TUESDAY. DKCEMHKR 17, l3
MEDFORD .MAIL 1KIBLNE, MEDFORD, OREGON
The Problems of Automation-Part II
10 A
ends of American
s Losing Jobs
Bv HARRY FERGUSON
WASHINGTON (UPI) - You
own a small candy store locat
ed one block from a high school
and you have one clerk. One
day a man appears at the high
school and Installs a machine
from which the students can
"Oil
To
Burn"
S&H Green Stamps
MEDFORD FUEL CO.
Phone 772-2111
Ret candy bars by dropping a
coin in a slot.
Here, in its simplest form, is
the dilemma of automation. The
pupils bcein buying candy from
the machine and your business
drops to the point where you
have to fire your clerk. But the
nation's lalair force still is in
balance. On lob has been lost
hut one also 1ms been gained
the man who slocks the candy
machine.
But then he Installs two, then
three, thi'n four machines in
the scIimiiI. The time comes
when you can't pay the
DESTINATION: McGuire's . . .
and just think about Dad's sur
prised look when he finds that
chair he's wanted under the
Christmas tree!
220 NO. BARTLETT
Neil to Greyhound
Bui Depot
Open 9:30-5:30 Daily
Except by Appointment
i rent and you go out of busi-
ness. Now the labor force is out
of balance because two jobs
have been lost and only one
gained.
One estimate is that 40.000
American workers are losing
their jobs every week because
of automation. It is a guess ra
ther than an estimate because
nobody has any hard figures on
the problem, nobody has gone
from city to city counting
heads. Even if they did so, the
i statistics would he deceiving be
cause many of the 40.000 might
have moved to another town
and found work.
I'm and Con
You will not find here any
definitive answer to the ques-
I tion of whether, over-all and in
the long run, automation causes
unemployment. Persons eminent
ly qualified can be found on
both sides of the question with
statistics and examples that
arc above reproach Like this:
In the first nine months of
! this year General Motors Corp.
fnmnlmmrt a tntnl nf Idfi IK7 Tint.
sons in this country. For the
same period last year 3112.207
were employed. General Motors
relies heavily on automation,
but here we have the number
of workers increasing.
Daily to Automation
There are Instances where
automation causes only a tem
I porary loss of jobs. Cadillac in
! stalled an engine cylinder block
machining department. It re
duced the number of workers
needed from 89 to 71. Thus 18
persons were laid off early in
July, but all of them were re
hired for other jobs in Septem
ber. That is the bright side of the
automation picture, but there is
a dark one, ton:
In 1023 there were (543,200
men employed in this country
mining bituminous coal. Over
the years labor saving machin
ery was introduced. By 10 the
number of miners employed had
fallen to 139,400. Here you have
more than 500,000 men, trained
to do only one thing, thrown on
the labor market.
Studies made last June
showed that the number of em
ployes in a leading chemical
company was down by 8 per
cent; a big oil company was
down 28 per cent; and a food
corporation was down 25 per
cent. All of them had gone in
heavily for automation.
Basic Factor
Any generalization about au-
Honor Inmates Worthy of Rating
SAN MATEO, Calif. (UPI)
San Mateo County Sheriff Earl
I WhHmore announced proudly
I Monday that 70 inmates at the
county honor camp have prov
en they know the meaning of
the word "honor."
Whitmore said he planned to
review the sentences of all 70
to determine if "some paroles
might be in order.
The sheriff said early Satur
day morning the 70 inmates
were filing nut into the chill
air for muster, when deputy
Owen Bell the only officer
at the camp between midnight
and 8 a.m. fainted and struck
his head on the pavement floor.
Bell, 30, was carrying the
keys to all the remote Laguna
Honda camp's facilities, plus
the keys to three vehicles at
the camp.
However, three of the prison
ers ran to the camp radio to
inform the sheriff's office of
Bell's collapse, a few others
gave emergency first aid to the
deputy, and the rest went about
their regular work assignments.
None of the prisoners at
tempted to escape.
Eisenhowers Due at
Palm Desert Resort
SAN BERNARDINO, Calif.
(UPI) Former President and
Mrs. Dwight D. Eisenhower
were due to arrive here this
morning on the way lo llieir
winter vacation resort home in
Palm Desert, Calif.
The Eisenhowers left Harris-
burg, Pa., by train early Sun
day morning and were due
here at R a.m.
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Inmation is dangerous, hut it is
fairly safe to say that the com
petitive position of the industry
or corporation involved is a
basic factor in the employment
picture.
General Motors hired more
people this year than last, but
it also manufactured more au
tomobiles. Bituminous coal was
forced into a bad position when
the demand for coal fell off be
cause of the competition from
natural gas and petroleum.
Those factors, plus the labor
saving machinery, spelled dis
aster for the bituminous labor
force.
Persons who look on automa
tion without fear like to cite
what happened when the Unit
ed States emerged from the
horse and buggy age. There
were about 225,000 persons em
ployed to make wagons, har
ness and put shoes on horses.
The automobile swiftly put
them out of work. But within a
few years there were 2 million
persons employed in manufac
turing, servicing and selling au
tomobiles. Persons who fear automation
have this quick reply: If it is
true that automation creates
jobs, why are there 3.9 million
persons unemployed today?
They mention "silent firings,"
meaning that jobs that might
he available to the army of un
employed already are being
done by automation.
t Retraining Roadblocks
Much emphasis is put on the
, retraining of the unemployed to
1 equip them for jobs in automat
; ed factories. The federal gov
jernment has plunged into it
with 12,294 projects all over
the country involving 96.335 per
sons. There are about 6,000 ad
ditional persons being trained
on the job, that is, they are
taught while they are working.
But the program runs into
some curious resistance re
gardless of whether the project
is sponsored by the government
or private industry. In Califor
nia, 50.000 unemployed persons
were eligible for a 13-wcek re
training course. Only 38 applied
and only 20 actually took the
course. A meat packing firm
offered retraining to 433 work
ers displaced by machines.
Only 58 actually took the course
and only 20 wound up with jobs.
The automobile unions have a
saying that "automation in De
troit can mean firings in Fort
Wayne." What they mean is
that the auto makers can auto
male one process that elim
inates the need for a feeder fac
tory in some other city. Are
workers willing to move out of
a dead town into a live one? i
The fact is that those thrown !
out of work are the least able
to move because they usually
are the oldest workers and the
lowest paid. A middle-sized
company built an automated
factory in a new area and of
fered 325 persons a moving al- owned hourses for which there i
lowance to make the change. It i was no market and could not Next: What the machines can
developed that more than 100 1 afford to move. I and can't do.
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IT'S A PERFECT GIFT. Crisp
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What? You ate both tins? For shame
. BROWN &. HALEY TACOMA, U.S.A.
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