The Tragedy of the Unemployed Employer By ONE OF THEM
approaching destitution. • munch. loved ones arc suffering at hOme. I often feel that the petition in the Lord's Prayer, " Lead us not into tempta- tion," bears an intensified significance for those who are called upon to want in a land of plenty.
I fear that it will sound impious in the minds of many of my readers, but gladly would I welcome a return of • the War years. Each individual spirit was then part of a great flame of passion—passion of patriotism, passion of sacrifice. For those of us who are now unemployed there is no purpose in life, no adventure. Natural facul- ties lie idle, physical fitness is merely an exasperation, and hopelessness as to the future saps all interest in mundane affairs. There is urgent need for a Government scheme— which must be of a compulsory. characterto cover the professional and employing classes. Might not .a . part of the contributions they are Called upon to make to their employees' Unemployment Insurance be placed to -their own credit ? Or if that be axtuarially _unsound, could not a proportion of income-tax payments be calculated as premiums against a rainy day, so that in an hour of difficulty. they would not be left utterly desti- tute ? It is a problem that merits earnest and immediate consideration. In these days an employer is just as apt to become unemployed as his employees, and in that unfortunate event his position is infinitely worse,
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