Publix Opinion (Oct 10, 1930)

TEXT OF SPEECH TO LA HOOVER TELLS OF ECONOMIC PROGRESS (Continued from Page Three) courage and assist in the creation and development of institutions controlled by our citizens and evolved by themselves from their own needs and their own experience and directed in a sense of trusteeship of public interest. The Federal Reserve is such an institution. The Function of Government Without intrusion, the government can sometimes give leadership and serve to bring together divergent elements and secure cooperation in development of ideas, measures and institutions. That is a re-enforcement of our individualism. It does not cripple the initiative and enterprise of our people by substitution of government. Proper cooperation among our people in public interest, and continuation of such _ institutional growths, strengthen the whole foundation of the nation, for selfgovernment outside of political government is the truest form of self-government. It is in this manner that these problems should be met and solved. I wish to revert to the influence of the bankers, through encouragment and leadership, in expedition of our recovery from the present situation. You have already done much, and at this juncture the responsibility of those in control of money and credit is very great. Without faith on your part and without your good offices, the early return to full prosperity can not be accomplished. This depression will be shortened largely to the degree that you feel that you can prudently, by counsel and spe-|4 cific assistance, instill into your clients from industry, agriculture and commerce a feeling of assurance. We know that one of the prerequisites of ending a depression is an ample supply of credit at low rates of interest. This supply and these rates are now available through the cooperation of the banks and the Federal Reserve System. : ; | Hit by Unnecessary Fears The income of a large part of our people is not reduced by the depression but it is affected by unnecessary fears and pessimism, the result of which is to slacken the consumption of goods and discourage enterprise. Here the very atmosphere of your offices will affect the mental attitude and, if you please, courage, of the individuals who will depend upon you for both counsel and money. Many, perhaps all of you, have been through other periods of depression. Those of you who have had occasion to review the experience of the past will, I believe, join in the thought that there comes a time in every depression when the changed attitude of the financial agencies can help the upward movement in our economic forces. I started with the premise that this question of stability was much more than a problem in academic economics—it is a great human problem, for it involves the happiness of millions of homes. A continued unity of effort, both in our present situation and in establishing safeguards for the future, is the need of today. It appears from the press that some one suggested in your discussion that our American standards of living should be lowered. To that I emphatically disagree. I do not believe it represents the living becomes a retreat into per PUBLIX OPINION, WEEK OF OCTOBER 10rx, 1930 Not only do I not accept such a theory, but on the contrary, the whole purpose and ideal of this economic system which is distinctive of our country is to in crease the standard of living by the adoption and the constantly widening diffusion of invention and discovery amongst the whole of our people, any retreat from our American philosophy of constantly increasing standards of petual unemployment and the acceptance of a cesspool of poverty for some large part of our people. Our economic system is but an instrument of the social advancement of the American people. It is an instument by which we add to the security and richness of life of every individual. It by no means com-~ pises the whole purpose of life, but it is the foundation upon which can be built the finer things of the spirit. Increase in enrichment must be the objective of the nation, not decrease. In conclusion I would again profess my own undaunted faith in those mighty ‘spiritual and intellectual forces of liberty, selfgovernment, initiative, invention and courage, which have throughout our whole national life motivated our progress, and driven us ever forward. These forces, which express the true genius of our people, are undiminished. They have already shown their ability to resist this immediate shock. Any recession in American business is but temporary halt in the prosperity of a great people. Speech To Labor Group Members of the American Federation of Labor: In his invitation that I should address you on this occasion President Green spoke in terms of high praise of the benefits to labor from the nation-wide cooperation initiated at the White House last November for mitigation of the effects of the present depression. At those White House conferences the leaders of business and industry undertook to do their utmost to maintain the rate of wages. They also undertook in case of shortened employment to distribute work as evenly as possible over their regular body of business storms. employes. The leaders of labor undertook to urge effort in production and tc prevent conflict and dispute. The public officials and the managers of industry and utilities undertook to expand construction work to mitigate unemployment. We have now had nearly a year in which to observe the working of These, first undertakings of this character in our history, have been carried out in astonishing degree. There are, of course, exceptions, but in the large sense our great manufacturing companies, the railways, utilities and business houses to maintain the Employers have spread their employment systematically. For the first time in more than a century of these recurring depressions we have been practically free of bitter industrial these arrangements. have been able established wages. conflict. 000. parent figures. ance. business and labor sults. prices it has lic officials. to the general good. poyment. Mutual Interest: We find inspiration in the courage of our employers, the resolution of the nation that we shall build steadily to prevent and mitigate the destructiveness of these It is this inspiration which gives confidence for the future, and confirms our belief in fundamental human righteousness and the value of our American conception of mutuality of interest in our daily work. —Herbert Hoover the “Unemployment Insurance” | Ay The fine cooperation viding organized emergency employment through Federal, State and municipal public works and utility construction has been an important contribution in taking up the slack of unemployment. The Department of Commerce reports to me that public works and the construction work by the railways and utilities in the Tast eight months amount to about $4,500,000,000, as compared with about $4,000,000,000 in the same period of the boom year of 1929, dr an increase of about $500,000,In all previous depressions these works decreased, so that the gain is more than even the ap in pro We have thus had nation-wide cooperation and team-play which have greatly ameliorated the hardship of this depression. measures have served as a practi cal system of unemployment insur These Tribute to Business and Labor | i I would indeed be amiss if I did not express an appreciation, in which I know you share, to the thousands of men in leadership of who have served in bringing about these reIn the face of decreasing required courage, resolution and devotion to the interest of their employes and the public on the part of our great manufacturers, our railways, utilities, business houses and pub great The undertakings made at that time represent a growing sense of mutual responsibility and a willingness to bend private interests We still have a burden of unemAlthough it is far less than one-half in proportion to our workers than in either England or BOR FEDERATION e-o-o-e-o-eo | last ten years, we shall find my ch views of this association. do 0+-0 10-0100 0+0-0-0 OO Ow ; Profit by careful reading of these speeches ! + 0+ S0-S0+ O8+ + O-S0 S0+ O-O 1O--O-+O-D+ O>-O-+O+-S+8+O+O+-O+8>O+8 ° 1-010 +-0-+01-0+01-0-10+-0+0+0-0-0109 O10-0101 OOS Sie eee ee Germany, no one can contemplate its effect in hardship and discouragement without new resolves to continued exertion and to further effort in solution of our greatest economic problem — stability in employment. New Mutuality of Interest [Oe ep heee es Be = Your chairman has spoken of my interest in the development of an American, basis of wage. Both the directors of industry and your leaders have made great progress toward a new and common ground in economic conceptions, which, I am confident, has had a profound effect upon our economic progress during the last few years. , That is the conception that industry must be constantly renovated by scientific research and invention; that labor welcomes those labor-saving devices; that labor fort to reduce costs by the use of gives its full and unrestricted efthese machines and methods; that the savings from these reduced costs shall be shared between labor, employer and the consumer. It is a philosophy of mutual interest. It is a practice of cooperation for an advantage that is not only mutual but universal. Labor gains either through increase of wage or reduction of cost of living or shortened hours. Employers gain through enlarged consumption and a wider spread distribution of their products and more stable business. Consumers gain through lower cost of what they buy. Indeed, mass production must be accompanied by mass consumption through increased standards of living. : A conception of this sort does not at once find universal application. We ought not forget that-it is something new in the world’s economic life. And there are, of course, those who do not yet believe. | Our Progress Towards Securit, If we survey the nation broadly we shall find that the diffusion of cost economies between wages, profits and prices has worked out fairy well. In fact, due to competition and the necessity to average profits over the losses of lean years, industry in the national sense is probably today getting the least of the three. From the acceptance of: this basis of industrial relations I ° believe America is making more progress toward security, better living and more hours of leisure than those countries which are seeking to continue old conceptions of the wage and to patch up the old system with doles of various kinds which limit the independence of men. Any comparison of the situati of our labor with the aun those other countries, whether in times of high prosperity or today in times of temporary depression should carry conviction that we are on the right track. ee eee | The Technological Problem ; No system is or can difficulties or problems. oe et ity of our inventions and discoyeries has intensified many problems, in adjusting what we nowadays call technological unemploycae aon cooperating with Presioe reen and representatives employers associations in an exhaustive i i : phasee et ny uate Veo industry and new services. ment that partly causes our pre. sent difficulties in the bituminous encroachments of electrical power of natural gas, of improvements jn high peak, leaving a most exces. If we stretch our vision over the to convince us that the problem not at all insurmountable in th long run. It is estimated by some of our statisticians that in ¢ period over 2,000,000 work have been displaced from oq, industry due to labor-saving de. vices. Some way, somehow, Tost of these were re-established in new “Destructive Competition” It is this process of readjust. coal industry. In that industry the consumption have operated to sloy, down the annual demand from its sive production capacity. At the same time the introduc. tion of labor-saving devices hag deceased the demand for mine labor. In addition to its other difficulties must be counted the effect of the multitude of 6,000 indepen. dent mine owners among 7,00) mines, which has resulted in de. structive competition and fina] break-down of wagés. All these conditions have culminated in a demoralization of the industry and a depth of human misery in some sections which js wholly out of place in our Amer. ican system. The situation has been under investigation for the past ten years. The facts are known. One key to solution seems to me to lie in reduction of this destructive competition. It certainly is not the purpose of our competitive system that it should produce a competition which destroys stability in an industry and reduces to poverty all those within it. Its purpose is rather to maintain that degree of competition which induces progress and protects the consumer. If our regulatory laws be at fault they should be revised. | Cooperation for Stability But most of these problems are problems of stability. With the job secure, other questions can be solyed with much more assurance. You, as workers, know best of all how much a man gains from se curity in his job. It is the insur ance of his manliness, it upholds the personal valuation of himself and of his family. a To establish a system that assures this security is the supreme challenge to our responsibility as representatives of millions of our fellow-workers and fellow-citizens. The discharge of that responsibiity does not allow present difficulties to job us of our clear vision or the wholesome faith and courageous aggressive character for which our country has beell long the leader of the world. - The demonstration of natiol wide cooperation and team play and the absence of conflict durins this depression have increased the stability and wholesomeness of ou! industrial and social structure. are justified in feeling that some thing like a new and improved t0° has been added to the working f08 the solution of our future pr? ems. No one would invite eithe’ war or business depression, b! from them may come some ne! inspirations. We find in the? times courage and sympathy: generous helpfulness from © working-people to those unfor tunates suffering not alone fro! the present but from fear for their future. We find inspiration in the cout age of our employers, the re tion of the nation that we $i) build steadily to prevent and gate the destructiveness of great business storms. It is inspiration which gives confide? for the future, and confirms belief in fundamental human! eousness and the value 9 American conception of mutu? of interest in our daily work = Sh