INDUSTRY'S CHARGE

Evening Post, Volume CIX, Issue 133, 9 June 1930, Page 11

INDUSTRY'S CHARGE

VETERAN WORKERS

"TOO OLD AT FORTY"

CHANGING CONDITIONS

(Copyright.">

Pennsylvania is attempting to answer one of the most important humanitarian questions before the American nation to-day. Must men still in the prime of their productive lifo bo discarded simply because indiutry believes that an individual's -worth is largely at au end nt 45? "During the last eighteen months, Mr. Walter J. Lloyd, director of the Bureau of Employment of the Department of ■ Labour and Industry of Pennsylvania, has approached industrial concerns ou their attitude. Already nearly 3000 firms have recorded a pledge: that ability to perform a job shall be j the sole reason for the acceptance or rejection of an applicant. A splendid piece of constructive work for changes in economic conditions have brought about a situation, largely unrealised, whereby the arbitrary ago limit of 45 works an unprecedented volume of misery and hardship. During the opening months of X9'-S in the fourteen employment offices operated by the State in the varipu3 cities of the Commonwealth an extraordinary condition began to be clearly apparent. Without apparent Tcason, thousands of men were walking the streets. business was good; there was a fairly eonBtaut turnover of labour, yet here was this great and ever-growing group unable to find work. The great majority were men of forty-live, fifty, vi more. Moreover, to the question: "Why didn't yo-i got the job?" there was ahvaystho same monotonous reply: "They said I • ivaa too old." THE PUBLIC SEE,VICE CLOSED. Mr. Lloyd, then new in his position, was profoundly impressed by the conditions revealed by a State-wide survey. One hundred thousand men between the ages of 42 and 53 were out of employment in Pennsylvania. A, number, of firms, including several very large ones, refused to engage a man past thirtyfive. Wherever one turned up there were firms that said: "You arc such and such an age; we cannot engage you." Even the Public Service was closed. "In Pittsburg," Mr. Lloyd said, "we had to fight to keep them from fixing thirty-two as the maximum age at which a man could vbecome a firomau—that would have meant disqualification for many veterans of the World AVar. "Everywhere we found men unable to make a living, simply because they had . passed a certain birthday. And the great tragedy about the situation was that the ago limit was by no means the marking line between fitness and unfitness. In nine cases out of ten the men were just as efficient as they had ever been and would in most instances so continue for another decade or more." "Wherever I'go," Mr. Lloyd continued, 'employers proudly tell about their wonderful new machines. This one replaced ton men-—these a hundred. You read about the great mergers of utility companies, chain stores, theatres. They combine to form the greater units demanded by modern conditions, and, ten, a hundred or a thousand men are no longer required. And who is dismissed. Ido not say that they deliberately separate the old from the young, butin the majority of instances that is iusfc what it amounts io. THE BARRIER. ' "And that is why in 192S hundreds and thousands of men past 45, many of them of the type, who normally would have remained all their lives with their companies, found themselves upon the labour market. "They should have been absorbed quickly, but the age limit, always a senseless obstacle for the few, became an insurmountable barrier for the many. Its significance in hardship auu suffering, however, may bo suggested by the case of a civil engineer, 49 years of age, who was 'let go' when the Pittsburgh office of a certain company was closed by a large and important consolidation. ■. . "For nineteen years he had worked for the sanio.-people, was married, had several children, owned his home and a motor-car, and imagined himself secure. . Suddenly, he was called into the general manager's office and told that his services would be no longer required, but that ho would be given a bonus of 500 dollars and two months' extra salary. Tho man was little affected. He would tako tho splendid long holiday he had been wanting for years, and then set out to find a newposition. And that is just what he did. "The very first company to which he applied, ten weeks later, gave him a most encouraging interview, and he felt entirely confident of getting the job until he was asked his age. " 'But wo never engage .a man past 45. . ..' "For a year and a half this went on. Tho man sold his car, mortgaged his home, and was fast becoming desperate ■when we succeeded in placing him at 2000 dollars a year, where ho had previously been receiving 6000 dollars. His plight, in a lesser or greater degree, was the plight of a hundred thousand others in the State. THE REAL TEST. ■ "Something had to bo done. So it was decided to put the matter directly up to the employers. Sixteen thousand letters asking their co-operation were dispatched with the appeal: Abolish the age limit. Let the sole test bo 'Can the applicant do the work? "At any rate, 1474 firms out of the 16,000 addressed signified their willingness to make fitness to do the work the sole requirement when engaging men. Thus came into existence tho first edition of the booklet published by tho Bureau of Employment of the Department of Labour and Industry of Pennsylvania—"The Firms Listed Herein Do Not Bar Men From Employment on Account of Age.' Certificates signed by Charles A. Waters, Secretary of the Department of Labour and Industry, and myself and intended to bo displayed in the executive or employment offices of the various firms abolishing the age limit, were also issued. The booklet, immediately 'started •omething.' Scarcely was it in Iho mails before I was deluged with letters and telegrams from concerns demanding that their names be also included. The second edition consequently included 400 additional employers, and the third, which is soon to come from the Press, will add nearly a thousand more. And what has been tho result? .. . Are the 3000 firms merely paying lip service or are they actually living up to their pledge? CHANGE OF HEART. Investigation, according to Mr. Lloyd, lias disclosed that the backsliders average scarcely 1 per cent. They are actually trying to give the men above 45 a, chance. Many subject these older applicants to a scrupulous medical examination, and if it is found that physical, defects must bar them from a job, the reason for rejection is honestly ascribed. Others go even farther. They point out how the deficiencies may be corrected, and offer later reconsideration. Thr-re are, of r-.ourse, concern,-; thai havf not subscribivl to tin? movement. In fact, it is the yerj; large.

employer who most commonly has refused to co-operate. "Big industry, however, has not been unaffected," says Lloyd, "it has had a change of heart. Indeed, I find many important executives who arc giving the most serious consideration to the,problems of the age limit. They keenly realise its injustice, but there are so many in tor-related things to consider that the change is not to be made over night."