New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1869-07-30
FREE PUBLIC INTELLIGENCE OFFICE.

whereby those out of employment coulu ootnn
| II in some better way than through the inter
Hgence offices; for the best of these charged
more than those who live by labor can anoru
n nav while Others, on the payment OF COM
naratiyely large sums agreed to obtain import
ant situations but they neither intended nor were
able to do So The abuses attending tins sys-
fem have been more or less known, though
nerbaps they have diminished within
few wears. Still, the universal practice OF ex-
acting double fees is so much in the nature OF
extortion, and to a degree it so defeats the oD-
iect of their establishment, rs to deserve So
| verest reprObation.
At last, an appropriation OF SlO,ooo was "i'ue,
and authority given to the department. VI
Public Charities and CORRECTION 10 open al
Office under such regulations as WOulu DesC
effect the desired aim, but with the conditlon
that no charge should be made to employer
or to emplOyG. Perhaps this Is the nrst IN
stance in which any government municipal or
general, has assented to the proposition, ana
acted upon it, that to assist in finding employ
ment is as much matter of public welfare as
to provide for education or the suppression oil
crime. On the 10Th of June, this year,
spacious Office was opened at the cor
ner of Ninth and Stuyvesant-stsp IN the
Plympton Building, with Mr.. Nj. u.
Losee as Superintendent; and we have
now the first monthly report, from when we
gather the following statements The number OF
males seeking employment for the month was
| 1904 of whom 713 were required, ana 449
engaged. The number Of females applying
was 1852, and 791 were engaged but there
| were demands for 1,5S4. OF the males, COB were
| needed in the country but only 3S9 accepted the
situations. The demand was for the most part
for farmers and for all kinds of common labor
ers, and it would have been greater had there
been ANYTHING like q known supply. In one
| case. 40 laborers were needed, and 100 were
sent at various times, the employer, according
to regulations, paying fares. Of females,
the demand for general housewOTkers is so
much in excess of supply that about 100 appli-
cations constantly remain on the books unan-
swered, and, of course, all who offer their
services gre at once engaged. Of cooks, 80 per
cent fiRd employment, and of chambermalds
33 per cent The total of applicants for places
will be seen to be 1904, or more than 100 per
day, which has kept the Office force busy,
and the saving to persons seeking
employment has been at the rate of
$4,000 per annum. The character OF the
applicants does not differ from that of those
in the intelligence Offices generally. They are
neither paupers, nor criminals, nor helpless J;
nor are there any foreigners except such as
have been in the city year.
Efforts have been made to find places in the
| West-circulars have been sent wherever the
object seemed likely to be attained, and large
correspondence has been opened but since re-
mittances. or what would be equivalent, are re-
ouired for fares, the doubt on the part OF
farmers as to whether help would come, or
would be worth even the passage-money, has
prevented transactions. That something in
this direction might be done would seem
obvious but special qualifications of agents to
operate both in the East and West, and greater
publicity, will be required. 1t would be a
great help, and additional prestige would be
given to the business, could the city mako
arrangements with the several Railroad Com
panies for low fares, even lower than those
given to immigrants and it is not improbable
that hereafter beside the destitute, those with
small means might, through this Office, find
employment, and eventually homes of their
own, in the West.
Among the hundreds seeking work ut this
Office, are many who do not wish to go West or
anything like it. There are men as able
bodied as any in the land, seeking to be pOrters
| in retail stores walters in hotels, and, worse
still, coachmen in some rich family that they
may be clothed in the garments and insignia Of
servitude; and, if such places are not TO be had,
they hang around and complain that they can
get nothing to do. The truth is, there is enough
work either in or at no great distance from
the city, or at least in places easily
reached, to give employment to all need
ing it, but they refuse to accept because it
does not suit them. If inclination and taste
alone were considered, the human race would
perish for want of Bread but the world is active,
and there are comforts and riches because men
are willing to do necessary work regardless of
their fancied adaptation for it. 1t is true that
among those we are speaking of some are not able
bodied, and it is for the reason that they have
never enough desired independence to become
such. Others may be granted somewhat de-
ficient in physical strength for, with habits
and pursuits unfavorable for its development,
they think themselves doomed to light en-
ployment which impairs rather than increases
their strength, and which is connected with
insufficient and uncertaniwages, and the foul
| air horrors of q tenement house. Could the
| larger portion Of these arm themselves with
little resolution, and seek rural labor
in localities where expenses are small, and
enter upon habit of saving portion of their
earnings, as every man who has become indie
pendent has done, they would place themselves
in positions to be identified with the soil, or to
engage in operations on their own account.
We hold it evident that any man of common
|