UNEMPLOYMENT IN THE UNITED STATES 71 
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programs for the stabilization of employment which are being pro- 
moted by intelligent employers; it seems a very valuable aid to solve 
one of the problems of unemployment. 
Senator Wagner. Dr. William T. Foster, coauthor of the work 
The Road to Plenty, who has long been a student of economic ques- 
tions, and one who has written a great deal upon economic subiects, 
1S our next speaker. 
STATEMENT OF DR. WILLIAM T. FOSTER 
Mr. Foster. Since the morning meeting of this committee, I 
have heard some objections to these three bills which are held by 
some of these gentlemen connected with the administration and by 
others, which are widely known. 
Mr. MicueNER. Suggested by whom? 
Mr. Foster. I can not go into that. 
Mr. Micaener. I would like to know. 
Mr. Foster. Then, sir, I am mistaken; it is not widely known. 
Mr. Micuener. If it is a fact worth mentioning here, it is proper 
and well forathe committee to know that. You should withdraw 
the statement or amplify it. 
Mz. Foster. I will withdraw it, if you please. 
Mr. MicueNEr. Very well. 
Mr. CeELLER. Are not the newspapers written so that we find some 
high in authority in opposition to bills? 
Mr. MicueNER. We are hearing you and you come here as an expert 
on such matters. i 
Mr. Foster. I had no idea I would be asked to mention names. 
Since the meeting this morning I have heard these objections made 
bo the bill. The chief objection I have heard is that the bills as a 
whole are trivial and do not go very far. $150,000,000 is only a 
drop in the bucket, and it is not of much significance. Now, in 
introducing what I have to say on that subject, I want to say some- 
thing for two minutes on economical theory. You will see directly, 
in answer to the questions of whether these bills are merely a drop 
in the bucket, and it will answer partly the question of a member 
of the committee as to whether these bills are fundamental. Do 
they go to the bottom of the subject?—I answer, Yes, they do. 
Are they comprehensive answers to the whole problem?—No, they 
are not. But they are at the bottom and essential and fundamental. 
You must do this much no matter what else you do. That is 
what I mean by saying the three bills are fundamental. In ampli- 
fication of that I will take you into the change which has come over 
the entire economical theory in recent years. } 
A few years ago in the hospitals of the country after an operation 
the surgeons always spoke of the usual amount of pus it was supposed 
a patient would have to have taken from him, and it was supposed 
then that the patient had first to get worse before he could get better. 
The germs were regarded as undesirable aliens, and no attempt was 
made to reduce their quota. } 
At the same time we have heard for generations the phrase ‘‘the 
usua) amount of unemployment.” It was that to which Miss Perking 
has objected in connection with the complaisant acceptance of ‘‘the