Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1891-04-01
LOOKING FOR WORK.
Why Are Not the Half Million Idle Me
Pint tn WnrE9


The Scientific American, a purely
scientific publication and entirely con-
sentative, says:
There are in the United States in this year
1891, five hundred thousand seekers for work
"a half million people, of both sexes and all
ages, looking for employment"
This statement is based upon the COM
putation of Hon. Carroll D. Wright
United States commissioner of labor,
and an authority than whom there Is
none higher. Now, why is It that In
this country there are half million
idle people-people who are anxious
to find work at which they could earn
an honest living? Is it because there
is no work for them to do? Then God
has made the terrible mistake of Gre
ating half a million too many people
and has not yet found it out, for he is
all the time creating more. The very
thought is sacrilegious, but it is justi-
fed by the argument that there Is no
work for these thousands Of idle people
to do.
Is there really no work? Look around
and see. Go to the cities where the
center of wealth is supposed to be.
There are hundreds of old tumble-down
shanties in which miserable people are
living wretched lives, These old struct-
ures that long since outlived their age
and usefulness should be torn away and
something more like human habitations
erected in their place. Would this af-
ford anybody work? It would employ
laborers to tear down the old buildings,
teamsters to haul away the rubbish,
-.
gers to excavate the cellars, quarrymen
to get out the stone, cutters to dress
them, masons to lay the foundations,
brickmakers to prepare the brick,
transfers to haul them, builders to
place them in the walls, oarpen-
ters to do the wood work, mil
lers to prepare the lumber, glass
makers to make the glass, GLACIERS to
put them in the windows, fnishers to
do the nice work inside, manufacturers
to make the paints, painters to put them
on-the mind is actually bewildered at
the laborers this 44e line of improve
ments would employ, and - is york
badly needed to be done, work human
comfort demands.
Is there any work needed to be done
in the shops and factories? Mix with
the people without regard TO class or
calling. Note the hats that should be
replaced with new ones, the shoes that
let in both cold and water, the absence
of overcoats, the worn and patched
garments and then make up your minds
whether or not additional work should
be done in the factories. And whom
would this employ? An army of labor
ers from the first inception of the raw
material to the perfected article.
Is there any work needed to be done
in the country Ask yourselves, farm
ers Walk about your farms and see.
Wouldn't you like 70 have those atumps
uprooted and taken out of the fields?
That thicket over yonder grubbed out?
That middle fence that has already
caused you some trouble repaired?
That bottom field tiled and drainedP A
pond dug ont in the pasture lot? The
barn repaired, made dagger and paintedP
You have long intended to build new
dwelling, or to add room % two to
the old one; you would be glad to do
that now. The poultry, doing their
best to repay you fsr the little atten-
ton they receive, need better quarters
and you would like to accommodate
them Your plows are getting badly
worn, and the very necessities of your
calling demand implements and ma
chinery that you have not. But whv
prolong this investigation? To do all
che work actually needed to be done on
the farms, and done now, would en-
Ploy thousands Of idle bands,
And yet hands are not EMPLOYED.
Half million of people In the United
States seeking work and cannot find I'll
| And there is more work to be done IN
the United States than in any other
country on earth, Why are not these
idle hands employed7 Why don't Won
have somebody to do the work YOU
would like so well to have done on your
farm? Let your answer come in thunder
tones and let it echo from mountain
top to valley. let it reverberate along
the rivers and sweep ACROSS the prairies-
Let it be heard above the busy din of
the city's strife, and let It add q sound
70 the noise of the shop and the rattle of
the aaill, for your answer will be the
answer OF ail-sI have not got the
money!" That tells the story, These
five hundred thousand people are not
idle because there Is no work for them
70 do, and the work does not go undone
because there Is nobody to do it It is
because there is no money
The farmer cannot employ labor be-
cause the products of his farm bring