New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1858-05-05
LETTERS FROM THE PEOPLE.
wORKINGMEN FOR TIE COUNTRY.
A. ~ -. z Tvtb-

To ne Editor u lac ". j. Irie-Hs
SIR: yesy few who are not smcng the poor aud Ia.
boring people can rnas me the extreme want and dis
tess under which they suffer at ibis time. Thousands
who have just Ribbed along on public and private
charities through this terrible sesson, are now len
without any visible means Of support. Work ha, not
been sumed st oil in proportion to the supply Of Ia
bcr. One pass through block after block Of tene
inert houses Eom village Of shsnties to another
and find numbers Of strong able-bcdied men, willing
to work, wbo canrot, by any possibility, get occupa
.iop Some walk the city without food from morning
till evening, seeking chance for honeet labor We
have known repeated instances this Spring where Ia
bo,ers ard their families have had not morsel to eat
for the tweIty-four hou:s The wives 60 from house
to house, amoog II ladies' whom they happen to krov
begging for job Of scrubbpg, or sowing something
of the kid. The cbdreL-as we see painfully now
axe begging on the street. The question comes home
to every humane person, What Is 10 be done with tis
PUerty' Aims giving is net the cure. IL is true, all
should continue TO Wit and aid the poor to the best Of
their ability 1t IS q humane duty-s Christian obi
cation. But giving these people bread will not pre-
vert ,nen being huRgry again next year, under SINH
La circumstances. And what is worse. another year
they viii be more ready TO accept aims aud less dis
posed 10 work for themselves Cannot this oontinu-
ally recurring poverty Of industrious, honest aborlng
men be checked?
We believe TO q very great degree it might be pro-
vtrteo if the msce lsneous Charity, botn public and
private, now exercised bountiuy, but so iDl.
diciousy, among the poor OF the city, were TUNED
into one great chaunel-thst Of EMIGRATION. Here
is the broad West, needing labor everywhere, ana
wiling TO pay literally Tor it, These very men, who
now feed at the hand Of pubic charity in our city,
would in the Western farming country, be worth good
wages aDdspeedily become ,efsuppOrtng useful cul.
tivatos the ground There is the great apd healthy
demand; here Is the supply Who will connec
tbeml
Our city expepds each year large for the out
door poor. Thousands Of families this Winter have
been kept alive by the coal and ood supplied by the
Ain s.1IOuse Department.
Supposing half Of the cum raised for the purpose
was appropriated under judcious direction, every
Spring, to transporting poor families to places in the
West where there was a demand for their labor,
how vastly more efficient would be the charity!
What is needed now seems to US, united effort
the part of beth the authorities and the citizens TO
forward our poor unemployed aborers to places in the
country where their work is wanted. Many of the
mpediments which have thus far stood in the way Of
such enterprise, we believe, are removed.
The poor are much more willing to co. since their
cent suferiDgs. The West understands better the diff
its share 10 the pecuniary direction Our citizens
more alive than ever before to the practical cure which
is ever at their hand Of Emigration.
Large sums, we believe, would be gladly con-
Ebuted to any wise, comprehensive scheme OF emf
grafton, supported by the names of our most response
bic citizeIs. To meet portion Of the expenses, q
plan might be adopted somewhat siriar to that re-
Gently tried by the Chdrens' Aid Society ia sending
trades gIls to the West-that is each laborer sent
could give his promise TO pay say half the travelling
expenses and the note could be filled out with the
pIoyer's pane and this sum be collected from his
wages. In this way one great danger might be met.
of mans leaving his place after the employer had
been at expense TO get him there. There are, of
course, innumcrab difficulties and annoy snces about
any plan that may be devised Of combined emigration
OF woskingmen, though we know they must be slight
compared to those which experienced in sending
out destitute women to places Of work OF all things,
this is the most tbsnkless and the most difficult.
What between the women, the side, who refuse
to who turn out badly or break their engagements
or leave their places or SANDER the agents who take
them, and abuse and disgrace the Society; and the
employers, on the other side, who are disappointed
and ur suited ard who are ready to consider all char
table agencies humbug and swindle-oLe gets
quite enough of the e1pe riment.
Still we fully believe that all obstacles to plan Of
united emigration Of the wokipgmen c.n he over
come. 1t only needs go few experienced Pers rs
70 devote Themselves entirely to the work. and then to
secure such Board Of MansgeIs as the whole country
would reapect and we are confident that in time
of thousands of honest hard working laborers could
be sent out TO distant places of employment. c.L.
CbldeIs Aid Society, No. Il Clinton Hal Astor place.