Mr. Thomas and Unemployment On Friday, December 20th, when the
House of Commons discussed unemployment Mr. Thomas was as usual ill at ease. There is a growing tendency to sympathize with him on the ground that no man can cure unemploy- ment in a hurry in spite of all that was lightly said before the General Election. if this tendency develops into a willingness to secure the co-operation of the whole House in an attempt to abolish the greatest bulk of persistent unemployment which any organized country has ever experienced, there will be a political gain not measurable by the mere growth of employment. Mr. Kingsley Griffith, one of the Liberal Members for Middlesbrough, led the attack. The triumvirate appointed to cure unemployment, he said, had added 200,000 men to the live register. This increase could not be explained wholly as seasonal. When it was said that 500,000 more men were employed than in 1926 it had to be remembered that the number of insured persons had increased by 690,000. As for Mr. Thomas's estimate that he could provide 190,000 man-years of work during the next five years—why, more than half of that amount would be accounted for by the normal work under the Road Fund * * * *
