3 i q 1 DOROTHY DARNIT T El 3 ¥ UBUBURURURUROBOROR SAY DOLLY, HoLD: THIS BOARD So ¢ CAN SPLIT IT IN HALF. WILL You ? WAIT A MINUTE WAIT AMINUTE — = _ Bv Charles McManns ARE YOU GONNA HIT WHERE YOURE LOOKIN 2 THEN GET SOME BoDY ‘ELSE TO HOLD 7 N Chas. MeMANUS NATION CLOSE TO CRISIS ‘and extention of facilities in 1930. They have begun to spend it. The Telephone company promised to spend $6000,000,000 in the same sort of work, and they are spending it. The Class I Railroads agreed that they would spend $11,247,792,000, and that promise is being kept. Manufacturers in every important line promised there would be no reductiion of wages, and that promiise is also beng kept. ' President Hoover is particularly gratified over this wage situation. He asked that there be no reduction in wages as had always accompanied these] slumps hitherto. Wage reduc- tions bring hardships and they de- crease the consumption Of goods in- cluding farm prodducts. At is the first business depression in our history tnat had not been accompanied by drastiv wage reductions. Besides calling on business men the Presiident called on the Gov- nors of states to do what they could to stimulate new public works, an the result has been larger appropria- | tions for such purposes than ever be- fore in American history. And this has been supplemented by the Presi- dent's own initiative in enlarging the federal Govevrnmment’s program of expenditures for construction for 1930- 1931. All of that is, however, buti a single step in Presiident Hoover's program looking toward - such a complete sta-~ bilization. of American industry and business as to make future situations of this sort unlikely, if not impos- sible. 7 The President is more keenly aware than are many men in public office of th scope and importance of the new economic laws which ‘have been developed. in the United States since the war. The old theory that labor is a commodity to be bought as cheaply as possible, if a business is to be successful, has been proved utterly fallacious, he is convinced. The ex- perience of American industry so far, with the policy of paying high wages increasing them as rapidly as possible, while at ‘the same time shortening the hours of labor and giving the work- men the benefit of the savings which can be effected by the use of auto- matic machinery have resulted in making American labor / into the largest group of consumerse to be found in any nation in.the world. If the consumers—that is to say workers—are out, of) work, they cease to be consumers, at least to the ex- tent that they/ are when, they are working and getting high pay and leisure in which to spend it. It is the President's belief that at least ninety per cent of the major in- dustries of the nation are thoroughly committed to this general policy, which throws Adam Smith and the other old political economists into the discard. . Except in the textile "mills of the South the tendency is steadily upward as to wages and downward as to! working hours. Even the New England cotton mills are beginning to realize that high wages make the workers consumers and that a whole nation cannot remain prosperous un- less labor is steadily employed at good wages. President Hoover's hope, therefore, is that he will be able to bring about a coordination of Governmental ac- tivities with these recent changes in economic thought and practice. It is as much the Government's concern as it is that of industry. Governments must learn to think in terms of the new idea and not try to legislate or administer on the basis of outworn economic theories. You cannot catch an economic force, with a policeman; you can direct it if you have the co- operation of the whole community. The logic of that is simple. The new era in industry is here, an established fact. It won its place on its own merits, without any material assistance from the Government. If the Government tries to .run counter to the economic laws which make for continued pros- perity, it will not be economic laws which will fall; it will be the Govern- ment. Therefore; if there were no other consideration involved, it is the duty of the Government to align all of its powers with the forces which are carrying the sound economical policy into effect. Unemployment or any serious frac- tion of able-bodied workers becomes a much more serious matter to the gen- eral prosperity, under ja system which depends upon the consuming power of the wage-earner, than under the old “system which looked only to the well- to-do and white-collar workers for its principal customers. Worse than this, it is the greatest human disaster that overtakes our people. The subject of unemployment, therefore, is one to which Mr. Hoover has given_and is giving a great deal of personal thought and attention. \ In his customary way,«his first de- mand was for facts. He found that there were no really dependable na- tional statistics on unemployment. The Department of Labor was doing the best it could, under a system which projected the national unemployment situation from figures furnished at regular intervals by industries in every line. But there never had been a national census of unemployvment, and he seized the op- portunity which the decennial census to be taken in April offered, to dis- cover for the first time exactly what proportion of persons usually em- ployed regularly were out of work on April 1 of this year. Those figures, when. compiled, to use the President's own engineering phrase, will con- stitute a “datum line,” ’on which more | accurate estimatesithan have been pos- sfible: in the past can be based at fre- quent intervals. Thus there will al- ways be available the actual facts about unemployment instedd of irre- sponsible guesses, which ran during the past Winter from the Department of Labor's estimate of 1,250,000 out of work to ithe Federation of Labor's claim that 3,000,000 workers were without jobs. ; That information will serve as a guide to industry and business in many ways. It will be at once an in- dex of changes in possible markets for commodities and a stimulus to remedial efforts whenever the figure falls below the normal range of varia- tion. Mr. Hoover's thoughts on unemploy- ment do not stop there, however, after all, the person chiefly concerned is the man out of a job. He! has dele- gated the Secretaries of Commerce and Labor to cooperate with employ- ers and the American Federation of Labor to find out more about the whole subject. The suggestion has been put for- ward . that industry could be so or- ganized that every worker could be guaranteed a minimum yearly income. Perhaps not that program precisely, but something of that general nature which would automatically insure a livelihood to every worker in the United States is, I believe, the idea which is growing in President Hoover's mnd. It is in entire accord with his conception of Government as an aid and ally of industry and busi- ness, a conception the value of which he demonstrated when he entered un- derstandingly into the conferences which averted what would ofherwise have gone down into history as “the panic of 1930.” * * * (Editor's Note—This is the last of a series of articles by Mr. Stockbridge based. upon. his. conversation. with President Hoover.) : Carverton Mr. and Mrs. Clarence Frantz, Diantha and Emily Xnorr, Sheldon and Nelson Frantz, Priscilla and Donald Knorr, Valeda and Eleanor Frantz, Mr. and Mrs. Theodore Frantz, Mr. and Mrs. Theodore Knorr, Roland Frantz, M. J. Hefft, Marian and Aliue Knorr and Miss Ida Anderson called at the home of Mrs. Mary Knorr on Sunday. Mr. and Mrs. Raymond King children, James, Betty, Kenneth and and Albert of Dallas, Leigh Hefft of King | ston and James Hefft of Lymanville, Miss Edna Hefft of Camden, N. J. spent Easter at the home of Ziba Hefft. The Kingston township high alumni will present the play, “Nobody But Nancy,” at the Carverton Grange hall on April 26. Mrs. Edna Pace and son Eddie called at the home of Mrs. Bertha An- derson recently. Mr. and Easter at the home Rozelle of Mt. Zion. : Miss Kathryn Hefft, Sherman Hefft and Miss Grace, Hefft" called at the home of Ziba Hefft recently. Mrs. I. L. Coursen spent of Mrs. Kate Sunday services, April 27—Sunday school in the morning at 9:20; church services at 7:30 p. m. Rev. Green: field, pastor. All those wishing to join the probation class or to be taken in full membership or wishing bring your church letter here may do so by giving your name to the pastor or your Sunday school teacher. representative | —Trucksville- Return From California Mr. and Mrs. G. 'W. Reynolds have returned from California, where they have been spending seevral weeks. Entertains at Bridge The Misses Nellie, Mary and Bess Leach entertained at a bridge luncheon on Monday in honor of Mrs. Charles Trein and Mrs. W. D. Kemble Mrs. Trein has left for Montrose and Mrs. Kemble is soon to move to Car- bondale, where her husband is general secretary of the Y. M. C. A. To Hold Bazaar The members of St. Therese's church are planning a bazaar and dance on May 14th at the Hollow Inn. Students Return to College The following students have been home for the Easter vacatiqn: Donald Nelson, Penn State; Georgina Weid- ner, Bloomshurg Teachers’ College: Catherine Rice, Ruth Palmer, Nettie Thomas, Mansfield; David Schooley, Lehigh; Charles Perkins, U. of P. Injured in’ Auto Accident John Richards and daughter Leah are suffering severe injuries received in an automobile accident. They were on their way to Virginia to visit Dan- iel Richards, who is in the army. Miss Arline Frantz and brother were also in the party but escaped injury. ! Miss Helen Reynolds has returned from Pittsburgh, where she visited her brother. Queen Esther Standard Bearers met with Emily Lewis Monday evening. Plans were discussed for a box social to be held soon. served to June Palmer, Charlotte Stroud, Edna Billings, Della Riddell, Ruth Bennett, Marion Reese, Ruth Hewitt, Ruby Gordon, Arline Hoover, Betty Cole, Thelma Bulford, Ruth Howell, Mary Jackson, Betty DeBoit. Mrs. J. E. Newhart and Emily Lewis. Miss Audrey Carle and Miss Guida Morrow spent the Easter vacation’ in New York Cit Mr. and Mrs. J. F. Wardell, John Wardell, Ivy Guenther and Mary War- dell spent Easter with Mr. and Mrs. George Metz. 3 See the “Man in the Moon” at Lake Township High School, Friday Night, May 2. Annual Senior play to defray expenses of Washington trip. term of "office Senator has worked for Luzerne whole. Cities have not at the expense of rural neither have the urban Puring his A .J. Sordoni County as a oeen favored commur.ities; communities been neglected. The Lehman-Pike’s Creek road, . Shick- skinny-Benton,