UNEMPLOYMENT IN THE UNITED STATES 21
of the schools, and the colleges, and of business life. We had about
an equal number of people from all of these various walks of life, so
that our list embraced a cross-section of our common life.
Each person addressed held a more or less important position. That
letter went out the middle of last week, and accompanying it was a
card together with the petition. Up to the present time ‘we have re-
ceived—that is inside of a week—nearly one thousand signatures to
that, and not one person who was addressed has written in any criti-
cism of these bills, or any refusal to sign. }
I have the honor to present to you, Mr. Chairman, and to your
committee, this petition which has as its purpose the advancing of
these three bills that are under consideration.
The petition is as follows:
Petition lo President of the United States, Chairman of the Judiciary Committee,
and other Members of the House of Representatives, Washington, D. C.:
We, the undersigned, respectfully urge the passage by the House of Repre-
sentatives of the three bills relating to unemployment introduced by Senator
Wagner and already passed by the Senate; namely——
The Caairman. Which three bills have you reference to?
Doctor Atkinson. The three bills are given. [Reading]
Senate bill 3059—advance planning of public works—to provide the syste-
matic planning of public works by Federal Government, and the means which by
new construction may be promptly undertaken in periods of unemployment.
The Crairman. That is Senate bill 30597?
Doctor Atkinson. Yes, sir. [Reading:]
Senate bill 3060—Federal-State employment bureaus—to establish an efficient
public employment service through Federal-State cooperation, with competent
management and adequate support. Prevention and relief of unemployment
demands the shortening of the period between jobs.
The Caarrman. We have not that. That has not been passed by
the Senate as yet.
Senator WAGNER. Only two came over here. The other has al-
ready been reported by a committee, as I understand it.
Doctor Atkinson. We included three in our petition. [Reading:]
Senate bill 3061—better employment statistics.
To authorize the collection of more adequate information by the Federal
Bureau of Labor Statistics. Accurate and timely statistics of unemployment
trends are essential to plans for stabilization, both public and private.
In 1921 Mr. Hoover, as chairman of the President’s conference on unemploy~
ment, made this statement:
“There is no economic failure so terrible in its import as that of a country
possessing a surplus of every necessity of life in which numbers, willing and anxious
to work, are deprived of these necessities. It simply can not be if our moral and
economic system is to survive * * k
“What our people wish is the opportunity to earn their daily bread, and surely
in a country with its warehouses bursting with surpluses of food, of clothing, with
its mines capable of indefinite production of fuel, with sufficient housing for com-
fort and health, we possess the intelligence to find a solution. Without it our
whole system is open to serious charges of failure.”
We fully agree with this statement. We are convinced, moreover, that a partial
solution of the problem of unemployment has already been found in the three
bills which have been passed by the Senate. They are essential parts of a sound,
unified program of action. The principles involved in these bills have been
subjected to rigid eriticism for many years and have been very widely indorsed
by economists, business men, bankers, and social workers in all parts of the
country. It would be inexcusable for this country to go through another winter—
possibly another winter rife with all the miseries, unrest, and crime that go with
involuntary unemployment—without taking the moderate and soundly con-
