The morning call., 1894-02-09
WORK FOR THE UNEMPLOYED.

The situation in Melbourne, Victoria,
bears some analogy to the situation in San
| Francisco. There, as here, the cOmmu-
nifty is faced with the problem how to
feed a large body Of men for whom there
IS no immediate work. The crisis came
upon the Australian city several months
before it affected us; 1t reached the worst
stage last july. which is Australian mid
winter. The Viciorians devised remedy
which was novel. The colony is full Of
exhausted placers which have been aban-
doned because the gold they contain was
too limited in quantity to reward a COM
pany for working them. The government
OF Victoria deported the paupers of Mel
bourne to these placers. 1t paid their fare
to the spot, and gave each man 81 90 TO buy
tools and food. About 5000 men were thus
disposed OF. The experiment proved a sue
cess. The newcomers found gold enough
in the abandoned workings 10 support
themselves and their families. They did
not strike 1t rich; no bonaDZas were found,
but they earned 1t to their porridge and
roof 10 shelter their heads. They are
better off than they were when they were
living on charity in Melbourne, and Mel
bourne breathes more freely now that they
are gone.
What has been done in Victoria can he
done here. There are in this State an inf
mite number of abandoned placers, some Of
which are worked by Cinnamon. who make
a fair living ont of them. There is no
chance of making fortunes by washing the
gravel. But an industrious worker may
earn his dollar day on the average with
out fail. And there is no doubt room for
good many such workers.
The idea is the better worth cOnsidera-
ton because the presen: plan Of setting
the unemployed TO work in the park at the
expense of benevolent citizens is mere
temporary eXpedient. There must come
time when the source of the money supply
Will be exhausted. and it is greatly 10 be
feared that this viii happen before the
natural demand for labor has revived. At
the present time there is manifold dam
ger that the relief fund for the unem-
ployed will be found empty before its ben
eiciaries have found work.
There are men scattered over California
who can put their finger oD spots where
eight or ten hours work is pretty certain
TO Weld an average of five or six or seven
dollars worth of gold per week, with some
h
require skilled labor; any strong man can
handle the pan and the rocker. These
places have not attracted the attention of
wCrkmen. So long as raw labor was
worth 81 30 a day in this city. it was a
waste of time and energy TO CLEAN in aban-
bOned gulches. But now that men are
standing in the cold and rain in scores
waiting vainly in the hope of getting a
lob at the park at 81 day. the time has
surely come TO consider the application of
labor to fields which. in the heyday of our
embarrassment of riches, were OF worth
exploiting.
The proposed work is not devoid of
promise. Thirty years have elapsed since
placer mining went out of general use in
this State. 1t was said that the gravel
and dirt had yielded MP their mineral con-
tents. But, in the first place, those were
boom days when mems expectations were
large. and miner who could not make bis
SIS a day was supposed TO be doing very
badly indeed; and secondly, the art of
placer mining has made progress since the
exodus of the miners from Nevada and
III Dorado counties 10 the Comstock. There
are many mineral deposits in the world
which were supposed to be exhausted a
few years ago. but which to-day under
modern processes aud by the exercise of
modern ingenuity are yielding fair re-
turn for labor. 1t is quite on the cards
that some OF the unemployed who are be-
ing here fed by charity might lay the
foundation Of a competency by transfer
ring their energy 10 the beds Of streams
which are supposed to have been washed