Toledo union journal. [volume] (Toledo, Ohio) 1942-current, 1946-12-27
VS..
Full Employment
BY Ben Dor, LPA CoIumnist

By Ben Dor, LPA CoIumnist
The Employment Act of 1946 started out as
the Full Employment Bill of 1946, with the
complete support of every part of the progress
sive public. Over 100 congressman got to-
gether to sponsor 1t. Newspapers printed story
after story about it. This column alone carried
over half dozen stories about the bill and the
fight to get it passed.
After this labor of a mountain, a mouse
was born. After working like blazes to pass
full employment act we got just an employ.
ment act.
The one we supported came out strongly
for the right of every man to job. 1t would
have made it the policy of the United States
to assure the existence at all times of suffi-
cient employment opportunities :" 1t called
upon the President to recommend to Congress
a legislative program to make up for any
understanding that might cause unemploy.
ment.
When the bill was passed. these parts were
all gone. The words "full employment" don't
even appear in the act There is no assurance
of job opportunities. All of the other young,
tough fighting ideas were taken out. In their
places were weasel words that sound okay in
the speeches of well-fed, contented old men
who don't expect to be out of jobs when the
depression does come around. But they hold
little promise of jobs.
BECAME AN ACT
However, the bill became an act. The new
law told the President to appoint a threeman
council of economic advisers to advise him on
jobs. The council will help the President re.
port to Congress on what Is needed to keep
this country no more employed than the En-
ployment Act said 1t should be. The country
waited for months to hear who the advisers
would be. For time, we even wondered If
council was going to be appointed at all.
Finally, the names were given out: lawyer
and two careful economists.
Now, 10 months after the act was passed,
the advisers have put out their first report to
the President. A document so important should
be read by everyone. But know why this one
won't be-
It's dulllooking job and as wordy lee.
ture as any I've ever had to read or listen to-
1t reads as though 1t had been written by tired
old men to whom a clever phrase was as i'm.
portant as an idea But here and there, some.
thing stick UP that shows what the council is
thinking about.
For instance, on page four, they talk
about "full employment" That's in the Sec
ton of the report about the political philos.
ophy' Of the Employment Act Evidently, the
councillors are glad that the words, full EN-.
ployment, aren't in the law Why? Because
the words full employment would have meant
that someone might be forced to work more
than he wanted to, with inferior equipment or
at anything other than the calling of his
choice" Well, it that's what full employment
means, nearly 140,000000 people, all support.
ers of full employment, are wrong!
The advisers evidently don't like the idea
that the government might want to give people
jobs when industry refuses to. I'm going to be
waiting anxiously to see what they do recon-
mend when they've run out of honeyed words,
and industry still won't hire the unemployed.
GOES LONG WAY
The report goes a long way to make it clear
that the council is not going to interfere with
Congress, and with the right of Congress to
keep us out of work if it wants to. The Con-
greSsmen probably feel better. The people who
hoped that this council might have some CUTS,
however, won't feel any better after seeing that
their hopes were misplaced.
The Council admits that recession and a
later depression are possible. But YOU will
read long and hard before you will find any.
thing in this report that shows the economic
advisers have any economic advice to give on
how to keep this country out of either of them.
So far, mark up one more addition to the
mouse family.
But there's still one more chance. In the
next few weeks, the council has to send to
President Truman its advice on what the
country needs in the way of economic pro-
gram for the next year. Again, the mountain
is to labor. What will 1t bring forth?
Will it be document that tells us what to
expect in the next few months in the way of
jobs and business? Will it tell us in clear.
direct language what 1t takes to keep prosper.
ity going, and what it is that is threatening
that prosperity? Will it have the CUTS to tell
Republican Congress what kind of taxes will
keep up purchasing power? Will it have the
nerve to tell Truman what he and Congress
must be ready to do before the slide down the
hill begins?
This is what the sponsors of the Full En-.
NIL ant al
please, councillors, 60 back to your labors once
more. We're all waiting anxiously to see what
you produce. Let it be something worthy of
all the labor and high expectations that have
gone into this thing so far
This time, gentlemen, no mousel