The record-union., 1894-05-15
OUT-OF- WORK PROBLEM.
How the American Federation of
Labor viii Solve 1t.
What the General Organizer Says
After Examining the Lands
in the Merced District.
[From the San Francisco Examiner.l

We live IN hySterlcal age hSA anu
women are seeking to do strange Things
in strange ways. Universal discomfort
prevails and distrust is cankering its way
into the minds of the masses. Thousands
of able bodied men are vaiply seeking
employment throughout the country and
every large city is oyerstocked with
labor.
Coxeyism, the result of such condi-
tions, is only ridiculous because peace
full. Hundreds of thinkers are racking
their brains day and night to discover a
panaeea for existing conditions. Many
claim their particular ism will settle the
question. Political parties are wrang-
ling in the national legislature and con-
suming valuable time while the dIscon-
tent grows in vigor day by day. Every
body recognizes that something must be
done and is anxiously waiting Tor some
one else to do it. In short, the position
OF business affairs of the Nation creates
puzzle for the future.
The socialist advances State ownership
of everything from needles TO neckties;
tho anarchist says, 1--WE have too much
law, therefore repeal all laws" the Popu-
list says. Give US more money!" the
older political parties hopelessly talk,
n.
niZation will solve the problem, and l
agree him first, last and all the time.
Socialism is not available Tor many
reasons, chief among them being the
necessary destruction OF incentive, the
elimination Of ali future prospects and
the complete overthrow OF ambition, the
guiding star OF progress.
The American people are energetic; the
atmosphere is laden with the virus of
activity. Socialism would destroy hope
for the future and annihilate energy. AS
an answer to the question. IVY hat OF the
future!" socialism is dreamy failure.
Anarchy is SO improbable at present as to
merit no Immediate discussion.
More money" sounds we'll, but we
cannot get il with the present Congress.
Could we do so the results are grayely
problematical.
What shall we do?
Redistribute the people.
Six million acres of the richest land in
the world IN California, producing mainly
volunteer grass and jack rabbits; val
leys as rich in productive ability as the
shores of old Nile; climate rivaling that
of Southern France ana Italy; versatility
of product as varied as the category OF
foods for man and beast; transportation
at every door. That is California Of to-
day.
over there to the East, beyond the
"snow- capped Rockies 100000 nomads,
yclipt .'tramps," and 100000 idle me-
ehanics. Land in California hungry for
the piow of the farmer Of fruit, vegeta-
bic and grain.
Land sufficiently productive to feed the
nation. Land so deeply covered with
ailuvial soil that it will never wear out.
On the other hand. idle. hungry men, each
menace to the future of the employed;
each q protest against unequal distribu
ton of human power Of brain and brawn.
Those are the conditions. How change
them? By making the valleys of Cali
1orl1ia to bloom as a rose garden. By
covering the unoccupied lands with men
and women who will tear from mother
earth living, and more, by populating
her plains with the horney-handed sons OF
toll now idle in the Last.
BY adding TO the vacant areas of the
Sunset Stale the vacant stomachs of the
Eastland. Oh, yes. it can be done and
will be done. "a Here in these valleys the
tide OF human progress into the great
cities will receive its first command TO
hala
From the dense cities will pour into
these valleys and spread over these
plains vast hoard OF hardy homeSeekers,
carrying in their eyes Pandora's tails
man, Hope; carrying in their muscles the
human steel OF determination, CARRYING
in their brains desire for peace, quiet,
rest, home-their whole MAX cup silently
crying out their ambition 10 be some-
body. to succeed, to partake of natures
bounty to man. to live not as slaves but
as dictators, not as things but as men.
The organizations of labor, having long
been the pulpit whence the ahobbyist"
launched his pet theories, idealiZation
Nightmares and insane iallaeies, are fast
swinging back into the line OF American
trades unionism, and the vast member
ship, having tired of ethereal demonstra-
tions and claptrap in general, is advanc-
ing colonization as the only solution. Too
many people in the cities, too few in the
rural districts. Result-hardship and
suffering. Moral, land.
"Yes, but am not going out on bleak
prairie starve to deatb,n says Mr.. City
chap.
No, my boy, you mustn't do that You
would be foolish to do so. But suppose
the Cosmopolis Colony should say to you:
Here are twenty acres of the finest land
IN the world. We will plant il in fruit,
and when it is bearing three years we
Will all move Oh it and thereafter be inde-
pendent. SC far as home. happiness and
plenty are concerned"
Would you then give up the death
dealing grind of metropolitan druugery
and become a realhunan being OF a col
ony within The inneriaost bounds of CIV
ilized civilization, located only a few
miles from the Golden Gate, a colony
where modern methods bring 10 the door
of the fruit farmer all the pure enjoy
ments of city society: colony where life
is life and worth the living
The Illinois State Federation of Labor
has solved the problem over which portly
Senators and garrulous NJ. c. = have pom
dered SO long. Acting under instructions
from that labor body, the greatest Of its
kind in existence, a committee is now in
California seeking land for the above pur-
poses, and that committee proposes to
find it. for there is any amount 10 be had
we propose 10 establish colony whose
general excellence shall command the at
tention Of the thinkers OF the world.
Having demonstrated its success others
will be planted. and the attention oflnan-
kind be turned onee again toward the
common mothers earth within whose
chaste embrace wealth awaits the seek
ing hand of man.
WILLIAM c. PodERoY,
General Organizer American Federation
OF Labor.
Merced. Cal. May IA. 1894.