This is strikingly illustrated by the table I have here which I would like to submit, in which the volume of activities during 1933 in certain leading industries is compared with activities during 1929. The figures in the table, which are also shown on this chart, are calculated from those published in "Survey of Current Business", issued by the United States Department of Commerce. They relate to volume in all cases except candy manufacture, factory construction and commercial building construction, in which the figures relate to dollar volume. Mr. COCHRAN. I wonder if it will be possible to have that chart inserted in the record. Mr. DENBY. I would like very much to have it inserted if it could be, because it illustrates better than any table could the facts I am about to discuss, and I should be delighted if you would allow me to have a pen-and-ink drawing made which will produce the same effect as the colors. Mr. COCHRAN. Mr. Chairman, I ask unanimous consent that that be done, and that Mr. Denby be permitted to insert the chart in such a place in his remarks as he may desire. Mr. DENBY. I suggest that it be inserted at this point. LETTER AND TABLE FROM CHARLES DENBY, JR., PHILADELphia, Pa. COMMITTEE ON WAYS AND MEANS, House of Representatives, Washington, D.C. GENTLEMEN: When I appeared before the Lewis subcommittee to testify on the subject of H.R. 7659, relating to unemployment insurance, the committee requested me to submit figures with respect to the cost of public social services in Great Britain. I now enclose the information requested, with the suggestion that it be made part of the record, toward the close of my testimony. Will you please insert a statement to the effect that these figures have been prepared by the National Industrial Conference Board. Very truly yours, CHARLES DENBY, JR. Cost of public social services in Great Britain, 1911, 1919 to 1932 Hospitals and treatment of disease, and maternity and child welfare; cost of the latter in England and Wales in 1910-11 not available. Cost of public social services in Great Britain, 1911, 1919 to 1932-Continued [In millions of pounds sterling) 3 Lunacy, mental deficiency, reformatory and industrial schools, etc. Defrayed out of rates except that the 1930-31 and 1931-32 figures include an unknown amount derived from block grants made by the State under the local government acts, 1929. Defrayed out of: Advances by the treasury to the unemployment fund, which on Mar. 31, 1932, had reached a total of £115 millions (£36.4 millions incurred in 1930-31 and £39.6 millions in 1931-32); contributions of employers and employed (widows', etc., pensions and unemployment and health insurance) revenue from endowments, voluntary contributions, teachers' superannuation contributions, etc. (education); rents (housing); etc. Mr. DENBY. I should like to point out, Mr. Chairman and gentlemen, that this chart indicates a comparison of activity, expressed in almost every case in volume, the only exceptions being the figures as to candy manufacturers' sales, factory construction and commercial building construction, which are expressed in dollars. As I said, these figures are based upon figures taken from the "Survey of Current Business", issued by the United States Department of Commerce. Mr. LEWIS. You have a statistical table accompanying the chart? Mr. DENBY. I have. Mr. LEWIS. A statistical table, with percentages, it seems to me, would be much clearer than a chart. Mr. DENBY. The chart is more graphic. I shall ask to submit those figures and have them made a part of the record. (The table above referred to is as follows:) Changes in activity of consumption goods and durable goods, year 1933, as compared with year 1929 as 100 Percent 113.9 112. 4 106. 6 104. 4 101.6 101. 3 101. 0 96. 3 95. 1 91. 5 Cattle and calves, slaughtered.. Citrus fruit, carload shipments. 90. 2 86.9 Changes in activity of consumption goods and durable goods, year 1933, as compared with year 1929 as 100-Continued On the chart the columns which are crosshatched or shaded represent activity in the durable goods industries in 1933, expressed in percentages of 1929. The black columns indicate activities in consumption-goods industries expressed in percentages of 1929. You will see that the consumption-goods industries are almost entirely out of proportion on the chart, if I may say so, and that the activities in the consumption-goods industries in 1933, as compared with 1929, in no case went below 50 percent. In fact, the lowest was candy, manufacturers' sales, 56.4 percent of 1929. Whereas, when you get down here [indicating on chart] to the durable-goods industries, you get figures as low, for instance, as those covering the construction of steam locomotives, where there was a maximum of four tenths of 1 percent of the 1929 activity. I should point out, however, gentlemen, that the 1929 activity in that industry was lower than the activity in earlier years. The figure for freight cars is nine tenths of 1 percent. Item no. 37 on the chart represents freight cars, where the figure, as I have said, is nine tenths of 1 percent. For commercial building the figure on the chart is approximately 10 percent. The highest figure for durable goods is that for plate-glass production, for which the figure on the chart is 70 percent of 1929. That is an unusually high figure for any durable-goods industry. The next figure is no. 18 on the chart, covering the production of merchant ships, but that is not a correct reflection of the true situation, because it is expressed in percentages of 1929, and in 1929 the activity in that field was lower than the so-called "normal", accepting the average for the period from 1923 to 1926 as normal. But the important fact is that twice as many gainfully occupied persons are normally occupied in the industries which, during the 52846-34--24 depression, fell to an average of 75 percent less than the assumed normal. What I would like to point out to members of the committee is that the witnesses who have appeared in favor of unemployment insurance or reserves, and the witnesses who have testified that they had private systems and that they had attempted to regularize, and had to a large extent regularized their operations, are all in the industries which are of a consumption character, with minor special exceptions, as in the case of Mr. Leeds, or very small and very specialized industries. For instance, Mr. Draper represented Hills Bros. Co., and favored the adoption of measures of this kind, but he is in the business of packing food products, primarily dates. I would like to cite the activity in 1933 in certain food industries as compared with 1929, and if you will examine those figures you will see what was the production of hogs, cheese, coffee, sheep and lambs, and flour; and then further down you will see the figures for milk and sugar. Those are all to the left of item no. 13 on the chart, namely, the item representing sugar, which still is 77 percent of the 1929 figure, whereas coffee, hogs, and cheese are all over 100 percent of 1929. These facts, of course, directly affect the amount of employment in the various industries. In the report of the Pennsylvania State Committee on Unemployment Reserves, of which I was chairman, are published charts with respect to employment and wage payments in principal industries in Pennsylvania, which strikingly illustrate the same situation. Thus, the chart relating to unemployment fluctuations in the food and tobacco industries indicate fluctuations in employment well within 10 percent of the 1923-25 "average." And I point out, Mr. Chairman, that these figures now are figures of employment and not figures of volume of business. I use the word "average" in quotations, because that is the assumed normal average of those years. Even in 1932 average employment was about 95 percent of the 1923-25 average. Similarly, in the paper, printing, leather, and EMPLOYMENT AND WAGE PAYMENTS IN PAPER AND PRINTING INDUSTRIES IN PENNSYLVANIA INDEX NUMBER 150 EMPLOYMENT WAGE PAYMENTS ---- AVERAGE 1923–1923—100 INDEX NUMBER 150 rubber industries, all of them consumption-goods industries, there is little fluctuation over a period of years; and even in 1932 employment was well over 80 percent of the average. As compared with this, the chart relating to the stone, clay, and glass industries, producers largely of durable goods, indicates that the downward trend in employment was under way in 1927; and employment did not exceed 60 percent of average after the close of 1930. In 1932 it fell below 50 percent of average. In the lumber industry, a typical durable-goods industry, the drop in employment after 1929 was precipitous; and by the close of 1932 the employment had fallen below 40 percent of average. |