The great West. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1889-18??, 1893-01-06

Inc government CdA uSO OAO - -
million laborers at good profit Tor
for years to come creating works OF
great national Importance and per"
manent value.
Our nation of wealth owes to every
citizen the right to earn an honest
living. Every human being that God
sends into this world has the right to
exist. The right to exist implies the
right of labor to support existence.
Under the present conditions there
are all the time from one to two mil
lion of able laborers seeking employ
ment and unable to find it.
This condition has become ma
tional crime and national peril.
s. Under the direction and manage
ment of the engineer corps OF the
army and navy departments OF gov
ernment free from faint Of corruption
Or partisanship and of worldwide
fame for efficiency. million or
more of laborers may be most profit
ably employed for years to come on
such public works as the building OF
the Cape Cod Canal. the Hennepin
Canal the Nicaragua Canal the per-
manent improvem ent Of the Missis-
sippi River. the vast irrigation works
needed in the arid regions of the
West, the drainage OF such large
swamp tracts as the {. ankakee swamp.
(where, at cost of two million dol
lars, more than twenty million dol
lars of land can be redeened). the
great swamps Of the South. and. last
| butnot least the construction Of good
system OF public highways in all Sec
tons Of nearly every state for which
there is an urgent demand.
Th labor problem stands before us
spectre OF possible and probable
revolution. The continued appeal
for work to do goes up to that God
whose ear is always open to the needy
when they cry. The million of idle
men are needy and small consumers.
Employed. they would be good con-
sumers and every line of production
would be stimulated.
The relief to the overcrowded labor
market would be like safety valve.
until peaceful evolution OF a salts
factory solution can be arrived at.
The government now employs a
half million men in postoiice and
civil service. Well organized. we'll
paid, useful profitable. 1t employs
thousands in army and navy at the in
dustry OF destruction.
In the manufacture of naval ord
nance and army supplies government
shops are models Of efficiency and
success full industry.
The proposed employment of labor
On great works OF permanent wealth
will not interfere with skilled labor
now employed, but will be a great
stimulus to all other lines Of labor
and production.
Thirty years ago the government
employed q million of men, whose
vocation was the destruction o
wealth. If that vast power had beer
turned to the production Of wealth.
and could have been continued to thi:
+ day. what spectacle Of accomplish
ment we could to day show to The
: world.
.Paternalism'' some will say. 4
strange objection for "a government
! Of the people, by the people for tn
, ! pSOpl0, W u0u IL OuCAo piOHOoOAO Gil
: ployment to the people who neet
, labor to exist.
increased immigration says an
other. What matter how rapid lmmi
= grafton of able labor so we have tn
: means OF turning it Qabor) to profit
able account in producing permancn
works of national wealth.
! Corruption says another. lie
: all the work be put under strictes
rules OF civil service reform and
q may be the grandest education to
ward purified civil service.
Such system OF enlarged industrial
activity will necessitate an increas
:, Of circulating medium.
] Let the labor be paid:
: 1st BY issue Of full legal-tende
h greenbacks to the extent of $50 pc
- capita of total population.
y y I'd. BY long time taxation OF ad
= jacent property to be benefited by in
ternal improvements.
Let monster petition go to tn
next congress for inn mediate steps t
employ idle labor. Let bill be pre-
sented for such action as will secur
q this first step."- journal of thu
Knights of Labor