 Words at war. Johnny comes marching home again, hurrah, hurrah. Easy, Bessie. Just take it easy. We're almost there. I think. Hey! Hey, mister! Hey, Mac, can you give me some information? Well, that depends on the kind of information you want. Well, can you tell me if I'm on the right road? I'm going to a place called the Post-War World. You're on the right road. Straight ahead, you can't miss it. Yeah, but there's a fork up ahead. Which road do I take? That depends on you. You mean it makes no difference? It makes a lot of difference. Oh, I don't get it. Look, mister, my name is Smith. Joseph Smith. Go for short. I've been traveling for a long time, ever since it discharged me from the Army. I've been told that once I get to this Post-War World place, my troubles will be over. It's sure like to get there before it gets dark. I'm almost out of gas, and Bessie here is beginning to holler because she's so hot. Bessie's the name for the car. She's kind of old. I'll trade her in as soon as I get to the Post-War Place. As I said, Joe, both roads lead to the Post-War World, but each leads to a different town in the Post-War World. One road is long, the other one's short. One will get you there in a hurry, the other will take a little time. Oh, you got me all mixed up. I just wanted some simple directions. Well, I've got nothing to do for a while. I'll ride along with you for a while. Gee, that's swell. Thanks. Yeah, jump in. Nice day, isn't it? See the road on the left? Yeah. The short one. That one will get you there in no time at all. A lot of familiar landmarks on the way, so you won't get lost. That road leads to a town called Depression. And, uh, how about this other one? This road on the right is tough. Parts of it haven't been built yet. No familiar landmarks, no signposts. That one goes to a town called Full Employment. I see. At least I think I do. That means if I want to get to the Post-War World, I've got to decide between depression and full employment. And you'll have to decide before you go any further, Joe. You'll have to decide right now. This is the road to depression, Joe. The road we followed after the last war. The road we may follow again. Look at the familiar landmarks on the way. Unemployment, idleness, disease, ignorance, squalor. Look at the bread lines, the broken-down shacks, children running barefoot along grimy streets. Closed-down factories, hungry faces, broken bodies. Do you see them, Joe? Yeah. You see this man standing on the curb, his eyes bleary, his body weakened with hunger. Listen to him, Joe. Come closer. Listen to him. No health wanted. No health wanted. No health wanted. That's the answer I've been getting. First, I went down to the factory. No work there. Then I went to the local garage. No soap. Then I went to the employment office. And they said nothing today. I've been doing this every day for the past three years. Day after day. Day after day. We get relief at home, sure. But it's hardly enough to keep body and soul together. My wife is sick. Kids can't go to school because they haven't got the right clothing. What kind of a life is it anyway? What's the sense of going on? What's it all going to lead to? Here's a woman in her middle 40s, Joe. Her hair prematurely gray. Body stooped, worry written in her face. My husband is a good man. And he does a lot for me in the house. But he's a changed man these last two years. He never complains, but I wish he would. It makes me unhappy to find him becoming quieter and quieter. When I know what he must be feeling, we quarrel far more now than before. We would both rather be dead than go on like this. Here's a youngster, a child of ten. Her ragged clothes are much too big for her gaunt, starved little body. Her eyes stare at you intently as she talks in broken sentences. They had a play in school today, but I couldn't go. I didn't have a coat. It was cold out. My mama cried all day, and I cried too. It was going to be such a lovely play, and I never saw one. Papa doesn't come home much anymore. One day he came home and brought milk. It was good. I liked it, but that was a long time ago. I wanted so much to go to the play today. I wanted it more than anything. I cried when I couldn't go. But mama said maybe next year I would get a coat from the relief. I wonder. I had my own business and lost there. Got a job in a wholesale house, and they laid it off. Been walking the streets ever since. I tell you the truth, I don't look for work anymore. What's the use? Got about as much chance of picking up a job nowadays as winning the Irish switch things. I've come to the stage where I think I'll never find employment. What kind of a life is it anyway? It's a dismal future. There's nothing to look forward to. It's like a living death. The familiar landmarks on the way, the cycle that always begins with the sound of the factory whistle, and the announcement. Your attention, please. Because of curtailed production, 120 men will be laid off today. Those who are, will find their pink slips in their payable. The cycle that always ends with a scramble for non-existent jobs, a mad scramble resulting in another ugly growth. It's the Jews who control all the jobs? Yes, get the foreigners out. Americans should have first preference. Sure, the high-need grows, they won't let a white man work. I say get the women out of the jobs and put the men in. Hatred, hatred of foreigners, hatred of Jews, hatred of Negroes, of all minorities, enmity between sexes, hatred which stems from fear of insecurity. Each man appearing is the enemy of his fellow. Have you seen enough, Joe? Huh? Or do you want to go on? Do you want to see the wasted youth, wasted in idleness and numbing indifference, the older men, the first to be thrown by the wayside, families losing their homes, farmers losing their farms, men and women losing their usefulness? Okay, okay, I'm convinced. I never said I liked unemployment. I can see that I won't like another depression. But there's one thing that's still bothering me. One thing you haven't explained. What causes all this? Who's to blame? If nobody likes unemployment, why do we have it? A fair question, Joe. Listen. The volume of unemployment at any time in any community depends upon three factors. One, the quantity of demand for the products of industry. Two, the direction of the demand. Three, how industry responds to the demand. There will be unemployment if effective demand is not sufficient to use the whole labor force in the community. There will be unemployment if demand is misdirected. There will be unemployment if industry carries excessive reserves of labor, or if there are obstacles which prevent labor from following changes in demand. That's William Beverage's analysis of unemployment. Now let's reduce the theory to everyday terms. First, the volume of unemployment depends upon the quantity of effective demand for the products of industry. That's where I come in. I'm a product of industry. Any kind of a product. Now let's say I'm an automobile. I'm being displayed in the showroom window, and thousands of people pass by and admire me. And all day long I keep hearing the same comments. Nice looking car. Yeah. I sure could use a car like that. But very few of these people come in to buy me, either because they don't have any money, or because they want to keep it in the bank. No sale. Well, this keeps up for a week, a month, a year. And then one day the sad news comes from the factory. Too many cars. Because of reduced production we are laying off 200 men. All those laid off will find their pink slips in their envelopes. No effective demand. No full employment. Second, the volume of unemployment depends on the direction of the demand. That's me. I am another product of industry. I vary with the times and circumstances at hand. At the moment I happen to be cold. I'm in great demand. But comes the end of the war and the trend suddenly changes. From now on we'll use oil for heating as well as power. Electricity for us. We're installing diesel motor. What happens to me as the demand begins to decrease, production begins to decline. And one day the sad news comes from the mines. Beginning next Monday 5,000 men are going to be laid off. All those affected will find their pink slips in their pay envelopes. No planned directed demand. No full employment. Third, the volume of unemployment depends on how industry responds to the demand. I'm Labour. In some industries and sections of the country, there aren't enough of us to keep production going. In others you'll find excessive reserves being hoarded. Men standing by to meet local changes and situations. There is no organized plan by industry to move us from the place of oversupply to the place of under supply. Result? Factory 1 in eastern region curtailing production because of lack of labor supply. Factory 2 in western region laying off 500 men. You see? No organized response of industry to demand. No full employment. And when all three factors effective demand, direction of demand, and industry response to demand, when all these three break down, you have mass unemployment. That's it, Joe. That's the road to depression. The road we traveled after the last war, the road we may take again unless a plan is found to stop the cycle, unless a solution is found to make the world go forward instead of backward, unless a policy is formulated, it'll give every man a right to work, a living wage and security for the future. I see what you mean. It sort of looks hopeless, though, doesn't it? There is a solution, Joe. A policy drawn up primarily for England in the post-war world, but one that might be applied anywhere. This policy is called full employment in a free society. The first concrete strategy for attacking unemployment as the root cause of today's and tomorrow's social convulsions. Is that the other road you talked about? The one that hasn't been built yet? The one without the familiar landmarks on the way? That's the one, Joe. What are we waiting for? Let's go! Here is the road to full employment. William Beverage's blueprint for the post-war world, a blueprint for the elimination of idleness, the abolition of want, squalor and ignorance, the prevention and treatment of disease. Step one. The labor market in the past has invariably been a buyer's market with more unemployed men than unfilled jobs. No help wanted today to accomplish full employment, we must make the labor market a seller's market. Was it machinists, ladies operators, tool makers, set-up men, helpers? In other words, Joe, not more men than jobs, but more jobs than men. As unemployment has three distinct sources, action against unemployment must be taken on three lines. One, maintaining at all times adequate outlays, which will ensure effective demand for the products of industry, a demand high enough to keep the whole manpower of the country employed. This to be accomplished by either shorter hours or an increasing purchasing power, or both. Two, controlling the location of industry. Take a city like Detroit, for instance, or Chicago or New York or Baltimore. They're overcrowded, congested, already have terrific concentrations of industry. So instead of putting any more factories in those cities, you build them in the south or the midwest, where there's plenty of room to expand. Three, securing the organized mobility of labor. Meaning that if and when change is necessary, men and women shall be willing to change their occupations in their places of work rather than do nothing. The reason for this is that except in times of war, the private enterprise system has failed to provide enough jobs for all people willing and able to work. You've already seen the road to depression. The government must therefore assume direct responsibility for the citizen's economic welfare. This to be accomplished by setting up a planned economy. An economy directed by the government which will coordinate manpower, industry, money and materials to work as effectively in peace as they now work in war. Well, Joe, does it all begin to make sense to you? Yes and no. I think I see what this guy's beverage is driving at. Instead of just letting things drift along by themselves and hope that everything turns out all right, he's saying that there ought to be a plan, a planned economy, he said, with the government in control. Oh, OK, that sounds reasonable. But what I'd like to know is how is that going to enable the government to make more jobs? What's the magic word that'll solve all our troubles? The magic word, Joe, is outlay. Outlay? Never heard of it. What's that? Outlay means spending for consumption. What people spend for consumption gives employment. The more spending for consumption, the more employment. Wanted, machinists, helpers, tool grinders, lathe operators. The less spending for consumption, the less employment. No jobs open today. Therefore, spending for consumption must be kept at a steady, high level. And only the government has the power and the means to do that. It is the function of the government to protect its citizens against unemployment in time of peace, just as it is the function of the government to defend its citizens from attacks of the enemy in time of war. The choice is between chaos and order, between free investment and rigorous governmental control. This is the long-term program of planned outlay. A program to abolish, eliminate and prevent the four giant evils of our society. Want, disease, ignorance and squalor. To abolish the first evil, want. Until you get a job, Mr. Jones, you'll receive a weekly check from the government which will enable you to live decently and pay for your rent, clothing and incidentals. A program of social security with benefits provided for the citizens from birth to death. To prevent and treat the second social evil, disease. Now there's nothing to worry about, Mr. Romano. Dr. Wilson is one of the best surgeons in the country and you'll have the best possible care in the hospital. And national health service plus good food and healthy homes. To eliminate the third social evil, ignorance. All right children, turn your page to today's lesson. A system of education for adults as well as children. A democratic system of education for all races, creeds and nationalities. To abolish the fourth social evil, squalor. Okay gang, we'll start on this block next. Hair down, corner to corner. Slum clear. Fire traps to be replaced by adequate healthy housing projects. Healthy homes for raising the standard of life and happiness. To eliminate the fifth evil, set apart in a category of its own. Inflation. The ceiling price of milk is 14 cents. Butter, 37 cents. Eggs, 42 cents. Price control to be continued after the war to protect those whose incomes are fixed to ensure and safeguard a steady prosperous economy. The policy of full employment. It's not proposed here as a solution of all social problems, as a settlement of all issues of social justice, but to step in the right direction, a step which must be taken. If men desire progress in the post-war world, if men would eliminate once and for all the giant evils which have plagued civilization for the last thousand years. But all progressive measures have their opponents as well as proponents. Undoubtedly there'll be objections to this plan. For one reason or another, for one motive or another, for one purpose or another. If there are, let's hear them now. I have an objection. I demand to be heard. All right, speak up. Rise and address your complaint to the people in the audience. All I have to say is that this full employment is all nonsense. Dangerous propaganda. Socialistic drivel. I say that full employment combined with unemployment insurance and all the other coddling devices will remove the incentive of effort from labor. Effort which depends on fear of starvation. Now what have you to say about that, sir? There is. There is an answer to your question, sir. Listen. For civilized human beings, ambition and desire for service are adequate incentives. It may be that cattle must be driven by fear. Men can and should be led by hope. How about government interference? While that and the government take control, you'll increase bureaucracy ten-four. If you look at the failures of the past, you will realize why only the government can make this plan work. True, a full employment policy involves more public control over a limited class of business enterprises. At the same time, it involves less control over the private lives of the mass of the people. How about labor? By organizing the labor market, you treat labor as a commodity to be shifted back and forth at will. On the contrary, labor is a means. It stresses only one point. Labor should always be a seller's market and not a buyer's market. Don't tell us, Mr. Beverage, that your policy doesn't support and make the individual to the state. The government will be running our lives from the time we're born to the time we die. The criticism of the gentleman directly reverses the truth. If the state is regarded as more important than the individual, it may be reasonable to sacrifice him for his status. But if the state is regarded as existing for the individual, then it must accept responsibility for the welfare of its citizens, for all its citizens, and not for a privileged class. You've left something out, sir. The problems of industrial management. If a policy of full employment is adopted, industrial discipline will be completely destroyed. We'll be forced to keep a man on the job whether he's useful or not. Now, supposing a man is lazy does industry have to support him for the rest of his life? Does the government have to support him for the rest of his life? And aren't you suggesting another WPA? Now, I'm giving you a straight question and I want a straight answer. And you shall take it. Full employment does not mean that everyone has security in his job. Full employment means only that if a man loses his job, he has a chance of finding another. It is the fear of unemployment fear of unemployment which in the past was gnawed at the hearts of men destroyed their will, their health, their usefulness to society. We have cured unemployment for the sake of waging war. Now, we must cure it without war. We have cured unemployment through the hate of Hitler. Now, we must do it through the hate of our giant social evils. We have cured unemployment through one common objective, defeat of the enemy. We must cure it through another common objective, social consciousness. The full employment policy is a policy of common action. It is a policy of spending and doing. It is worth fighting for and winning. As far as I go, Joe Smith, from here on, you're on your own. Okay, I think you can find your way. Yeah, I can find it all right and thanks for your trouble. Don't mention it. Salang, see you in the post-war world. You'll remember now that you're starting on experiment, but the road ahead is going to be plenty rough and rocky. Sure, but it's worth trying, ain't it? Yes, Joe, it's worth trying. Salang! When Johnny comes marching home again, hurrah, hurrah. When Johnny comes marching home again, hurrah. Tonight on Words at War, we've brought to you a dramatization of William Beveridge's book, The Radio Dramatization. It was written by Ben Kagan. Ted Jewett was the narrator. Jack Arthur was Joe Smith and Harold Young was heard as William Beveridge. Others in the cast were Abbey Lewis, Edith Tachner, Martin Wolfson, Jason Johnson, Lon Clark, Joseph Bulland and Humphrey Davis. The music was arranged and played by William Meader and the entire production was under the direction of Anton M. Leeder. Next week, Words at War depart somewhat from the usual as Mr. Glenn Cannon ignores the war. This series of programs is brought to you in cooperation with the Council on Books and Wartime by the national broadcasting company and the independent radio stations associated with the NBC network. Every day we're bringing the war closer to the island of Japan and consequently every day our supply line gets longer and longer. Everyone knows that our supply line is just as strong as its weakest link. It's our merchant marine that keeps our supplies moving overseas. But right now, there's a serious shortage of men in the merchant marine. The shortage is so acute that during 1945, 49,000 highly skilled seamen and officers will be needed to see that our supply lines keep pace with our fighting men. Experienced men with licenses of certificates in the following categories are needed immediately. Mates, engineers, ABs, firemen, oilers and water tenders. And if you're an experienced seamen you'll have to go through all the categories and list now. The need is urgent. You can apply at once by wiring collect to merchant marine Washington D.C. and be sure to give your rating or license and your address. Remember, that's merchant marine Washington D.C. This is the national broadcasting company.