(Continued from Page 1!
fruit of this policy. If we permit our
selves to Indulge In It? May we not
have to chalk up to the deficit column
a heavier loss than any of us will be
willing to take? May tt not mean that
this generation of keen minds, shut off
from any chance to function now. may
never fulfill their promise? Let me il
lustrate:
A well-known personnel director of
one of the most important electric
componies in the United States, in an
address before the engineering stu
dents of the University of Nebraska,
made a statement something like this
"When a young man has been chosen
by our careful sifting process from the
. ream of the engineering students of
the country, we place him at once in
one of the most critical positions in
our industry—on the testing floor.
There he must pass upon the perfec
tion of the various types of equipment
which this company manufactures and
sells The good name of the company
rests in the hands of these inexper
ienced young graduates. If we put them
at routine work which carries no re
sponsibility. they lose their enthusiasm,
and we lose their power."
A Dismaying Prospect
Can anyone picture a more dismay
ing prospect than a world in which
youth has no outlet for its hope, its
visions, its potentialities?
A man vrho frequently sells me gro
ceries has a look of weariness in his
eyes which is not belied by the tone ©i
his voice as he counta out my change.
One day he asked me what I thought
would be the outcome of ail these hard
times and unemployment. When 1
made the oovious reply that 1 thought
every man and woman was entitled to
a chance to earn his living, he made
this startling reply, "Look at me. I
work fourteen hours a day. It'a to
much; my Job ought to be divided In
two. There's work enough," and I
agreed with him.
Isn't this one phase, at least, of the
solution of our unemployment prob
lem? Those who are now employed are
working too hard. Overwork on the one
nand and complete unemployment on
the other makes a puzzling combina
tion, the key to which it is hard to
lay hands upon just at this minute,
but surely there is a key.
Let us take one concrete example of
the progress of this insidious malady
which has swept our country. The fa
ther of a family works in a store.
Hard times come. His pay is decreased
a fourth and his work is increased a
fourth or more. What happens? His
wife, In order to make the decreased
income cover their modest needs, tells
the laundress and the seamstress that
she cannot employ them, and they go
home, their already meagre income cut
b- -his act of retrenchment. Net re
alt; Husband is working longer hours
for less pay, wife is working long in
to the night to do the washing, ironing,
mending, sewing. Meanwhile, in the
other homes, the same icy breath has
blown away all employment
Suppose In a family every member
Is willing and eager to help and yet
two of them are working fourteen
hours a day, and two of them are
working only an hour or so occasion
ally The logical arrangement would be
for Uie family to call a council and re
distribute the laboring hours. Will not
the larger family, (society)—have to
call such a conference?
If every man and woman makes a
living on a reasonable, wholesome
number of working hours, there will be
a chance for all these seasoned labor
ers who are now Jobless to fall into em
ployment. and there will be a place
for our new eager band of educated
men and women.
Tor such a solution as this, a dozen
objections will no doubt be raised. A
Sian In an extremely Important exec
utive position in this city, when asked
how many hours a day he worked, re
plied "Twenty-four". In a second he
qualified this by saying, “It is true I
don't actually put In twenty-four hours
of work every day, but I never know at
what hours I shall have a chance to
sleep."
My stock reply that the work ought
to be cut In half and some unemployed
men be called In to share it. met with
this prompt rejoinder, "Where can you
find him? The men that aren't work
ing are not qualified to do this type
of thing at all. If I set out today to
find a man to help me. I couldn't lay
hands on one. Those who arc unem
ployed aren’t fitted for such work,"
Another man In the same office who
comes to work In the morning at 7:30
and leaves In the evening at 8 o’clcok
or later, Joined the conversation at
this point and made tills contribution
to the conference: "If two men did
my work, It would cost the establish
ment over twice as much, for we two
should have to be In conference often,
so that I could check on his work.”
Answer to Objections
Let us see if there is not an answer
to both objections. Perhaps we might
examine the second one first. What is
happening every time an employee is
dropped from the pay-roll of an es
tablishment? That man’s earning pow
er Immediately ceases. He curtails ev
ery possible expenditure and minimizes
his outgo almost to the vanishing point.
The result of this has been comment
ed upon in speeches, in the press, and
In every conceivable type of literature
that paints the picture of these later
years since the crash came. Practical
ly the same thing happens when one
man does the work which ought to
give employment to two. Some of the
very causes, in other words, that have
made more and more stringent econ
omy necessary In the centres of trade
and Industry, are to be found In the les
sened earning power of men and wo
men who have been cast out of em
ployment because the business Is not
sufficiently prosperous to warrant
keeping them on. We find ourselves
running around in the circle until we
arc diaty The laundress, wham we
mentioned, stops her subscription to
the newspaper because she cannot
longer afford It, having been deprived
of her weekly work day at the home
of Mr. A. who has lost his job at the
very newspaper plant which now loses
the laundress' subscription.
Now the other case. Let us look at
the statement that only unskilled, un
fit men and women are idle This can
not be proved from any standpoint,
and least of all can it be Justified In
its bearing on this army of young col
lege men and women with whose for
tunes this discussion is mainly con
cerned.
How can any profession or business,
or industry know what possibilities He
within these enthusiastic young grad
uates. fresh from the research labora
tories, the classrooms, the libraries, un
til It gives them a trial? If we who are
seasoned In our tasks look with con
tempt. skepticism, or ridicule on this
mine of new thought and new inspira
tion, are we not admitting either that
our own minds are solidifying or else
that our civilisation has failed?
And has the world reached the sat
uration point in the satisfaction of
all Its needs? A recent writer on the
subject of unemployment comments on
the often-repeated statement that the
market for luxuries has been exhaust
ed, that everyone lias more now than
he can or should use. Scientific in
genuity has made It possible for mod
em homes of tire wealthy to be fur
nished with splendor beyond the
dreams of our frugal forefathers,
with a bathtub for every bedroom as
a symbol of luxury. Although this
is true, still there are thousands of
homes where there is not even one
bathtub. This, the writer explains,
indicates the field which may need
the attention of industry now that the
up-swing is evident. In other words,
manufacture does not need to depend
for its market upon supplying luxu
ries to those already surfeited, but can
look to satisfying the humbler needs
of those who, even In the period of
fabulous spending that marked the
years just pasi, have been untouched
by even bare comforts.
The limits of this article preclude
our examining all aspects of this In
volved situation, but we must pursue
the investigation further. What will
happen when Jobs are shared and
every working man and woman Is
employed only five, six or seven hours?
What will they do to employ the sud
den wealth of leisure hours?
Use For Leisure.
Almost immediately the conserve
tists have a disturbing vision of a
world gone mad, a world in which
every salesman, bricklayer, school
teacher, lawyer, end plumber turns
tile key to his plaice of business and
takes to the highway in his motor
car and ends the day by adding one
more to the packed motion picture
theatre audiences. What the en
forced leisure of the last two years
actually ha* had a hand in doj'g in
Uncoln. if one reads the sign* aright,
has been in a word this. Men and
women have turned to beautifying and
tidying their own homes Oo up one
street and down the other. Hero a man
has pulled off a decaying porch and
little by little has been repairing it
with odd boards and bits ol timber
that he finds at small cost. A coat
of pahit is going over the graying
boards of the bungalow up the street.
A new cement foundation outlines the
modest room that Is being built on to
the three room cottage that never has
been large enough to house the flock
of red haired children whom we pass
every day as we walk home.
When the press of long, grinding
hours is relieved, workers will be en
couraged to use their own hands in
making gardens, raising provisions,
cultivating the plot of ground they own,
to make their frugal means go farther.
Isnt It about time that we Americans,
as a nation, had our attention turned
to the beauties of thrifty home-work
ing and home living?
To return to our graduates. When
this contingent begins to march Into
places which It only can fill If civil
zation is to go forward, can we trust
It to take care of Its leisures? That
is where the scholars are even now play
ing their part Just as truly as In the
preparation for this generation to
make its own living. Long ago lead
ers in education sew this possibility
and began to prepare for it. Go to
the schools of the country. See the
boys and girls singing as they never
sang before; see them learning to
draw, and paint, and carve, and make
airplanes, furniture, and clothing.
They now have in their own hands
ways to fill their leisure hours.
The conclusion of the whole matter
is, that from selfish motives if from
no other we must find a place for
the young men and women whom the
colleges and universities of the coun
try are preparing for their life work.
Those who are now employed will not
be crowded out of their own places
by this flood of new workers, but their
hours will be shortened, so that they
can more nearly fulfill their destinies.
If all the college men and women
step Into their rightful fields In the
world next June, there will be some
rearranging of the figures on the chess
board, but no men or women now em
ployed need to be cast into idleness
by the move.
A few of these graduates will find
lofty posts that few ever dreamed ex
isted; others will cast their energy into
tasks where fagged and weary employ
ees are now trying to do the work
of two.
There is work enough lor all. When
the new workers are drawing pay
checks, business can afford to expand.
They will be buying groceries, filling
apartment houses, purchasing clothes,
paying gas bills, and after a while,
buying motor cars again.
Let us take thought of the work
that is not being attempted now be
cause we are playing the cautions
game, and let us stretch out our hands
in welcome to those light-hearted,
vigorous, trained young pilgrims who
are eager to begin the Journey.
_n_
ROCKEFELLER . city within city
What seems to me perhaps the most
valuable contribution to unemployment
that has been made in these past
three difficult years is the enormous
building project carried out by John
D. Rockefeller, Jr„ which is known
as Radio City, In New York.
Imagine nearly seven acres of land
solidly built up with brick and steel
buildings from five to ten stories
high, as closely as they can be built.
Then imagine one man getting pos
session of this entire tract in the
middle of the city of New York, tear
ing down all of the buildings and
starting to cover the seven acres'
with new buildings, some of which will
run to seventy or eighty stories high.
That Is what John D. Rockefeller,
Jr.. Is doing. In a time when almost
all other building activity in the coun
try had stopped, he has given work
to thousands and thousands of men
in the building trades and is creat
ing something of permanent value.
I don’t imagine Mr. Rockefeller will
personally ever make a cent out of
Radio City. But I don’t think he
cares.
COOLIDGE who knew him
I knew Mr. Coolidge less well than
I have known every other President
of the past forty years. That was
not strange, since few people can really
claim to have known him well.
I asked the late Nicholas Long
worth, when he was Speaker of the
House and Mr. Coolidge was Presi
dent, who knew Mr. Coolidge best.
“I suppose I know him as well as
anybody,” Nick repiled. “I cam
paigned for him for Governor, al
most lived and siept with him when
he ran for President, and as Speaker
I have to consult him frequently
But I haven’t the slightest idea, never
have, of what is going on in Cool
idge's mind!”
I was a long way from home on
election day, 1924, so could not vote.
To make conversation, I remarked to
him one day in the White House:
“ I didn’t vote for you, Mr. Presi
dent.”
“Some did,” he responded, with
out cracking a smile
TECHNOCRACY an aftermath
A new word is sweeping the Coun
try — "Technocracy " Literally, U
means government by technicians.'
The word was coined by a group ol
research men at Columbia University
who calculate that the time is at hanfi
when everything human beings want
can be produced with so much lees
labor than before, that nobody ought
to have to work more than 600 hours
a year.
Coupled with this idea that every
thing can or will be done by ma
chines they h»ve a nebulous plan foi
discarding our present system of mon
ey, banking and credits and creat
ing money based on electric energy
instead of metal.
After every period of depression ha*
got along about so far, new scheme!*
to reorganize the world begin to be
taken seriously by people who imag
ine that human nature can be changed
over night Technocracy is merely
another theory which can only be
put into practice after a few hundred
generations, if at all.
We are far from being ready, in
America, to turn the control of oui
lives over to a dictator under any
name, even that erf Technocracy.
AUTOMOBILES ..„ .. how many?
Only four or five years ago there
were nearly five million automobile*
sold In America in a single year
This year the manufacturers are fig
uring on a total production of abou*
a million and a half. They are hop
ing that times will get enough bet
ter so that they will sell two mil
lion cars.
Automobiles are cheaper .than
they have ever been before. All the
way up and down the line prices have
been cut, engine power increased, all
sorts of new gadgets introduced, until
it is difficult to see how anyone can
get much more for his money—if he
has it—than in buying a 1933 car.
I have a feeling that the makei*
are going to be surprised at the vol
ume of their sales. I think the
scared money that has been hiding in
the stockings and savings banks Lv
going to begin to come out of hid
ing this spring, and that people will
begin to buy more automobiles ana
fishlines and other commodities than
they have been doing the last couple
of vears.
_A_
About Women
Miss Adeline Knight claims th<
title of Ohio’s only womah cobbler.
One of the few women masters oi
surgery in the world is Mrs. Phillipp-n
Parry Martin of London, England,
A nine-year-old farm gin, Vesta
O’Dell, living near Amarilllo, Texas
is gifted with the sense of absolute
pitch, according to qualified musicians
The title of Florida’s Queen of
Palms" has been bestowed upon Mar
guerite Sweet at Miami on the occa
sion of the "Festival of Palms.
The Weekly Review
«
Big Circulation Contest
I IS OISJ ITS WAY! 1
Circulation Manager Wiley fired the starting gun at 12 o’clock noon Friday, January 20th, with
seven entries and each one declaring that they will win first prize.
Time 'Will Tell!
One of the SIX Prizes to be given away will be a beautiful $25 Ladies’ Wrist Watch. An oppor
tunity to make good money every week. In addition to the Prizes a commission of 10c on each
one year subscription and 4c on each six months, will be paid to all contestants.
RULES of CONTEST—Starting January 20th and ending April 1, 1933,
there will be a subscription contest among the colored ladies of Nebr. of 10
years of age or older. By securing paid subscriptions to The Weekly Review,
at the regular subscription price, votes will be alloted contestants as follows:
One Year lOOO Votes Six Ivlointtis 400 Votes
No amount in excess of $5.00 from any one subscriber will apply on contest. Where amounts in
excess of this are received 10,000 votes will be credited to the girl receiving it and the excess will
be prorated among all the other contestants. No one connected with this paper or their families
are Eligible in this Contest.
Contest Entries
NAME No. VOTES NAME No. VOTES NAME No. VOTES NAME No. VOTES NAME No. VOTES
Cordelia Kinney Hazel Smith Oma Smith Mrs. J. H. Jackson Imogene Johnson
648 So. 19 St. - Q 2334 No. 12 St. - 400 940 No. 15 St. - - 400 5416 So. 29, 0rala 2000 1951 T St. - - 1400
All Girls Wishing to Enter This Contest Communicate With
Circulation Manager GUY WILEY. Phone B1308.
