Department of Labor Exhibit at Texas Centennial

T

Exposition

HE question of whether men and machines are "rivals or allies" furnished the dominant theme around which the Department of Labor created its exhibit at the Texas Centennial Exposition at Dallas. The attention of visitors was directed also to the economic waste of low wages; to the dangers of accident and disease, unemployment and dependency constantly confronting American wage workers; and to the activities of the United States Department of Labor and its component units. The source of the information which formed the scientific foundation for the Department's pictorial and graphic presentation of economic, living, and working conditions and labor legislation was the data compiled by the bureaus and services of the Department in the course of their regular duties.

One of the important activities of the Department of Labor in the discharge of its statutory function of fostering, promoting, and developing the welfare of American wage earners is the collection and dissemination of information on all aspects of labor. Exhibits such as that presented at Dallas, which was under the general direction of the Department's Division of Labor Standards, provide a means of extending the educational value of the scientific data of the Department and its bureaus to an audience not ordinarily reached by their publications. In a greeting to visitors to the exhibit, appearing on a panel at the entrance, the Secretary of Labor pointed out that "in one way or another, the subjects here presented in picture and text concern each and every citizen. To millions of wage earners of our country they are extremely vital."

The Texas Centennial Exposition, which was in celebration of the one hundredth anniversary of the admission of Texas to the Union, opened on June 6, 1936.

To present the vital but complex problem of the relationship between machines and human labor in industry, the Department's exhibit personified industrial mechanization in the form of "the mechanical man" who is making the material things formerly created by buman labor and skill. This central figure of the exhibit is illustrated in plate 1. Carrying the symbolism further, the motor-driven robot used human speech to show the interdependence of men and machines, thus:

As you see, I am a mechanical man, built by human hands to represent or "typify" the modern machine in industry. Many dislike me. They say I do the work formerly done by human beings. People often point to me as the cause of unemployment-technological unemployment, they call it am a creature of science or technology.

because I

It is true that I, the machine, have taken the places of hand workers in some employments. Over here [right] are some pictures that show why I am often feared. I admit that for a period of time in each instance my appearance on the scene temporarily took away the jobs of human beings-many thousands of them, in fact.

But, in spite of that evidence, I am and can be a real benefactor to mankind. In almost every case where I appeared in industry, I actually created more jobs and provided more employment for men and women. I did this by cutting down the cost of goods or greatly increasing the production so that the product then could be sold at lower prices to more people, and thus built up a much larger business, which in turn required more people to be employed.

On this side [left] are shown some of the good things I have done by creating and supplying a demand for new products; by placing all sorts of conveniences in the hands of the people; and by taking on my shoulders the heaviest work and burdens. You see here examples of what I have done in providing quicker means of travel and communication, in protecting lives through automatic devices, and how I am making life easier and better for man, who is my master. I believe that I would be welcomed by workers everywhere if some means can be provided, first to reduce the hardship of temporary unemployment for which I am unavoidably responsible—and, second, to make available to the millions of human beings who work for a living some of the benefits and savings I bring.

As the gesture of the mechanical man drew the listener's attention to the right of the central figure, revolving transparencies illustrated his point with a series of pictures. These contrasted the old way of digging by the exertion of human strength on a small hand shovel, and the new way of the steam shovel; the old laborious method of loading coal in a wheelbarrow, and the latest type of mechanical loader; a hand-drawn truck, and a conveyor belt; the slow hand process of making cigars, and the mass production of cigar-making machines.

The symbol of mechanized industry acknowledged, in his talk, that his method, by increasing the volume and speed of production, makes many workers superfluous. But a legend back of the pictures pointed out that while many men have been displaced by machines and laborsaving devices, "such unemployment is usually not permanent. Often these changes are followed by more and steadier employment in the same industry." Moreover, a second legend declared, "laborsaving devices, machines, and mass production make possible lower costs, more sales, wider use of products."

Again to emphasize the credit side of the machine in its relation to human workers, the mechanical man pointed to another series of contrasting pictures on transparencies to his left, which showed that "machines are tireless servants, relieving men of toil and drudgery." Here the hard work of the old method of plowing was made easy by a mechanical plow; automatic signals displacing hand-operated switches on railroads called attention to the fact that a sleepless device

makes for added safety in transportation; capable household servants in the form of an electric washing machine, a vacuum cleaner, and other housekeeping devices were presented in contrast to the drudgery suggested by the picture of a woman bent over a washboard.

The development in industry that the mechanical man symbolized has raised problems that visitors were asked, by means of a panel of questions on one wall, to consider: Are machines job thieves or job creators? Is technological unemployment permanent? Opposite, another panel, while not attempting definite answers, called attention to the fact that "jobs and workers are never exactly balanced", and that certain definite steps, among them unemployment insurance, public-works planning, and coordination of production are needed to lighten the load of recurring unemployment.

"Four Specters that Hover Over the Worker"

UNEMPLOYMENT is one of the spectres graphically presented at the Department's exhibit in a dioramic frieze, which is reproduced in plate 4. This showed the worker, standing at his bench in his workshop, overshadowed by gruesome shapes representing dependent old age, unemployment, physical handicaps, and helpless children. The spectral figure of unemployment held idle tools in folded hands, while the mutilated arm of the figure representing physical handicaps gave point to the fear of occupational accident. Legends under the frieze declared that "every worker is entitled to security for possible periods of unpreventable unemployment, old age, and physical handicaps", as well as "to security for the welfare of his children against the untimely death of the breadwinner."

Occupational Hazards

USING one of the important Texas industries, petroleum, by way of illustration, one unit of the exhibit gave data on accidents and accident prevention. The petroleum industry, the legend stated, has by organized effort reduced the frequency of injury 59 percent since 1927. Another placard stated that the frequency of injury in the petroleum industry is 61⁄2 percent less than the average of all industries. Dioramas, illustrated in plate 7, reproduced realistically an oil field, with one of its pumps in operation, and a refinery. A signboard on the oil field stated that 27 fatalities and 2,726 disabling injuries constituted the 1935 accident record in production, and a similar sign gave corresponding figures for 1935 in the refinery industry as 23 fatalities and 1,343 disabling injuries.

Moving placards dealt with the safety-prevention methods and the education of the workers that are necessary to reduce accidents, with

particular reference to the petroleum industry. Among these were: "Adequate ventilation of the pump house will prevent accumulation of vapors and explosive mixtures"; "Petroleum vapors inhaled in considerable quantity are deadly-protection is necessary"; "Clothing saturated with gasoline may be ignited when lighting a cigarette"; "Pressure respirators and life lines should be provided for men cleaning tanks" and "Oil workers should know how to administer artificial respiration."

Consequences of Low Wages

THE Social consequences of low wages were made extremely vivid through a series of dioramas reproducing the living and working conditions of workers in poorly paid occupations, and through text emphasizing certain definite conditions attributable to inadequate earnings. Plate 5 affords a partial view of this 8-sided revolving series of dioramas. Low wages, one caption declared, have brought narrow streets and lack of play space, as the diorama portrayed a typical narrow street in a crowded tenement quarter, with ragged children playing unwholesome games. Child labor, a result of low wages, was illustrated by children working in beet fields and garment factories, and carrying heavy boxes, although "there would be no problem of child labor if every father received a living wage." Another indictment of low wages was that they have brought factory work into the home, shown by means of a dimly lighted, dreary room filled with sewing machines and work tables, the floor littered with scraps of the cloth on which two women were working, while another entered the room carrying a great bundle of goods on her shoulder to be worked up by the home workers. Similar conditions were shown in a realistic model of a sweatshop, where, the text declared, low wages and long hours are always found, and where practices exist which "are a menace to the economic progress of the Nation."

Low wages, moreover, as analyzed by this dioramic drama of the life of the worker, mean poor standards of living, low purchasing power, and more families on relief. The unsatisfactory living conditions of woman workers in poorly paid jobs were made real by the scene showing two working women, after their day's work, cooking a scant meal and laundering their clothing in one crowded little room used as living, sleeping, and cooking quarters. The economic loss of low-purchasing power was suggested by a street scene in which meatmarket and grocery-store doors remained unopened while poorly dressed housewives patronized pushcarts carrying cheap, inferior food. The utter destitution that brings the social worker into the lives of low-paid workers whose earnings fall far below their needs was vividly depicted in a set showing a slum dwelling occupied by a sick man lying

in bed in a corner of a crowded room, a young girl preparing a meal in another corner, and children playing on the floor, while the wife and mother told her story to the visiting case worker.

Sharp contrast to these realistic scenes from the lives of the underpaid was afforded by one glimpse into the better living conditions made possible by good wages. Here was a comfortable home having modern conveniences, such as electric light and steam heat, that the American standard of living demands, and tastefully furnished with good furniture, rugs, and table linen. Normal American family life was suggested in the poses of the various members of the family group-a young girl reading, children playing with toys, the mother serving an ample meal as the father, in work clothes, entered. The significance of the scene was further emphasized in text which stated that good wages result in better homes, better opportunities for children, better standards of living.

Industrial Relations

WITH the statement, in text, that sound industrial relations depend on the mutual understanding of workers and employers, the exhibit gave a demonstration, both realistic and symbolic, of how that may be promoted. At each side of a counter separating the shop and the office of a manufacturing plant (as shown in plate 6) stood the figure of a man; one of these represented the shop workers, the other the management. The two figures faced each other, apparently in earnest consultation. Back of them rotating legends set forth facts, principles, and precepts with regard to the relations between employers and workers. Statistical data showed that over 1,000,000 workers were involved in strikes in 1935, each of whom lost an average of 14 days because of industrial disturbances. Disputes over wages and hours cause 48 percent and those over organization of the workers cause 42 percent of all strikes, a poster announced. A series of placards treated the general subject of industrial relations, beginning with the tenet that "in a true democracy all persons have a voice in determining the conditions under which they work and live." In that determination "management and workers should each respect the intelligence and sense of fairness of the other", and "on both sides of the conference table there should be a sense of public obligation-an appreciation of the public interest in industrial peace and uninterrupted employment." Pointing out that "a trade dispute settled at the conference table is usually permanently settled", the statement was made that "conciliation has proved to be the most effective method for the adjustment of industrial disputes", and attention was drawn to the fact that "through the Conciliation Service (of the U. S. De