
statement made by the republicans
in this campaign, that this admins.
tration has not added one private
job since 1888. This statement of
theirs can only be branded as a de.
liberate misstatement' of fact. And
I now sc brand it.
Let us call the roll of some of the
specific improvements in the lot of
the working men and women that
have come about during the past
eight years.
More than forty two million EN-.
P4OSSo civ AOW l1lOA1ApClS VI lllC OlU
age pension system. An additional
two million men and women, over
sixty five years of age, now are re.
ceiving cash grants each month.
Twenty nine million employees have
been brought under the protection of
unemployment insurance.
Collective bargaining has been
guaranteed.
A minimum wage has been estab-
lished.
A maximum work week of forty
hours has been fixed, with provisions
for time and a half for overtime.
Child labor has been outlawed.
1kl average hourly earnings of
factory workers were fifty six cents
in the boom year of 1929. In Feb.
ruary, 1888, they had dropped to
forty five cents. They are now sixty
seven cents-not only higher than in
1888, but, mark you, nearly eleven
cents per hour bigger than in 1929
itself.
Factory Payrolls
Factory pay envelopes had fallen
to five billion dollars per year by
1882. In 1910, the factory payrolls
are running at the rate Of ten bill.
lion dollars.
And we must not forget that the
cost of living is today twenty two
per cent lower than it was in 1929.
That means something to the Ameri.
can family.
An equally objectionable falsifica,
ton about our economy is made
when the republican leaders talk
about American business - how il
cannot make a profit, how little con.
fidence it has in this administration,
and how this administration hates
business.
We know, if we but look at the
record, that American business, big
and small business, is way up above
the level of 1882. and on a much
sounder footing than it was even in
the twenties.
Do you need figures to prove it?
Our national income has Yearly
doubled since 1882, from thirty.nine
billions up to the rate of seventy
four billions in 1910. If you consider
the lower cost of living today, the
national income is even higher now,
than in the great boom year of 1929.
Bank Failures
In the ten years before the crasl,
Of 1929, the years Of the so called
prosperity boom, bank failures aver.
aged over six hundred a year. The
number, of bank failures last year
was only forty-two. Ten. of these
were under federal deposit insurance
set up. by this administration, and
in these ten banks, ninety.nine per.
cent of the depositors did not lose a
dollar.
During this administration the
total number of bank failures for
the entire seven years was less than
the number of bank failures in any
single one. Of the preceding ten
years.
And yet there are some banks
now using money to advertise, or to
send letters to their depositors, hint.
ing that unless this administration
is defeated, the deposits of their
banks will be in danger. This is
sheer intimidation to blackjack the
election, and to return the financial
control of. the government to the
very forces which had nearly wreck