Omaha daily bee., 1894-01-14

No city in the country found itself 50
helpless to cope with tho problem OF the
unemployed procipitatod by the recent
depression of trade as Chicago, and no
city In the country, II reports are to be
believed, has so promptly shouldered the
task thrust upon IL and with such good
results. The stories OF heartrending
dcstitution which emauated from that
source only a few weeks ago depicted u
condition OF affairs that was certainly Il
disgrace to any American city.
The number of the unemployed
was ~variously estimated to be over $780,
900. Thousands we're begging from
house TO house and repairing TO the city
hall and police stations for lodgings,
where they were accommodated with "a
few square feet Of the stone floors COW
cred with a reeking mass Of helpless
humanity. The free soup houses, opened
on the impulse of the moment, were
thronged with a hungry horde.
Churches were opened to afford shelter
to the homeless, who threatened to over
tax the available resources of charity.
Editor Stead attended public meetings
and heaped vile epithets upon the peo-
pie of Chicago for . permitting such an
exhibition of poverty in their midst
rcproaches no doubt in many instances
we'll deserved.
The first step required in graphing
with any emergency Of this kind is or
ganization, and organization has proved
to be the key in this particular case.
The previously existing charitable So
cieties were all utilized in their own
fields, but were first co-ordinated into u
tremendously acting set of bodies. The
newly-formed Central Relief association
took charge OF the outdoor work with
the congested population Of the city hall
and police station floors, together with q
general supervision over the other organ
izatiOns. With the abolition of the free
soup houses and the enforcement of the
work test the number of applicants
for relief quickly melted away by at
least a half. The system employed is to
give meal ana lodging tickets for labor
in cleaning the streets for n prescribed
number of hours and to supply necessary
articles of clothing in return for extra
hours of labor. Under these regulations
1000 men were at first furnished with
work that is of considerable value to the
city and that at the same time avoids
competition with other honest laborers.
Many of the men nave peer able either
to return TO their homes or to secure
more remunerativc employment, until at
present less than 800 able-bodied men
are dependent upon the Central Relief
association for support. At the same
time the work of assisting the
unemployed women, the sick and those
able only to ear inadequate wages is
assiduously pursued by the different So
cieties which are devoted to these pur-
poses and which have had the different
fields marked off to them.
The lesson of Chicago's experience
with poor relief is the lesson of all such
experiments. Systematic and organized
charities must take the place of sporadic
and isolated movements. 1t is abso-
lutely neces sary that each charitable
society know what the other is doing if
a waste of energy is to be avoided. For
outdoor relief of able-bodied men,
particularly of those who are strangers
in the community, some kind of a
work test is required to prevent the
encouragement of voluntary idleness,
and this work must be applied where
it will not drag down other laborers
who are still employed. And finally it
teaches that obtrusive poverty is not
the only poverty. Hidden poverty is
The unemployed who have homes in the
community have greater claims than
the passing stranger and are too often
reluctant to ask for help. This most
worthy class of the destitute should not
he nvnrlnnkel