[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.]
S1R,—To one who has had to study more or less the A to Z of the question of " technological unemployment," as one has to do during the tenure for many years of a lectureship on the subject, it seems incredibly strange to hear people speaking about our needing a great genius to arise and show us a solution when, as a matter of fact, we have only to do things that, even if difficult, are at all events simple enough, and it is inconceivable that the problem should ever be solved in any but a fundamentally simple way.
Anyone thinking of that wonderful labour-colony in Switzerland, where " unemployables " not only earn their maintenance but a little surplus, which is paid to them on leaving, • in an organization that is, moreover, a source of revenue to the State, would say that the mechanical progress which has brought us this evil of unemployment has given us
• the remedy. The Swiss colony can turn tramps into citizens with a deposit in the savings-bank because modern methods
have simplified the work of production to the point at which the most unskilled workers can take their part in it—with, of course, a proportion- of skilled workers—and at the same time has increased the productivity of labour to the point at which a very little of it effectively used can produce a great deal. That colony is only a practical demonstration of well-known economic facts ; though, of course, the greatest credit is due to Mr. And Mrs. Kellerhalls for the success of their pioneer demonstration with the most unpromising material.
It is obvious, especially to anyone who knows anything about the economics of modern production, that this must be a case in which the " sauce' for the' goose is sauce for the gander." There are plenty of people who would readily work for a reasonable time in a "colony " organization in which they would suffer no greater hardship than that of receiving their remuneration mostly in kind—as soldiers and sailors do—to have a balance to their credit at the end of that time. That would be " work for all " under conditions which, it seems, ought not to be either hard or humiliating ; for with large and well-equipped " colonies," manned by rational human beings, a good balance ought to be quickly earned.
But people cannot believe in the natural solution for the problem : that of setting the " technological " unemployed to work as organized Robinson Crusoes. It looks too simple, too good to be true. When one has not studied the question from A pretty well to Z one seems to see all kinds of diffi- culties, so that in the end most people say that a large, well- equipped and costly " colony " would be necessary to enable people working in it to do well enough for good workers to be satisfied, that it would be an experiment, and we are not inclined to spend enormous sums on sociological experiments.
But there are some who, like Galileo, say pur si muove ; this sauce for the goose must be a sauce for some ganders at least. Among them was the late eminent vice-chancellor of Calcutta University, Justice Sir Asutosh Mookerjee, the great scholar and first Indian to be Chief Justice of Bengal. From his posi- tion of advantage as autocrat in his university, he conducted, through it, a world-wide enquiry to ascertain the opinions of really eminent people in all countries on the natural solution for what is really the great problem of our day. Six printed circular letters were sent out widely, not only throughout India, but throughout the world, asking for opinion, and the result, quoting his own words, was " Entirely satisfactory ; there were only favourable comments."
The enquiry brought forward the following facts : First that colonies of that kind seem evidently possible for the young ; that there appears to be every reason to hope that they might not only solve the problems of juvenile unemploy- ment and blind-alley occupations, but also prove to' be by far the greatest thing ever done for child welfare. Secondly, that they would promise to develop in a way that would give us— as I will express it briefly—Sir Charles Fielding's plan carried out with the young. Thirdly, that the organization of the young would give promise by itself of solving the whole pro- blem of unemployment, but that apart from that, when it was established for them, we should soon apply it to adults also.
Sir Asutosh then placed himself at the head of an organiza- tion with an ambitious plan to give a demonstration, but disaster supervened—he died suddenly.
At the present moment, however, Mr. V. N. Sharma, the General Secretary of the Indian National University Graduates' Association, isin Europe carrying out propaganda to call atten- tion to what his great fellow-countryman did, and to its hope- fulness not only for India but for all countries.
To help him in his mission three pamphlets have been printed (16, 82, and 42 pp.), briefly summarising the main facts of this enquiry that has been described as the most remarkable ever held by a learned body—it was started at the time of the first non-co-operation movement to turn people towards constructive methods. These pamphlets will be sent to any of your readers applying to the Hon. Sec., Educational Colonies Association, care of E. I. Association, 8 Victoria Street, S.W. If they will enclose stamps and help the propaganda it will be appreciated.—I am, Sir, &c.,
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