War Against Unemployment
CAREY, JAMES B.
War Against Unemployment U. S. A. Headed Towards the Great Depression By James B. Carey Secretary, Congress ef Industrial Orpnizationi ORGAMIUD LABOR must fact tha fact 'that tha poatwar...
...Thus we get a picture of big business aitling pretty in the midst of general depression snd unemployment...
...But when we at the CIO analysed the detailed figures, we found that even if the business men met the goals they laid down in the survey, the over-all unemployment for the nation is likely to be between 8,000,000 to 9,000,000...
...In fact, I was told in so many words that unemployment insurance is what created unemployment' l Wondered to myself what the insurance sad casualty companies of America would say if we generalized that doctrine and applied it to all risks 4aml to sir insurance—if we said that fire in-ssranre Is what creates fires, accident insurance is what creates accident*, and Ufa insurance is what brings about deaths in the family...
...The CED aurvey does not present a pleasant prospect for labor or for the nation as a whole...
...And it means tax programs that prelect the base of the economy—mass consumption power — and leave the apex to take care of itself...
...Why then are business man so complacent and optimis...
...You ran set your own figures ss to whst the unemployment will actually be without allowance for optimism and when the pent-up demand is exhausted...
...We cannot afford delay, wa cannot afford to drift...
...Our Constitution, our government was founded to interfere with free enterprise, and that is what it lias done in the last 150 years...
...Over-all it means broad extensions of the coverage and of the level of social security in line with our increasing productive capacity...
...to be any unemployment, and thai 111-¦ i« was no need for decent unemployment insurance...
...He said: "Individuals, en,-,, tering into society must give up a altera of liberty to preserve the rest...
...SO far are small begin-¦lags, but we know that from small be-gitaiacs great disasters can grow...
...1, we can still nip in the bu I what promises to be Greater Depression Bat wbat spirit do we find abroad in aar land, in tha halls of Congees*, and laths directing heads of our society...
...A $100,000,000,000 economy, into which we are headed if we follow the policy of drift and non-interference with so-called free enterprise, will mean ruin for all of us...
...And if inch a huge hoard of profile it not invetted, it ipelli a rtpr-tiiion in 1947 <>f the troth of 1929 «» a truly gigantic icale...
...With 9,000,000 unemployed, snd with corporate prollts after taxes at an all-time high, Uncle Sam will be ahoveling out billions of dollars, not to help the unemployed—oh, no—but to fill the swollen corporation coffers to overflowing...
...Unlaw we throw all tbs powers of government into the breach, aad unless ws start systematic offensives along all fronts, the enemy will gat such a head start that we shall have to fight long and bitterly, with our national future, tha future of our democracy, banging in tbs balance...
...I tell you that this is nonsense...
...In other fields it means raising minimum Wage levels by lew to attract proper employment and to achieve proper production...
...Had we profited by the lessons of World War 1, we could bar* prevented World War II...
...What an absurd doctrine...
...The Founding Fathers rejected the anarchistic idea thst everybody can retain all his liberties in society, and we must equally reject It...
...But when we declared war snd plsdgsd our lives, our resources and our sacred honor on the altar of victory, everybody who understood the temper of the Amer-ii an people knew that we would not rest, we would not cease our labors, and would not lay down aur arms until we had achitved tbe complete surrender ef our enemies...
...We will have to follow the Marray bill ap with systematic offensives en all frents...
...In atill ether fields it ssaasn government guaranteeing of production goals and disposing ef unsold surpluses through stamp plana er bargain sales for the lew Income groups...
...This bears, I think, repeating...
...And it can also very, well mean the collapse of all our democratic institutions—a reign of chaos, followed by dictatorship...
...And to cap the climax, these individual corporations who do not earn their prewar level of protita and w ho have paid excess profits taxes daring the war will be eligible to draw bark very large amounts of these taxes from the Treasury...
...On that basis, even though business will fall jft* by 20 percent and gross corporation profits will fall oft* by 30 percent, the profits after I axe-, are likely to be above the wartime peak of $10,000,000...
...We were taken in once — during the last depression—by the false preachments of optimism and by the superstitious nonsense about the absolute untouchability of free enterprise...
...I was told that there was not going...
...If the reactionary Congressmen didn't hsve something up their sleeve when they presched optimism about the disappearance of unemployment, they would have welcomed adequate unemployment insurance, since if there is to be little or no unemployment, little or no benefits would have to be paid out by the government...
...The picture looks so good for big business that anybody with a grain of sense would recognize that it is a bit too good...
...These goals have to be planned and publicised, aad prosecuted with all the powers St the government's disposal In some fields, as in heavy industry, the achievement of socially planned goals means big public works and heuaing programs...
...George Wsshington, when he transmitted the hsndiwork of the Constitutional Conventen—the Constitution we now live under—emphasized the coercive character of our scheme of government...
...WORDS AND MUSIC .Singing Telegram Is Bark ,—A/sh paper headline...
...That war, which cost tht * peace loving nations millions of haasan I ires and untold billions in truaioir, could have been stamped out at the very outset if the victims of Hitlers conspiracy of conquest bad been alive t* the danger and had taken force-fai action at the outset...
...We must act, ws must act vigorously and wisely if wa are to save for ourselves and our children our great heritage, which Lincoln called "the last and best hope of earth...
...That mesne that tbe government baa to aet production sad employment goals for all the eraclal sectors of tbe economy — goals which would add ap to bo.ooo.ooo jobs aad wna.ooo.ooo.ooo of national production...
...I told them that unemployment already stood at 3,500,000 and was growing stronger by the hour...
...Recently I testified before the House Ways snd Means Committee on the bill ts raise the benefits of unemployment insurance...
...1 told them thst the general opinion among government economists was that in the absence of strong government programs, unemployment would rise to 10,000,000 in 1946 and to even more disastrous levels in 1947...
...You bet your life it does...
...The other day a business man's optimists club—the Committee for Economic Development-—released with a great deal of fanfare a survey of promised goals of employment for 1946, after reconversion has been completed...
...We live close to the ground and know the hard facts of life, the hard facts of earning our bread in the sweat of our faces...
...Labor and liberal forces sre not going to stsnd idly by while profit-greedy lunatics destroy America—our America, as well as theirs...
...Richard Armour...
...What „, hare seen...
...The great struggle today is not over unemployment insurance—that ia only a minor battle—the great struggle is ever whether we are going t* harness our great economic machine to human welfare and allow it t* prod ace plenty for all, or whether we are going to allow that economic machine la g* uncontrolled and create the greatest man-made depression in all history...
...War Against Unemployment U. S. A. Headed Towards the Great Depression By James B. Carey Secretary, Congress ef Industrial Orpnizationi ORGAMIUD LABOR must fact tha fact 'that tha poatwar depression h>> begun and that recruiting or rather impressment into the ai nay af unemployed la In full swine...
...That is the flgtire on the basis of CED optimism, and that is the figure when the promised boom from pent-up demand will be at its peak...
...But ah...
...But the real story came out a few days later when a representative of the V. S. Chamber of Commerce told Congress that "a great boom is pending" and that the only thing needed to get that boom is to have a tough labor policy...
...Do the business men really imagine that the unemployed war workers and veterans would allow this prosperity without employment to go on for very long...
...It indicates that business men are taking it for granted that the excess proflta tax will be repealed...
...We have set our sights on full employment snd full production, and ws are not going to shrink from our goala, This means much mora iban the enactment of a full employment bill, although that is a first step...
...With the national income falling, there is no chance of putting It into investment to expand our productive plant...
...We hare jeat isssspittad a terrible war against the Axis...
...Everybody knows that the purpose of insurance ia to pay money benefits when a hazard actually takes place...
...The magnitude of tbe sacrifice must depend as well on situtlon and circumstance a* on the object to be attained...
...Inaction in the face of the initial aigna ef depression will result in tha taste type of magnified disaster that was assslarid by ear inaction in the fare of Hitler's initial aggressions...
...It means steadily rising real wage levels—wage rises without price Increases—making the laborer worthy of his hire in a 1200.000,000.000 economy...
...There is nifkhing inevitable about wsr, and there is nothing inevitable about depression, lath can be prevented—both can ba stamped out by wise action before tliey get fully started...
...Labor provides the yeoman's troops for the cause of common sense...
...For if if* "such aa this, and mors, That coming years are amide of, I muat admit It isn't war But peace that I'm afraid of...
...In all our deliberations on this subject we kept steadily in our view, that which appears to us the greatest interest of every true American, the consolidation of oui Union, in which is involved our pro*<> perky, felicity, safety, perhaps our national existence...
...They believed that the salvation of our society lay In a government of laws for the gsneral welfare, and that is where wt, too, must find our salvation, ,¦ We have a full-scale war against unemployment oh our hsnds...
...If the hazard doesn't occur—if the fire doesn't take place, if the accident doesn't happen—no money payments are made...
...The total amount of these possible refunds during 1946 and 1947 is in lens of billions of dollars...
...A story in Huiineni Week give* part of the answer...
...SoMB people will tell you that there is a conflict of class interest between capital and labor...
...W* are not going to be taken in this time...
...If we profit by tbe lessons of Great Depression No...
...What a familiar ring that doc-trine has...
...We were told that the survey proved—and I quote—"that business men are planning boldly to assure high level, productive employment ss rapidly as it can be provided after reconversion...
...The singing telegram la hack...
...With warbled birthday greeting...
...What would tha business men do wtin their-record haul of profits...
...No, the conflict is not one of class interest—it is a conflict uf class prejudices and stupidity versus common sense...
...TlIE stinging telegram ia hack...
...soma people will say, this means interference with free enterprise...
...A $200,000,000,000 economy of full employment and full production can and will provide plenty for alitor capital, for labor, for the farmers, for the middle class, for everyone...
...And even if the common people tolerated it, the economic system could not tolerate it...
...The CED ia by far the best of the employer organizations...
...The CIO regards ths Murray biU as a declaration of wsr on unemployment We did not win the war against ths Axis by a mere declaration of war...
Vol. 28 • September 1941 • No. 39
