The Waterbury Democrat., 1945-01-17

to say Just leave this to private business and we'll handle it."
 You might expect the A, F. of L., economists to come forward with something like. If private industry can't provide jobs for everyone, the government must step in and make work for the unemployed"
 But do they work out the problem in those traditional ways? Not by a hatful. In fact, they come up with almost exactly opposite solutions to the old ones, and that's significant.
 The A. F. of l.. economists come forward with blueprint to show that private business should set goals to take over the program of providing approximately 52 million jobs, leaving to the taxpayers the employment of only five million fed eral, state and local government em- ployes, and two-and-a-h half million in the armed services, plus the care for million or less who will always be temporarily unemployed.
 N. A. M. FINDINGS
 On the other hand, the N. A. M, News, in two recent issues, has tried to estimate where 60 million postwar jobs might be found and has come up with the finding that private business can provide em- ploy ment for only about P million, plus II million in agriculture-a to- tai of B million. Then the N. A, M. reporters seem to reach the conclu- sion that the government will have to provide the remainder and they write that unnamed government planners are actually preparing to do so. The p million government jobs, says the N. A. M. News, will come from these sources; two mil lion on federal housing program, two million on youth program, five million in the armed services, five million on a public roads program, nine million on new valley" plans like IVA, and four million in other government employment
 Now this N. A. M, line may be sound, conservative, hard-headed thinking by practical businessmen who think this 60 million job idea put forward by the President in his Chicago campaign speech is a lot of hooey and absolutely unattain- able any other way. And the A. F, of L. line may be lot of impractical dreaming by a lot of visionary labor economists who never met a payroll and are talking through the tops of their hats.
 SCARE STUFF?
 On the other hand, the A. F. of l.. thinking may be lot more realistic and a lot franker facing of the actu- aIties of the situation If this post war full employment problem is to be met at all. And the N. A. M. re- port may be lot of scare stuff. The N. A. M, leaders may themselves be scared or they may want to scare others into the belief that the gov ernment is planning to take over after the war and provide nearly DO per cent of the jobs that must be provided if there is to be no wholesale unemployment as there was in the depression.
 Anyone not in the economic pro- phecy business wouldn't attempt to say which of these points of view is correct. Time will have to give the right answer on that But if one thing you may be sure. This full em- ployment issue is red hot in Wash ington and it will emerge as the ma- jor objective of the administration's postwar program.
 The 60 million jobs figure is ad- mittedly high. It was picked as a good round number which had a cer tain amount of political umph. The Committee for Economic Develop ment, made up of businessmen who are lot more progressive in their point of view than the old line N. A. M. has estimated 55 million. De- partment of Commerce puts 1t at 58 million jobs by 1850, realizing prac- tically that this thing can't be done overnight. The B million which the N. A. M. Seers predict seems utter ly defeatist