Unemployment in the United States

Bibliographic data

Monograph

Identifikator:: 1828236179

URN:: urn:nbn:de:zbw-retromon-226169

Document type:: Monograph

Title:: Unemployment in the United States

Place of publication:: Washington

Publisher:: United States, Government Printing Office

Year of publication:: 1930

Scope:: II, 193 Seiten

Digitisation:: 2022

Collection:: Economics Books

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Chapter

Document type:: Monograph

Structure type:: Chapter

Title:: Statement of James A. Emery, Washtington, D.C., representing the National Association of Manufacturers, and others

Collection:: Economics Books

UNEMPLOYMENT IN THE UNITED STATES 113 tself 2CO- rest, hich this tler, Ww. here bor. 3 8. well tion sity rard won; rts, fion the CO= hLer- ay, ate ted mt, nat ted ing ag, nd to 1s, ir AP LO on, a- »al 1t- Mm 1s Jo at 5 I= or ne ns ad 1s tions save parts of their respective incomes. The weakness of his hypothesis lies primarily in his failure to recognize the fact that income saved is actually promptly spent—its chief peculiarity being that it is spent for producers’ rather than for consumers’ goods. Thus, the corporation’s savings are largely used to construct new plants, install new machinery, and so forth. Savings not so spent are de- posited in banks which loan the money to others who spend it. As a matter of fact, economists long ago made the fact clear that there is never any danger of production outrunning consumption. Human wants so far exceed the total of goods available that for practical purposes they must be regarded as insatiable. The larger the product of a business enterprise, the greater its sales tend to be. The greater its sales, the more revenue it has available to buy materi- als and hire laborers. The money paid out for materials or wages is used by the recipients to buy other goods or services. And so supply and demand, production and consumption interact in endless spirals. From time to time the even flow is interrupted and depression results. Just what the forces are which break the circuit, economists are not yet able to state with any degree of certainty. Experience shows that, fortunately, the more serious breaks in the continuity of industry are usually short-lived. During these periods of maladjustment many commodities have to be lowered in price in order that the total supply produced may be sold. Occasionally there is some commod- ity which it is practically impossible to market at any price. These transitory conditions, however, do not in the least prove that either general overproduction or general underconsumption ever has prevailed for any considerable length of time in any country. SHIFT OF LABOR There is no evidence whatever to indicate that the trend of unemployment in the United States has been upward during the period of the new industrial revo- lution. What has actually been happening is this. Increased per capita income has enabled most families to spend larger proportions of their respective incomes for luxuries. Wants long unsatisfied were the desires for better homes, more travel, and more amusement. The period since 1922 has, therefore, been charac- terized by a great volume of residential building, by the construction of a lengthy system of automobile roads lined with huckster stands, restaurants, gasoline stations, and lodging houses. Hotels, restaurants, and theaters have expanded rapidly in the cities. To build and maintain these houses, roads, and service- rendering establishments has required an army of workers. As those desiring to work were, for the most part, already attached to other industries, it was necessary to outbid these industries for their services. This was done, with the result that the numbers employed have been diminishing in manufacturing, agriculture, and railroading. . . The loss of workers in these industries has caused little inconvenience to any one, because of the fact that improvements in technique have enabled the average employee to produce far more goods or services than formerly. As a result, the volumes of both manufactures and agricultural produce and the ton mileage of freight have been growing more rapidly than population, despite the diminution in the number of workers in each of these three fields. As Dr. William T. Foster puts it, each consumer’s dollar constitutes a vote, and these votes determine the course of industry. Consumers recently have voted out railways, factories, and farms in favor of new homes, automobile highways, hotels, and theaters. I call your attention to that, gentlemen, as a prelude to the economic shadows that fall upon the course of this discussion, and because I may possibly anticipate the inquiries that might otherwise come from the committee with respect to some of these questions which have been addressed to others. Now, Mr. Chairman, I want to discuss this bill, if I may, not in its parts but as a whole, because it presents a complete plan and the legislation is to be judged, it seems to me, in both its validity and its quality by its plan as a whole and not by any mere reference to the parts. Much of the discussion that has gone on here this morning has been addressed to something in which we all agree, and that is the incidence of a depression upon our social life and the necessity for intellicent consideration of the remedies that will remove that

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