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Show AHEEllpA'S TEH I What are the 10 biggest problems facing America to-4 to-4 day? Where should we begin In considering a national plan"? The big problems are not all apparent to most of vus. I , . I Many of the gravest questions lie In the fu- rv ture, their beginnings now visible only to the trained eyes of statisticians, sociologists and i economists. r- . A William Fielding Ogburn, research director Jjftf of President Hoover's research committee on K ' recent social trends, has outlined for the As-v As-v i CJ soclated Press what he considers the 10 Digit Dig-it v 'est Proolem thlg nation faces, among the V hundreds revealed In the report of the pres- i v 1 ldent's committee. V I Professor Ogburn's research work for Pres-nfy Pres-nfy 1 ldent Hoover's committee touched every . obni phase of America's communal life. He Is professor pro-fessor of sociology at the University of Chicago, former president pres-ident of the American Sociological society and of the American Amer-ican Statistical association, vice president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Professor Ogburn will outline America's biggest problems prob-lems as he sees them in a series of 10 articles in this newspaper, news-paper, each article dealing with' a separate question that America soon must face. - The first article appears below and others will follow dally, By WILLIAM FIELD INO OOBUEN, Research Director, Preetleat'a Be March Ceaaaslttoe ea Recess) Seelal Treads I have been asked by th Associated Pre to (elect the 10 most important problems before the American people. , From th hundred set forth by the report of th president' committee on social trends, the result of three yeara ot intensive study of our social life, and from a lifetime of study and observation, I have picked thea. 10 It I had been allowed to choose a dozen or a score the list would have included some which the reader may note as conspicuous by their absence. I have tried to be guided by a sense of what 1 practicable for the near future. These will, I hope, serve to direct the attention of the manifold agencies which determine our public policies toward the most severe stresses of the future as well as toward th opportunities oppor-tunities for directing our step forward. for-ward. 1 HOW TO END DEPRESSIONS Our present economic distress with it million of unemployed and its ten of thousand of bankruptcies and it ten of million of lowered income in-come is not a collapse of civilization. civiliza-tion. It ia merely the downward trend of the business cycle. The trend has been so severe that th farmer was Justified in remarking remark-ing that "it wa too bad hard time had to com along with th business depression," and many of us are warranted war-ranted in thinking It th beginning of the and. - - But good tunes will return. But what a wreckage will be left la the wake of the depression! These Influences spread ' far and wide. They lower th standard ot living, liv-ing, decrease the number ot marriages, mar-riages, increase th suicide rate, cut down the budget for education, spread the terror of unemployment into million of home, reduce incomes, in-comes, ruin businesses, and increase crimes. Business depression fsll upon the fsrmer with particular severity. He has enough food to eat usually, though farmers are being helped la various states by our relief ststions. FARMERS HARD HIT The fsrmer does not cut down his production as does the factory owner; hence the prices of what ha sell fall more than the price of what he buys. His income fall more than hi cost. Th farm, however, breaks the shock for th worker more than the city, because there is more food and shelter, and greater aid bee suae of family ties. Depressions have soma good effects. They force us to clear out the dead wood, and eliminate the accumulated wastes of more prosperous times. There Is better church attendance and greater us of libraries. But the evils far, far outweigh the good. A major problem of our economic organization Is to lessen th intensity of these economic depressions, which ) fCeatlaoea On Pea Twel seen. It may be permissible to remind the reader that the purpose here ia! to point out tha problem and not to give the solution. But there ia no reason we should be denied the hope thst humsn intelligence intelli-gence msy in time meet with some success in lessening tha ravages of business depressions. TOMORROW! "Ksepln Paea With the Mashme." Tsehaelery, Invention eel applied se lease go ferward aaawli faster ssxus ear social ergaarsaUeaa, M salaries, laws, eswteasa and habits. Machines killed ssillleeas before aeel- dent Breveatlea sad werksaea'i eesa-Beaaatleak eesa-Beaaatleak The family has Be yet adapted Heeif to gaetery ass cRy. Most of oar see! pre lease are dae to these lags, sad the premise of the re tare ilea ka the sawed lag ap est social laveatlea. Dr. Ogbara asserts la fees next article. I AMERICA'S TEN BIG PROBLEMS tOeauaasd tress Psss Oasl means mora stability In business and a reduction of boom times as well as hard times. To smooth out the business busi-ness cycle If greatly to be desired. Apparently we doat know enough about them te control them. There Is, however, tor tha near future, a modest mod-est hope that the swing of these business busi-ness fluctuations may be lessened somewhat though not eradicated. We do not aee clearly enough to forecast what the more distant future ' may yield. Apperently a major difficulty diffi-culty Is tha unequal flows of credit ' and of production, and It appears thst ' in most cycles an Important factor Is I the fluctuation In our money and . credit system. The barometer is the price level. ' Sweden has been able to maintain , a stable price level for a number of months, Isrgsly through the control ' of Interest rates. Certainly a closer control over our ; money and credit must be in any economic eco-nomic program of the future. 1 OUTPUT AND DEMAND Another source ot difficulty not unrelated un-related to the foregoing is the fact ' that production tends to Increase faster than the capacity to purchase. Equalising the flows ot consumption consump-tion and production undoubtedly calls , for a closer control over production and a more careful study of the changes in consumption. Our economic eco-nomic system stimulates production more reedily than consumption. But whatever plana are laid fori such a program, there Is little doubt i that IntornaUonal cooperation will be needed. - I Our nation Is linked too closely with the other nations, no matter what our wishes, to go it alone. This point was never so -forcibly impressed upon us as by the present depression, which waa largely caused by International credit difficulties snd by the sudden withdrawal of tha artificial stimulauon to business In foreign countries beginning la 1114 and ending in the late 1(30 s. If the wsy out cannot be clearly |
