MACHINES AND LABOUR.

Evening Star, Issue 22379, 1 July 1936, Page 11

MACHINES AND LABOUR.

n ’ TO THE EDITOR. Sir, —Although it would be incorrect to say that to® introduction of more or better machinery must of necessity give rise to . permanent unemployment, yet it is so closely allied to other, more direct causes that the Welfare League’s flat denial cannot be allowed to go unchallenged. As a matter of fact it is around this very point that the reason for the inevitable and permanent breakdown of the system of private membership and production for profit is to be found. Any improvement that increases the productive capacity of a country and so allows its people to enjoy a happier and fuller life is, in itself, a splendid thing. A close examination of toe System, however, reveals that, under capitalism, this blessing gives riaa to an insuperable obstacle which sooner or later stays further progress. It is in the explanation of this fundamental fault in capitalism that the league’s statement is seen to be misleading. Every one will agree, that in normal times—that is, in what are commonly referred to as periods of prosperity—if not at all times, most ownera of industrial concerns receive, in profits or dividends, more than they can or wish to spend on goods for their own consumption. This excess income ' naturally accumulates, and the owner is faced with the necessity of finding the safest and most profitable investment for his new capital. There art numerous avenues which are open to him. But whatever way he chooses th* money must eventually be used to create - goods or services of some kind, foi there is the original and only source of all profit. Whether he chooses to lend his money to others, or to improve or extend existing plant, or to invest in enterprises overseas, tho result is the same—goods are produced in ever greater quantities. Now, when we remember that the purchasing power distributed to the great masses of the people is never equal to the value of the goods produced by them, it is clear that some outside market must be found for .the surplus. Indeed, until this is done—until the goods are sold—the manufacturer receives no profit. In the early stages of capitalism the finding of such a market was not difficult, but as industry became more and more efficient, . solely through the invention of hew machinery, new markets became ever scarcer. Also, not only did the, younger countries begin to supply their own needs, but a number of them became exporting countries themselves. Thus, while on the one hand, an expanding market is imperative, on the other are factors operating which restrict it, and we have the greatest contradiction of capitalism and the direct cause of what the Welfare League refers to as permanent unemployment.—l am, etc., June JO. E. P.