Three Cheers for the Unemployed: Government and Unemployment before the New Deal

by Udo Sautter

• ISBN13: 9780521533270
• ISBN10: 0521533279
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2003-02-13
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

Three Cheers for the Unemployed describes the beginnings and development of unemployment reform up to the New Deal. As a consequence of the large-scale industrialization after the Civil War, joblessness could no longer be considered to be caused by character defects, but had to be ascribed to societal forces. It became clear that traditional remedial measures could not cope with the problem adequately. In times of depression, the large number of unemployed far exceeded the aid capacity of private philanthropies and civic authorities. And the continuous expansion of the labor market made it obvious that local action would remain insufficient, especially if prevention could take the place of the less-desirable solution. By the time the United States entered World War I, reformist thinkers had devised the major tools that were later used to deal with unemployment. After the war and during most of the 1920s, these tools underwent thorough examination and refinement. The early years of the Great Depression saw them used tentatively. On the eve of the New Deal, a well-reasoned and successfully tested group of social programs was available. This book essentially refutes a social-control explanation for this process. It demonstrates that the unemployment measures of the New Deal emanated from the reformist endeavors of the Progressive Age.

Table of Contents

List of figures and tables	vii
Abbreviations used in the text or footnotes	ix
Acknowledgments	xi
Introduction	1	(13)
Perceiving the problem: 1870s to the entry into World War I	14	(107)
Growing awareness	14	(28)
Assessing the problem	42	(10)
Search for tools: Labor exchanges	52	(42)
Search for tools: Public works	94	(16)
Search for tools: Unemployment insurance	110	(11)
Nascence and growth of the USES: World War I	121	(6)
Pondering the issues: Postwar to the mid-1920s	127	(92)
Postwar and prosperity	127	(22)
Elusive numbers	149	(5)
The USES on hold	154	(26)
Pondering public works	180	(22)
Who needs unemployment insurance?	202	(17)
Accepting the task: 1928-1933	219	(120)
From prosperity to depression	220	(24)
Numbers beyond count	244	(7)
Revival of the USES	251	(17)
Public works and relief	268	(50)
The coming of unemployment insurance	318	(21)
Epilogue	339	(40)
Appendix
Checklist of Congressional bills and resolutions mentioned in the text	347	(3)
Congressional bills and resolutions mentioned in the text	350	(20)
Checklist of Congressional hearings mentioned in the text	370	(2)
Congressional hearings mentioned in the text	372	(4)
Manuscript collections consulted	376	(3)
Index	379