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In January 1931 Herbert Hoover, as President of the United States, made a statement to the press, which was given widespread coverage all over the United States, in which he said that the depression was almost over, that everything was better, that employment had risen in the last month four per cent, that it had risen some more, that it was rapidly going up and that if that rate continued, it would be all over by June or May.

I know how Hoover had gotten his figure of a four per cent increase. There is always an increase of employment in the cities around Christmas because of the Christmas rush in mercantile establishments. That is sufficient so that whether you are at the highest known levels of employment, or at the bottom levels of employment, there will be a little increase of employment. In December 1930 there had been a little increase. I've always hoped that Hoover just didn't know that wasn't the case. Certainly the Bureau of Labor Statistics, connected with the Department of Labor in Washington, knew better. They knew it was not true, but the U. S. Employment Service, which was a cockeyed, half-baked, good-for-nothing affair, also in the Department of