Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 19.djvu/721

* UNDUE INFLUENCE. 627 UNEMPLOYMENT. fessor and confcssant, such a fact is regarded as a suspicious circuinstanco, which, taken in con- junction with proof of active elVorts on the part of the beneficiary to induce the testator to make liis will in favor of the former, may give rise to a presumption of undue inlhience. Ordinarily, however, where undue influence is charged, the burden of proof rests upon the party making it. Any person, who would liave been a legal heir if the testator had die<l intestate, may contest his will on the ground of nndue influence, and if he is successful the court will refuse to probate the will. See Will, and its bibliography. UNDULATORY THEORY OF LIGHT. See Light. UNEARNED INCREMENT. The extent to which the value of real property increases inde- pendently of any expenditure of labor or capital upon it by its possessor. See the article Single T.x. UNEMPLOYMENT. A term applied in re- cent years to that condition of industrial life in which there is a considerable number of workmen out of work. In its widest application it de- scribes the condition of several classes. In a report by the Labor Department of the English Board of Trade, in 1893, the term is used of four distinct classes : ( 1 ) Those who, engage- ments being for short periods, have terminated their last engagement on the conclusion of a job, and have not yet entered on another; (2) those who belong to trades in which the volume of work fluctuates, and who, though they may obtain a full share during each year of the work afl'orded by their industry, are not at the given time able to get work at their trade; (3) those who are economically sufl'ering because there is not enough work in those trades to furnish a fair amount to all who try to earn a livelihood at them ; ( 4 ) those who cannot get work because they are below the standard of efficiency usual in their trades, or because their personal defects are such that no one will employ them. Another classilication divides the unem- ployed more briefly into three classes : ( 1 ) Jlem- bers of season trades: (2) members of decaying trades; (3) the 'fringe' or least competent mem- bers of every trade. These are broad definitions, including two separate groups, those who for one reason or another, as feebleness, illness, old age, criminal characteristics, or mental deficiency, are incapable, and, secondly, those who are able and willing to work but cannot find it. The first class has always existed, and its presence occa- sions different phases of the problems of povert)' and pauperism. The existence of the second class constitutes more strictly the problem of unem- ployment. Irregularity of employment even for competent workmen is not a modern phenomenon. It has been characteristic of every stage of eco- nomic development : but, on account of the growth of industrial democracy and the development of humanitarian interest, the evil assumes new im- portance. On this point Profes.sor Marshall xvrites: "When a large factory goes on half time, rumor bruits the news over the whole neighbor- hood, and perhaps the newspapers spread it all over the country. But few people know when an independent workman, or even a small employer, gets only a few days' work in a month: and in consequence whatever suspensions of industry there are in modern times are apt to seem more important than they are relatively to those of earlier times. In earlier times some laborers were hired In' the yc;ir, but they were not free, aiul were kept to their work by personal chastise- ment. There is no good cause for thinking that mediiEval artisans jiad constant employment. And the most persistently inconstant employment now to be found in Eirope is in thosc^ non-agri- cultural industries of the West which are most nearly meili;eval in their methods and in those indusfries of Eastern and Southern Europe in which iiu"di;cval traditions are strongest. Though the rapidity of invention, the fickleness of fashion, and. above all, the instability of credit, do cer- tainly introduce disturbing elements into modern industry, yet other influences are working strongly in the opposite direction." (Vol. i., p. 775). Professor Cunningham in his exhaus- tive stud,v of the History of Commerce and In- diislri/ in England, presents abundant evidence on this point, and concludes that the artisan of one hundred years ago was less regular in his work and less steady in character than the skilled artisan of to-day. (Vol. ii., p. 474.) The immediate causes of unemployment are many. Chief among them are: (1) Fluctuations due to change of season, as in the building trades, in dock labor in London, or in the tea, wool, and timber industries; (2) introduction of new machinery and transformation of pro- cesses; (3) migration of labor from rural dis- tricts to the city, or from one country to another; 1 4 ) displacement of adult males by women or children; (5) .shifting of the seat of an industry from one place to another; (6) change in fash- ion; (7) industrial depression or the operation of some extraordinary occurrence, as war. Some of these causes have been in operation with in- creasing force since the revolutionary inventions of the eighteenth century, and the introduction of new methods of transportation in the first half of the nineteenth century. The influence of the causes mentioned has been accentuated during the past century by the periodic appearance of crises which ])rofoundly affect the entire organ- ization of trade and industry. Under the strain of international competition markets become more and more sensitive to remote disturbing in- fluences ; production may unexpectedly cease and entire classes of workmen for weeks together be thrown out of work. In addition to these causes, which are clearl.v recognizable, various theories, involving a discussion of the fundamental prin- ciples of political economy, have been advanced to explain the phenomena of unemployment. Only a reference can be made to those. First, the theory of overproduction: under the present system of production, with its enormous capacity for manufacture, more goods are created than are ref|uired to satisfy the market needs; conse- quently there must be cessation at regular inter- vals until the excess supply has been taken up. Second, the theory of under-consumption: the rich hoard and invest too much in fixed capital, while the jioor have not the power of wholesome consumption. Third, the theory of inflated credit: the extensive organization of business, the promotion of new enterprises, the growth of banking institutions for the sale of credit have all stimulated the growth of the credit system: the settlement of contracts is thus made contingent