FACT-FINDING

A note of optimism is to be seen in the proposed program of the conference of governors at Albany. Convening upon the invitation of Governor Roosevelt, the conference has the purpose of determining the prevailing conditions of unemployment, and to discover, if possible, some means of alleviation.

The findings of this conference will be of special value in that they will go beyond the present crisis, emphasizing the need of precautionary measures to forestall such crises in the future. The most significant features of the investigation relate to the proposed establishment of a central bureau of information concerning unemployment statistics through the cooperation of the Yale Institute of Human Relations, and a detailed study of unemployment insurance.

This latter phase of the investigation is the most important since it stresses a permanent source of relief. If insurance for the unemployed becomes an actuality it will mean that the large corporations and industries will inaugurate reserve funds that can be drawn upon by the victims of seasonal and so-called technological unemployment.

Despite the fact that this measure will place the stress where it can best be borne, unemployment insurance has as many opponents as advocates. But the purpose of the Governors' conference is not to provide immediate legislation on this subject; it is rather to place the facts of unemployment in bold relief so that the most effective means may be taken to combat the evil.

It is to be hoped that the Governors' conference will bolster the ineffectual efforts of the national administration in coping with this problem. The report of the conference on unemployment insurance will at least stimulate and focus attention on one phase of the situation that may prove to be the solution of much of the distress occasioned by unemployment.