Abstract

The White House Magicians: II. Playing with Statistics

In the preceding section of this article an attempt was made to recount in some detail the numerous efforts of U.S. President Herbert Hoover and his officials to conjure up the genre of prosperity. Their magic formula varied from bold assertions that there was nothing wrong to cheerful promises that the Americans would be out of the depression in thirty or sixty days. But as the depression deepened, it became more and more obvious that the magic had been bungled. The government's own statisticians have proceeded to report month by month fewer gainful workers and smaller pay rolls. From October, 1929, through September, 1931, their figures show a drop of more than 30 per cent in employment and of more than 40 per cent in pay rolls in the fifteen major industrial groups.