Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1893-09-23
LABOR PROBLEM PHASES
A Viewed From the Standpoint Of . Labor
Advocate

AUvOC&t0
The Need OF SapplyinG Work for the
Great Army of the Unempioysa--
Foreign Agitators.
Trouble is brewing in Chicago" said ex-
Special Immigration Commissioner Herman
J. Schulteis yesterday to Star writer.
There are $4,000 unemployed men in the
| city. and they are getting hungry. Because
OF the worlds fair they have fiocked to the
great town from all parts OF the country.
Beng unable to get work. they are becom-
ing more and more desperate every day A
hungry man becomes very desperate indeed
when his wife and children are crying for
FOOD and he cannot find q way to earn a
cent no matter how hard he tries.
Take the miners, for example who were
recently thrown out of employment In Colo
rado: Denver fed Il. 900 Of them for a while.
work could not be found for them, and 30.
Tor the sake Of getting rid Of them, they
were shipped away by regiments to swell
the army Of the idle in eastern cities. 30
anxious were the people out there to dis
pose OF them. recognizing their presence as
| menace. that the railways transported
them for nothing. These miners are the
sort Of men who are extremely dangerous
under such conditions A single policeman
can handle fifty starveling Russian Jews,
| but 1t takes fifty police officers to handle
fifty such men as those from Colorado.
| Il tell you. we are right at the danger
| line You have no notion how desperate
these people are. Only the other day a
| cannon was hauled out on the streets Of
Chicago to prevent riot. The midnight yell
has never been heard In this country a. yet.
but unless the conditions are changed II
Will be heard in the coming winter. They
have got used to 1t in London. Once In q
while IN the British metropolis there is a
sudden focking together Of the unemployed.
VINO emerge from every corner like 30 many
rats from their holes. to join in a nocturnal
procession with torches. They loot the
shops. and before the police can be con-
centrated they scatter.
The authorities In the worlds fair city
and In New York have suppressed anarch-
| isttc demonstrations in public. They have
not been able in this manner to diminish
the trouble. On the contrary, It has sought
refuge In dark places In the secret meet
tngs OF the trades unions the most radical
talk ID INDUCED In. We are on q volcano.
which may explode at any moment. Lon
don Is. to some extent. prepared for resist
Ing mob violence. We are not 30 at all.
The shop windows there are barred with
ton than plate glass.
Men without Work.
"The men who swarmed to Chicago for
while the fair was open have not found It.
The building trade in that city. for example
| is idle In the very neighborhood Of the
exposition grounds are scores Of buildings
| standing uncompleted because there 10 no
money to finish them with. There are twice
| as many unemployed in the United States
this year as there were last year. Hereto
fore men employed In building have had
regular work up to the winter season At
a MT hov vrt1 hoU he
winter without any savings to carry them
| through. That means starvation. Mean
while the government IL aggravating the
situation by refraining from spending the
sA. 900 already Appropriated by Congress
for public buildings and rivers and harbors.
That money Is being held back In the treas
ury for fear Of increasing the deficit. The
law has ordered that the works thus pro-
vided for shall be carried out. Yet; 30 far
as the public buildings are concerned. the
plans for them have not even been drawn In
| the office of the supervising architect.
Look at the Warrington post ONCE now
corner Of Pennsylvania avenue and 1lth
street. Money to pay for that building has
been appropriated and Is ready In the treas
ury. Yet. not a man Is now working on the
| structure. the site Of which looks like q
deserted graveyard. with q few pillars stick
ing up here and there in lieu Of tombstones.
When work was going on there. foreigners
instead Of Americans were employed to do
1t. They were sent to this city direct from
Castle Garden. / have In my possession am
davits proving that some Of them had been
In this country only four days when they
were engaged to do work on the post ONCE
cans went hungry. And why? Simply be-
cause they were willing to do the labor for
81 day less. The contractor got that dol
lar
Chance to Earn Something.
THAT sAoeO.0oo in the treasury ought to
be spent at once for the purposes declared
by law. 1t would go a long way toward
relieving the general distress. In holding
1t back the administration is taking a
grave responsibility. 1t is not as II Con-
gress was asked to give the cash. It has
already been appropriated and there can
be no excuse for not carrying out the pro-
visions Of the law. In New York. Philadel-
phia and other cities all over the Union
bread is being distributed to the hungry
and soup houses are filling them up with
liquid sustenancc. But charity IN that or
any other form Is not what they require.
They want work. This would be an ex-
celleat opportunity for the government to
undertake the construction of certain long
projected canals. which would be enormous
iy advantageous to commercisi franc.
Bile has occurred and irreparAbie damage IN
one shape or another has been done. We
hope to get some legislation from Con-
II was in Chicago last Labor Day. In
the procession the banner which attracted
most .attention and most unqualified ap-
prevail was one which bore the legend. No
More Pauper immigration The truth Ii
already recognised that pauper immigra-
ton Is the cause Of the present trouble.
Europe IL dumping her unemployed upon
ls. Eighty-fv per cent of the immigrants
come to this country on prepaid tickets.
This Is expressly forbidden by existing
law. but that clause in the law II practical
ly a dead letter. The clause Of the law
which forbids the importation Of paupers
into this country Is also to all intents and
purposes q dead letter. II these two clauses
were enforced. the present deplorable SIT
uation Of affairs would not exist We have
some hope of getting through Congress the
bill introduced by Mr. Stone Of Pennsylva
mia. which requires for each intending i'm
migrant a consular inspection on the othe,
SIDE so fee for that inspection, and an
education qualification for all persons over
sixteen years Of age.
When the trouble breaks out In Chicago.
you will notice that the head devils are for
eisners. Whenever there il riotinR In any
Of our cities they are the leaders Read the
names Of those arrested. and the Chances
are that you will not be able to prono,,n Va
one Of them. 1t is high time that we shut
them out"
COLORED ODD FELLOWS,