The Evening Star THURSDAY, JUNE 16, 1932. AN INDUSTRIAL SURVEY.

Evening Star, Issue 21130, 16 June 1932, Page 8

The Evening Star THURSDAY, JUNE 16, 1932. AN INDUSTRIAL SURVEY.

The new Director of the International Labour Office, Mr Harold Butler, was one of the warmest praisers of its first Director, M. Albert Thomas, when the French statesman, who began as a Socialist, died last month. “ Albert Thomas,” said his successor, “ made the International Labour Office. His leadership and driving power, his courage and vision brought it to the position of influence which it holds to-day. Whatever its future destiny, his part in its creation will stand without doubt and criticism. His loss not only to the office, but also to the League of Nations, of which he considered it an essential part, will be irreparable. Though French in every fibre of his being, ho had a capacity for seeing beyond tho frontiers of his national training and environment such as is given to few*.” Almost the last work of M. Thomas’s life must have been the preparation of his report to tho International Labour Conference hold this year, of which an extensive summary reaches us by this week’s mail. The" report itself ran to nearly seventy pages, and as a review- of world economic and industrial conditions in a time of abnormal strain it must have unique value. The interest even of the summary could not easily be exaggerated. It was impossible that it should be a cheerful document. Unemployment, reports the Director, has increased all along tho line during the year. At the end of December there were from twenty to twenty-five million totally unemployed, which, w-ith their families, represent a total of some sixty to seventy million persons, who are deprived of the means of existence arising from their own activity or of that of those on whom they are dependent. If those figures are to be made to seem less than overwhelming, it, ran only b>- by considering tbe condition of the whole world—nut favoured

portio„3 of it—in normal times. The yearly toll of human lives made by malaria is and has always been greater than that of the World War. Only here and there has it been affected yet by Sir Ronald Ross’s discovery of the cause of it and how to prevent it. During sixteen years, while an incredulous world neglected to apply Koch’s discovery of the origin of cholera, about eight million persons in India alone died from it unnecessarily. And life is as cheap in China. The fall in wholesale prices in different countries is traced in the report. In the United States the average index figure fell during three years from 139 to 95, bringing it considerably below the pre-war figure. In Great Britain it fell from 137 to 99 before it was raised again to 106 by the devaiorisation of the pound. In December last wholesale prices in France, reduced to the basis of the pre-war gold franc, represented only about four-fifths of the 19X3 prices. As reflected in the fall of industrial shares from their peak in 1929 and in some cases in 1927 or 1928 to their value in October, 1931, industrial profits fell in Great Britain by 39.1 per cent., in Switzerland 52 per cent., in France 54.5 per cent., Germany 67 per cent., and the United States 71.8 per cent. The question is asked whether this aggravation of depression had led to a serious set-back in the protection afforded to workers. The Labour Office found that, in most countries, the principles of labour legislation had not been substantially affected. “ There certainly has been a tendency to cut down costs, and in some cases a check has been put temporarily on the carrying out of new projects. In social insurance, in particular, the depression has had serious repercussions on the daily operations of the insurance institutions. On the whole, however, the pillars of Labour legislation have not been shaken.’' With only one exception—that of America—the statistics available showed a rise in real wages over the period of the depression. It was assumed that more countries would show a decline in real earnings if statistics of time worked could be studied. For workers in employment, however, conditions had not been profoundly affected. In the establishment ( of unemployment insurance schemes considerable progress had been made during the last year. As regards reduction of working hours, as a preventive of unemployment, we are told that “ attention now centres on the pro- . posal for a forty-hour week. This pro- ' posal will be scientifically investigated, ' and endeavours will be made to ascertain whether this system is a definite solution for rationalising production, increasing stability, and protecting the workers against a recurrence of crises.” After referring to schemes for the alleviation of unemployment by means of public works and the reservation of certain works for periods of depression, the Director deals in more detail with “ economic planning.” Measures, other than industrial, which are required for ending the depression, he points out, are those for overcoming the disorganisation in the international mone- 1 tary situation, for remedying short- , age of gold, a large scale of credit ’ policy, settlement of debts and reparations, and removal of the obstacles to international trade. International agreement upon remedies was imperative, and a main obstacle to such agreement was the universal sense of mistrust which had been the outcome of the depression. Another defect was that even the most far-sighted men, who ought to be leaders, seemed afraid to take risks. Success of the Disarmament Conference, M. Thomas believed, would make the most powerful aid to the work of the International Labour Conference and of other conventions. | Will that success be achieved? There have been ringing appeals for it, but their answer is 3’et to seek.