The Jackson standard. [volume] (Jackson C.H., Ohio) 1847-1888, 1878-08-22
from the Scientific Americana
Not So Many Out of Work.

That the financial disasters and indus |
trial changes of recent years have thrown
many operatives and laborers out oil work, |
and at the same time have necessitated |
redistribution of labor that has borne |
heavily upon many industrious people, is
sadly true Yet it is certain that the
number of willing workers who cannot
find employment throughout the country
is very much less than demagogues-Who
want to manipulate the labor vote =
have tried to max out. They talk OF
millions begging for work and groaning
in enforced idleness; but no one else can
discover them The truth is that while
many are doing work which they would
prefer not to do, at rates below what they
think themselves worth, the great major
ity of our working classes are well EN-
ployed, and the thrifty among them find
that their diminished earnings now have
quite as great purchasing power as had
their higher wages Tin deprecated cur
rency) years ago.
No small part of the failure of would be
workers to win employment is due to
their unwillingness or lncapacty to ad-
Just themselves to the changed condition
of the labor market During the period
of flush times and political rings, great
swarms of laborers were gathered about
city improvements, really to serve their
employers at the polls They were paid
not SO much for their intelligence and
strength as for their service on election
day; and subsequently, when they found
it impossible to get similar work to do,
too many Of them showed little inclina
ton to grapple with serious work in other
occupations. Used to large wages and
light work, they had no stomach for hard
work and small pay, and were besides
unwilling to exchange their gregarious
life for the severer and less exciting lille
of the country laborer Too many OF
them also preferred to leave their fam
lilies to the care of charity while they
"agitated' for public employment.
A more deserving class of more or less
skilled workers came to temporary dis
tress through the transference to the
West of numerous industries formerly
monopolized by the East large NIL
grafton of Eastern mechanics and artisans
was thus made necessary; and many OF
those who were unable or unwilling to
follow their work had to suffer, though
for no fault of their own, the penalty OF
being not wanted. But the worst is over
now. To large extent the needed read
iustments have been made; industry has
revived; the demand for labor is in
SO@N ~
large numbers of men who ought never
to have abandoned it has considerably
lessened the competition in other fields
of labor Accordingly the great army OF
the unemployed, that demagogues talk
so much about, has dwindled to compar-
atiye insignifcance Of the remnant the
larger portion is manifestly composed oi
the tramp element, which breads nothing
so much as steady employment.
The labor census in progress in Massa
chusetts furnishes instructive evidence
in this connection Massachusetts is 9
State in which the manufacturing indus
try largely predominates. In its mills
and factories the introduction of new
and improved machinery has been gener
al and rapid And within late years iti
manufactures have been seriously crowd
ed in many markets by the rapidly devel
opine manufactures of the central West
Yet in Massachusetts, to-day the numbel
of persons lacking regular employment il
surprisingly small Already enough o
the State has been canvassed to warran
the chief of the State Bureau of the Sta
tistics of Labor, Mr.. Carroll d. Wright
in fixing the maximum number of mel
without permanent employment in tn
whole State at twenty thousand. OF thi
number at least third have occasiona
employment; and half the rest belong t
the unsteady and thriftless class, VIII
never work if they can avoid it, Accord
inply the number of men in Massachu
setts who want work and cannot get it
estimated at not more than ten thor
sand-a large number considered b
themselves, but small compared with tn
whole number of workers, or with tn
number so often said to be out of work
In proportion to her population, Mass'
chusetts' share of Kearney's 100000
tramps should be at least 10000. Fc
our part we put more confidence in M
Wright.