Reference is here made to individual instances of unem ployment arising under normal industrial conditions. In a period of exceptional stress, when large numbers are thrown out of employment simultaneously, there may arise a need for extraordinary relief measures such as are described in the chapter in Part IV on Industrial Distress in New York and Indianapolis in the Winter of 1893-1894. It may be assumed that employment is to be found in ordinary times if there is the ordinary persistence in seek ing it, or that the laborer will have enough laid by to tide over any brief period of compulsory idleness. Insurance against the hardships of unemployment may take the form of out-of-work benefits in a trade-union or of deposits in a savings bank. It is incumbent upon relief agencies not to discourage the disposition to make such independent provision for slack times, and not to place at an apparent financial advantage through charitable gifts those who, because of inefficiency, laziness, or other defect, are first laid off when the number of employees is reduced.
A few years ago a careful study of industrial dis placement and unemployment, as a cause of distress, was made by Francis H. McLean from the records of the New York Charity Organization Society. The 720 cases selected were those in which lack of employment or insuffi cient employment was assigned as the chief cause of need among those who applied to the society for the first time in the year ending June 30, 1896. There were in all 924 such cases out of a total of 1884 families known to the society for the first time that year. Of the 720 case records examined it was ascertained that the decisions in 107 instances were subsequently, on fuller knowledge of the families and deliberation by the district committees, reversed, and some other cause of destitution assigned. Mr. McLean found, on examining the records, that the committees were usually right in reversing the earlier decisions, and as a result of this inquiry the Society's method of tabulating these results was modified so that the final official decisions of the district committees were thereafter recorded.
There were eleven cases in which, although application for assistance was made, and there was at the outset apparent need, it was subsequently found that there was really no destitution. These eleven cases, and the 107 in which the decisions of the agents were reversed, were omitted from the classification. Of the remaining 502 it was ascertained that there were 332 cases in which the chief cause of need was unemployment, and 164 in which the displacement was not industrial, while there were 106 cases which were doubtful. Dividing the latter equally
between the first two classes, it would appear that 53.3 per cent of the 720 cases examined were genuine cases of unemployment. By this analysis the percentage of cases credited to unemployment is reduced from 49 to 26.1 per cent. In the following table Mr. McLean classifies the causes in detail : — I Logically we should carry our investigation one step farther in these instances, for of course such seasonal depressions come periodically and can be anticipated. Why, then, did these families come to want during any particular depression ? But as the number of cases is comparatively small it seems hardly worth while to make the further analysis. It is sufficient to say that in eleven instances intemperance can easily be traced, and sickness in the family in six.
2 For instance, a firm changing hands, the new proprietors hiring men of their own choice. 8 Such as the introduction of machinery.
4 These last two heads do not necessarily indicate displacement at all. It is hard to justify the decisions of the committee in even considering them as unemployment cases.
It was also attempted to ascertain how far the statistics indicate industrial It is pointed out that in most of the occupations from which applicants for relief come, the dynamic movements are not great; but that there is an actual diminution in the number of men re quired in particular trades is clearly indicated in a num ber of instances. Four hundred and seventy-three cases are tabulated for this purpose as follows : — The term " character weakness " of course to the person displaced who applies for aid. It appears by the table that simple replacement of one laborer by an other is indicated in 44 per cent of the total number of cases. The replacement in a majority of cases proceeded from no character weakness. Of course much of the re placement was due to such causes as sickness, accident, etc.
In enumerating the occupations of the displaced, Mr. McLean calls attention to an element of uncertainty arising from a tendency on the part of applicants to rep resent themselves as engaged in a slightly higher occupa tion than that in which they really have been engaged. Thus rough laborers who have assisted artisans become transformed into artisans. From the records, however, the impression is that those who call themselves tradesmen are in fact tradesmen, although often on a meagre scale.