WAGES OF THE MACHINE.

Waikato Times, Volume 121, Issue 20230, 26 June 1937, Page 9

WAGES OF THE MACHINE.

(To the Editor.) Sir,—lt would be a fine thing if some correspondents would make reasonably sure of their facts before rushing into print. Much puerile argument oould then be avoided. Mr Kenah, for instance, claims that the use of machinery results in more employment, not less. His quotation from Henry Ford is eleven years old. There 1* good reason to believe that Mr Ford’s views have altered sinoe.

In our dairying industry here output has more than doubled since 1924, yet the number of persons engaged in it is some 8000 fewer. A cottonpicking machine recently Invented is in the process of displacing some 75,000 men and women in the southern States of America. According to Mr Kenah It Is creating employment 1 A new filament lamp patented in Holland , will burn continuously for two years. It will revolutionise the lamp Industry and throw thousands out of work. A bolt-making machine operated by a man and a boy produces what was formerly done by 6000 hand* and saves £17,000 a week In wages. A bricklaying machine produced by a Gla*gow firm lays 1500 bricks an hour—equal to the work of ten good men. Yet Mr Kenah claims that machines create more employment I I could continue the list indefinitely, but I think the few instances I have given show Mr Kenah’s guess to be very wide of the mark. To-day there are some 40,000,000 to 50,000,000 out of employment among those nations that keep a record of their Industrial idleness. Mr Kenah asserts that they are getting the wages of the machine. To support his argument he says: “Every single thing the worker gets is anything from 10 per cent, to 50 per cent, cheaper—a most strange statement. According to the official figures, our prloes have ris‘\i steadily for many years and now stand 40 per cent, above the level In 1914, in spite of the increased use of machinery. How doe* he square that with his statement quoted above? A recent economic *urvey In the United States revealed the faot that, were the existing plant and machinery utilised to the full, a standard of living double what it is to day would be possible for the American people. What is the obstacle? Can It be lack of purchasing power? Obviously the displaced wage-earners are not getting the "wage* of the machine.” But I feel that Mr Kenah’s attitude is due mainly to the fact that he has ' a tender regard for party politicians. | They are faced with two painful j alternatives. Either they must dei stroy the machines to give people j work, or they must give people wages | without work. On the one hand they i hesitate to undo tho scientific proi gress of centuries, and on the other I hand they are faced with the final i paralysing problem—where does the | money come from? Is it made or does it grow? Mr Kenah seeks to ease them over this rough spot by pretending that it does not exist.—l am, etc., VENATOR. Hamilton, June 24.