If You Want Jobs Then Give These Workers Spoons Instead of Shovels

Milton Friedman? William Aberhart? Walter Augustus Wyckoff? Unemployed Worker? Businessman in China? UK Minister of Agriculture?

Question for Quote Investigator:: In 2011 an editorial in the Wall Street Journal mentioned a quotation that apparently is well-known:^[1] 2011 September 8, Wall Street Journal, Section: Opinion, Why the Stimulus Failed, Page A14, New York. (ProQuest) link

The famous Milton Friedman line about government ordering people to dig with spoons to employ more people comes to mind.

The image of people digging with spoons is quite striking, but I am not familiar with this saying. Could you explore this topic and tell me what Friedman said?

Reply from Quote Investigator:: This quotation is usually coupled with a colorful anecdote, but the details of the stories vary greatly. Here is an account from the economics writer Stephen Moore that was printed in the “The Wall Street Journal” in 2009. Moore stated that he used to visit Milton Friedman and his wife, and together they would dine at a favorite Chinese restaurant: ^[2]2009 May 29, Wall Street Journal, De Gustibus: Missing Milton: Who Will Speak For Free Markets? by Stephen Moore, Section Opinion, Page W.13, New York. (ProQuest) (Also website online.wsj.com … Continue reading

At one of our dinners, Milton recalled traveling to an Asian country in the 1960s and visiting a worksite where a new canal was being built. He was shocked to see that, instead of modern tractors and earth movers, the workers had shovels. He asked why there were so few machines. The government bureaucrat explained: “You don’t understand. This is a jobs program.” To which Milton replied: “Oh, I thought you were trying to build a canal. If it’s jobs you want, then you should give these workers spoons, not shovels.”

Different versions of this tale are based in distinct locales that span the globe including: India, China, England, United States, and Canada.  The punchline has been attributed to the following people: famous economist Milton Friedman, popular economist Walter Augustus Wyckoff, Canadian politician William Aberhart, an unnamed worker, a businessman touring China, and a UK Minister of Agriculture.

The earliest instance of this anecdote type located by QI appeared in 1901 within “The Chicago Daily Tribune” of Illinois which acknowledged a newspaper in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania:

An incident which struck me at the time as quite amusing occurred not long since on North Broad street. A steam shovel at work had attracted a large number of spectators, including two Irishmen, who, judging by their appearance, were toilers temporarily out of employment.

As the big shovel at one lick scooped up a whole cartload of dirt and dumped it upon a gondola car, one of the Irishmen remarked: “What a shame, to think of them digging up dirt in that way!” “What do ye mane?” asked his companion. “Well,” said the other, “that machine is taking the bread out of the mouths of a hundred laborers who could do the work with their picks and shovels.” “Right you are, Barney,” said the other fellow.

Just then a man who had been looking on and who had overheard the conversation remarked: “See here, you fellows. If that digging would give work to a hundred men with shovels and picks, why not get a thousand men and give them teaspoons with which to dig up the dirt?” The Irishmen, to their credit, saw the force of the remark and the humor of the situation and joined heartily in the laugh that followed, and one of them added: “I guess you’re right, Captain. The scoop’s the thing after all.” —Philadelphia Public Ledger.

Thus, the core of the anecdote was in circulation several decades before the 1960s. The teller of the tale and the participants were unnamed.

Below are additional selected citations in chronological order.

A closely matching version of the article above appeared in other newspapers in 1901 and 1902 such as the “The Tacoma Daily Ledger” of Tacoma, Washington.^[3] 1901 September 28, The Tacoma Daily Ledger, Stories of the Hour, Quote Page 4, Column 7, Tacoma, Washington. (Newspapers_com)

In 1908 “The Evening Star” of Washington D.C. attributed the anecdote to economist Walter Augustus Wyckoff who was well-known for performing research by working as an unskilled laborer while  crisscrossing the United States. The setting was Philadelphia, and the participants were unnamed:^[4] 1908 June 13, The Evening Star, Three Minute Stories By and About Well Known People, Well Put, Section 3, Quote Page 3, Column 1 and 2, Washington, District of Columbia. (Newspapers_com)

“The late Walter A. Wyckoff, the tramp professor of Princeton,” said a magazine editor, “had, in his tramping days, many a quaint experience.

“He was talking to me one night about political economy. He wanted to prove that I was wrong in my claim that labor-saving inventions robbed poor men of work. He said, at the argument’s end, that he was reminded of a conversation he overheard in 1900 on a tramp in Pennsylvania.

“They were digging, he began, filter beds on the outskirts of Philadelphia with a steam shovel. The wonderful shovel, whistling and grunting, would dart into the earth, jerk out again, and swing up merrily toward the waiting car, loaded with a ton of dirt.

“Two laborers stood beside Wyckoff. They watched the quick and tireless shovel scooping up and dumping into the car a ton of earth at a lick. Finally the younger laborer said with an oath:

“‘Ain’t it a shame, George, to shovel dirt that way?’
“‘How so?’ said George, the older laborer.

“‘Why, that there machine is takin’ the bread out of the mouths of 500 men what would be required to do the same work with hand shovels.’

“George laughed,

“‘Go on,’ he said: ‘you don’t reason right. Look-a-here, if this steam diggin’ would give work to 500 men with shovels, why not get 5,000 men with teaspoons for the job?’”

The article above appeared in other newspapers in 1908 such as “The Cincinnati Price Current”.^[5] 1908 July 30, The Cincinnati Price Current, An Economical Idea (Acknowledgement to Philadelphia Press), Quote Page 493, Column 3, Cincinnati, Ohio. (Google Books Full View) link

In 1921 “Building Age” magazine of New York published a brief instance of the didactic tale:^[6] 1921 July, Building Age, Labor-Saving Devices, Quote Page 49, Column 3, Building Age Publishing Corporation, New York. (Google Books Full View) link

In a western city the City Fathers were proposing to buy an elaborate road machine. “But,” said one, “if we buy this we will do the work of fifty men with shovels and put them out of a job.” “Yes,” said another, “or of five hundred men with teaspoons, or five thousand men with toothpicks. Why not abolish the shovel?” There is talk in our vicinity of abolishing or limiting the use of pneumatic tools in stone cutting; and of limiting the width of the paint brush. Why not substitute a full-size tablespoon for the No. 6 scoop?

In May 1935 in Canadian newspaper “The Lethbridge Herald” printed an instance. The politician William Aberhart of the Social Credit party in Alberta was described as unhappy because government building projects were not using modern large-scale machines. Aberhart delivered a humorous version of the remark with the phrase “spoons and forks”: ^[7]1935 May 18, Lethbridge Herald, 5,500 Hear Social Credit Expounded By Party Leader, Start Page 1, [Continuation title on page 3: “5500 Hear”], Quote Page 3, Column 2, Lethbridge, Alberta … Continue reading

Taking up the policy of a public works program as a solution for unemployment, it was criticized as a plan that took no account of the part that machinery played in modern construction, with a road-making machine instanced as an example. He saw, said Mr. Aberhart, work in progress at an airport and was told that the men were given picks and shovels in order to lengthen the work, to which he replied why not give them spoons and forks instead of picks and shovels if the object was to lengthen out the task.

On September 13, 1935 William Aberhart gave a speech to the Canadian Club in Toronto. He recounted an anecdote in which he delivered a version of the saying:^[8]1991, Aberhart: Outpourings and Replies, Edited by David R. Elliott, [William Aberhart, “Social Credit” Speech to the Canadian Club, Toronto, on September 13, 1935, Proceedings of the … Continue reading

One of the school graduates came to me to pay his respects to the school; he told me he was in charge of helping on one of the Dominion air ports. I said to him, “I suppose you use modern machinery in your air ports?”

“No, sir.” “Why?” “Well,” he said, “if we used modern machinery in the establishment of air ports there would be very little need of men to help us to do it, for they would do it so rapidly and easily that there would be no need of man labour. We give them picks and shovels and put them out to do it in the old-fashioned way.”

I smiled and said to him: “It would probably be just as well to give them spoons and forks; it would take them still longer to do it.” It seemed to me so ridiculous; we let modern machinery rust at the road side or air port and make those men bend their backs in order to give them the purchasing power to buy the necessities of life, and hardly that.

In 1966 a variant of the story was told in the Irish Parliament. The orator referred to an earlier incident that he said took place in the Parliament of the United Kingdom: ^[9]1966 March 22, Dail Eireann [Irish Parliamentary Debates], Topic: Committee on Finance. – Resolution No. 12: General (Resumed), Speaking: Mr. N. Lemass, Page 65 of 77, Volume 221, Number 12, … Continue reading

Mr. N. Lemass: … Earl Attlee at one time suggested in the British House of Commons that instead of giving farmers tractors, they should be given shovels, thereby employing ten men instead of one, but the then Minister of Agriculture said: “Why not go further and give them spoons, thereby employing 100 men?” That is not the solution. The farming community cannot sustain as many people, if there is to be a more equitable distribution of our national wealth, and if the people living on the land are to have the high standard of living we would desire for them.

In 1967 a member of the House of Lords of the UK Parliament recounted an instance of the story. The central incisive comment was pronounced by an unidentified unemployed man who suggested using an even smaller implement, a tea spoon: ^[10]1967 May 3, Hansard, United Kingdom Parliament, Lords Sitting, Industrial Relations, Speaking: Lord Ritchie-Calder, HL Deb 03, volume 282, cc983-1068. (Accessed hansard.millbanksystems.com on 2011 … Continue reading

LORD RITCHIE-CALDER: … On another occasion, a crowd of unemployed workers was standing on the edge of a cutting at Park Royal—the underground was pushing out to Osterley—and they were watching a huge muck-shifter scooping up tons of rubble at a bite. One unemployed man said bitterly, “If it were not for that damn machine there would be hundreds of jobs for men with picks and shovels.” “Yes, mate,” said another unemployed man, “or for millions of men with tea spoons”.

In 1996 an instance of the anecdote appeared in an article by Jerry L. Jordan in the Cato Journal of the Cato Institute, a prominent libertarian think-tank. The cogent remark was delivered by a businessman visiting China: ^[11]1996 November 30, Cato Journal, Jobs Creation and Government Policy by Jerry L. Jordan, [Article appeared on cato.org on February 18, 2003], Cato Institute, Washington, D.C. (Website cato.org … Continue reading

I am reminded of a story that a businessman told me a few years ago. While touring China, he came upon a team of nearly 100 workers building an earthen dam with shovels. The businessman commented to a local official that, with an earth-moving machine, a single worker could create the dam in an afternoon. The official’s curious response was, “Yes, but think of all the unemployment that would create.” “Oh,” said the businessman, “I thought you were building a dam. If it’s jobs you want to create, then take away their shovels and give them spoons!”

In 1997 the pundit James K. Glassman wrote an opinion piece in the Washington Post that referred to the 1996 Cato Journal article. He repeated the anecdote told by Jerry Jordan and noted that Jordan was president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland at that time. ^[12] 1997 July 1, Washington Post, Why We Trade by James K. Glassman, Section OP/ED, Page A19, Washington, D.C. (NewsBank)

In 2007 a version of the story was published in the popular London-based magazine “The Economist”. The journalist evinced uncertainty about the tale which featured an unnamed economist as the principal character: ^[13] 2007 June 16, The Economist, United States: Lexington: “Vote for me, dimwit”, Page 42, Volume 383, Economist Newspaper, Ltd., London. (Verified with microfiche)

The make-work bias is best illustrated by a story, perhaps apocryphal, of an economist who visits China under Mao Zedong. He sees hundreds of workers building a dam with shovels. He asks: “Why don’t they use a mechanical digger?” “That would put people out of work,” replies the foreman. “Oh,” says the economist, “I thought you were making a dam. If it’s jobs you want, take away their shovels and give them spoons.”

In 2008 the story appeared in a book by Arthur B. Laffer, Stephen Moore, and Peter J. Tanous. This is the first citation located by QI that connects Friedman to the anecdote. It is the same basic story as the one told by Moore in 2009 that is presented at the beginning of this article. One additional detail is given. The country is identified as India: ^[14] 2008, The End of Prosperity by Arthur B. Laffer, Stephen Moore, and Peter J. Tanous Page 204, Threshold Editions of Simon and Schuster, New York. (Google Books preview)

Our friend the late Milton Friedman once told us a story of being in India in the 1960s and watching thousands of workers build a canal with shovels. Milton asked the lead engineer, Why don’t you have tractors to help build this canal? The engineer replied: “You don’t understand, Mr. Friedman, this canal is a jobs program to provide work for as many men as possible.” Milton responded with his classic wit, “Oh, I see. I thought you were trying to build a canal. If you really want to create jobs, then by all means give these men spoons, not shovels.”

In May 2009 the Wall Street Journal published an article by Stephen Moore in which he described hearing the anecdote directly from Milton Friedman while dining with him. The details were given previously in this article. ^[15]2009 May 29, Wall Street Journal, De Gustibus: Missing Milton: Who Will Speak For Free Markets? by Stephen Moore, Section Opinion, Page W.13, New York. (ProQuest) (Also website online.wsj.com … Continue reading

In December 2009 the prominent political commentator George Will appeared on the ABC television program called “This Week”. He presented a version of the tale and attributed the spoons remark to Friedman: ^[16] 2009 December 13, ABC News ‘This Week’ Full Transcript, This Week with George Stephanopoulos, ABC News Internet Ventures. (Website abcnews.go.com accessed 2011 October 10)

George Will: It put me in mind of a great story Milton Friedman used to tell. He went to Asia in the 1960s and was proudly taken by the government to see a public works project. They were building a canal. He was struck everyone was digging the canal with shovels. Friedman says, why no heavy earth-moving equipment?

They said, oh, this is a jobs program. So Friedman says, why don’t you give them spoons instead of shovels? (LAUGHTER) I think we understand, now, the sterility of government trying to create jobs.

In September 2011 the Wall Street Journal referred to the “famous Milton Friedman line about government ordering people to dig with spoons to employ more people”. This citation was mentioned by the questioner and provided the initial impetus for this investigation.

In conclusion, this compelling anecdote has many variants. The primary image of replacing the shovels of workers with spoons or teaspoons is very memorable. The acerbic humor touches on deeper issues of efficiency, productivity, and the purpose of human labor.

The basic tale was circulating by 1901, and the participants were anonymous. In 1908 Walter Augustus Wyckoff received credit for telling the tale; however, the time delay makes this attribution uncertain. There is substantive evidence that William Aberhart and Milton Friedman told versions of this anecdote, but it was already in circulation.

Image Notes: Public domain illustration of a steam shovel published in 1921.

Update history: On October 12, 2011 the citation for The Economist magazine in 2007 was added to the post. On October 11, 2012 the citation for the speech given by William Aberhart on September 13, 1935 was added to the post. Also, the notes were switched to a numerical system. On November 14, 2016 the header picture was updated. On April 19, 2023 citations dated September 20, 1901; September 28, 1901; June 13, 1980; July 30, 1908; and July 1921 were added to the article and the conclusion was updated. The picture was updated to depict a steam shovel.