INDUSTRIAL WORLD

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23884, 11 August 1939, Page 3

INDUSTRIAL WORLD

By J. T. Paul

NEWS- AND NOTES

The world is in effect a single economic system and the improved or impaired productivity and consumption of every part affects every other part. Closer and more effective international movements for such improvements in the distribution of income as will enable world consumption to keep pace with and stimulate improvements in production, form the foundation of the progressive economy and the humaner civilisation of the future.—J. A. Hobson. MECHANISATION AND UNEMPLOYMENT Evidence is lacking of any general displacement of labour because of mechanisation during the past decade, according to an analysis of national income by Walter Ingalls in the current issue of the Analist. “ It is clear,’’, says Mr Ingalls. " that from 1929 to 1937 mechanisation in manufacturing did not displace human hands in any broadly observable way. Instead of there being an increased rate of production per worker, which would have happened if they had been more extensively assisted by machines, there was, on the contrary, a diminished rate of production per worker, which probably correlated with a shortening of hours (in part, perhaps, Involuntarily, in part, perhaps, wilful) and maybe with other adver- " This exposes a mischievous fallacy that is widely prevalent and is outlined in some recent remarks by the Hon. Claude Pepper, United States Senator from Florida, who said, that economists had informed committees of the Senate that even with a return of prosperity to the scale of 1929 there would be at least 6,000,000, persons unemployed: and he added that ‘ the machine age means that there will never be an opportunity in private industry for anything like the number of men and women of this country who need work and want to work.’ This is rank nonsense, but it is widely believed: and that it has come into current belief is one of our great disasters.”

TWELVE-HOUR DAY IN GERMANY “Daily hours of work in mining in the Saar are 85, exclusive of the time taken in getting to and from work. If this time is included, the hours spent underground amount to at least 9*. There is no limit to the hours which can be worked above ground, for which the minimum is 12 hours per day. This regulation has aroused much indignation among the miners.” Foregoing is taken from Information Service, dated April 19, a publication issued by the International Federation of Trade Unions, The Saar, for 15 years, under the terms of the peace treaty, was detached from Germany, and was virtually a province of France, In January, 1035, its inhabitants were given the power, by plebiscite, to continue as they were—actually the Saar was at that time under the control of the League of Nations—or to go over to France or Germany. Their choice, overwhelmingly for Hitler, was greeted throughout Germany with the wildest outbursts of enthusiasm. Cities were beflagged, church bells pealed everywhere. at night torchlight processions were held, and speeches innumerable marked by the usual Nazi bombast were delivered from 10.000 rostrums. And now! The joybells certainly are silent m the Saar to-day; to the miners of that district the coming of the swastika, hailed by them four brief years ago as the flag of a deliverer, has meant for them a servitude suggestive of Capitalism when it flourished unrestrained in its worst forms a century or more ago. ... „ Dealing with the position In Germany generally the same document, referring to the. speeding up practices now universally in . progress under Nazism, says: “In the Third Reich, which ruthlessly abuses the workers by overworking them and trying to restrict their outlook, these methods are bound to lead to catastrophe. An increase in production has now been reached which cannot be maintained with the available workers. Daily hours of work have already been raised to a level which means complete exhaustion for the workers; skilled workers are transported from one end of the country to another, old men and children, women and girls are forced into the factories, and every means is resorted to, such as the occupational competitions, to intensify output beyond all measure. Technical progress in the Third Reich spells death not only to humanity but even to mere slave existence.” PATHS FROM THE “DEAD-END” JOB An acute problem that demands close study and helpful action by the Governments and employers is presented by the hard accompaniments of “ deadend ” industrial avenues, The victims comprise large numbers of young people of both sexes who, at the threshold of adult age, are forced to seek other means of livelihood. The cul-de-sacs are peculiar to certain industries which require neither apprentices nor a large force of skilled adult labour. Payment of award rates to workers over 21 would increase production costs, and be reflected in selling prices. The problem is to devise some transformer machinery that would facilitate the re-education of young displaced workers and. by equipping them with technical skill, rescue them from dependence on casual unskilled work. • , The limitation of apprentices in many specialist trades, and a demand for skilled workers often outpacing supply, accentuate the need of re-equipment of victims of the “ dead-end process. An industrial system that absorbs a large army of youths and girls between the ages of 15 and 21, and then turns them adrift to fend for themselves, proclaims a serious weakness that demands intensive search for remedies. Everyone exercised in mind by the effects of present practices wul welcome the intimation of the Australian Prime Minister that a conference ot Commonwealth and Slate representatives will shortly be held to deal with this grave social problem. The Commonwealth in /he last two years has made a grant of £200,000 to the States to encourage youth employment in trades where their .future would be assured. This provision for a special need expires next month, but a vast scope exists for further ana enlarged work on lines suggested by the scheme. In Victoria the grant, which was subsidised by the State Government on a £ for £ basis, has brought about the training of some 1000 youths for many skilled trades. The grant was specifically designed to help victims of the economic depression within the age limits 18 to 25, Among several thousand applicants those who qualified on these grounds and suggested an aptitude for technical skill were selected for training. The responsive keenness of the young men has been a revelation to those working the scheme. When the technical school training is complete the youths are placed in employment to finish the process, and in numbers and avenues that accord with earlier-made industrial surveys. Care is exercised to obviate union objections to dilution by a maximum dispersal of trainees and an avoidance of numerous batches in any trade at anv one time. From the public funds made available the earnings of the trainee are subsidised on a diminishing scale to make up award rates until he becomes fully proficient, and thereby qualifies for the prescribed wage. Assurance is sought from employers that in taking youths into their service on these terms they will not dismiss workers already engaged. The scheme comprises both urban and country youths; some beneficiaries are married men with children. Students at the agricultural college who started half way through the year completed in less than six months work which normally takes twelve Allowing for youths who dropped out

and "may have obtained work separately, there were over 6000 applicants on the register at the end of last year. This suggests the magnitude of a-prob-lem aggravated by th,e pressure of discarded "dead-end" workers seeking means of -rehabilitating themselves. An. expansion of the youth-employ-ment scheme to bring within reach facilities for the training and reabsorption of young people adrift from industrial cul-de-sacs might point the wav to a solution. . . , The tragedy and frustration of the "dead-end” job, and its stark implications in many homes, should arouse the social conscience. In a recent report the Youth Employment Committee cites abundant evidence not only of keenness among trainees, but of the rebirth of self-respect from hopeless dejection, and of restored confidence in the prospect of independence. Thousands of youths (concludes the Age) can be retrieved from a life of casual or unskilled work and prepared as technicians and qualified craftsmen.* Thev are entitled to the opportunity, and the community, is anxious that thev shall have it. , LABOUR RULE T N SWEDEN In the opinion of a Labour exchange, Sweden, where Labour, co-operative and Socialist movements are strongest, is the most stable country in Europe to-day. / , Although the depression deepened steadily in America and Britain from September, 1937, Sweden has hardly been touched, so effective have been the measures taken by the Social Democratic .Government The total unemployed number less than 50,000, compared with 45.000 last year and 100,000 in 1933. Sweden’s exports have held up well, and her imports have not had to be reduced to any extent. Indeed, so strong is her foreign exchange position that Sweden is practically the only Labour Government against which no flight of capital has been organised.