The herald., 1897-02-28

MessrS. COlver, Gilmer and swift, of the
labor organizations; G. e. Day, A. Z.
| Pomeroy and others.
President Frank presided and Secre-
tary Knight was present in his official
| capacity.
In calling the meeting to order, Mr.
| Frank said that the object was to try
and raise funds to furnish work for the
unemployed. The attempt to cooperate
with the chamber Of commerce had not
resulted satisfactorily, and this meeting
| had been called to confer with promi-
| nent gentlemen to see If something prac-
! ticable could not be agreed upon. He
then called upon Judge Charles Silent
to give his views as to what was best to
be done.
Judge Silent said that for some weeks
movement had been on foot to try and
help the unemployed, and at the same
time rid the city of the tramp nuisance,
which was becoming a serious ques-
| ton. For some reason all efforts had
failed, and the gentlemen had now
stepped out Of the way. He believed
that the time had come when relief
should be afforded. He, with others,
| had consulted on this matter, and they
had come to the conclusion that it
would be a good thing to issue bonds
| FOR the improvement of some one of the
parks; but to get money by this means
would take until the middle of summer
or the fall. In this view of the case it
had been thought best to appeal to large
property owners and business men to
raise an immediate fund of S. 900 to $10,-
900, which could be expended on some
| drive or roadway in Griffith or Elysien
parks. The thing to do was first to fur
| nish work to our own citizens, men who
have families to support. Then take up
the question of single men and shut the
door against the further influx OF
Il ta hnn oct ,trnp Iii
men from the tramps, and if the latter
will not work. then put them in Jail and
| keep them there until they will. Judge
Silent said that he had just received
message from John f. Francis, who was
| unable to be present. saying he was in
hearty accord with the movement. The
| time for talk had passed; it now re-
mained to act. and act promptly. He
stood ready. and willing to do his full
| share. We" <Iit ili
! Mayor Snyder followed, saying that
| he had given the matter much thought
| during the past few weeks, and he knew
| that there was much distress in the city
, that should be aleviated AS Judge
Silent had said, the time for talk had
passed, and was now time to act. AS
to the ability ofthe city to contribute to
| this fund, 1t was well known that the
| finances would not permit of much be-
ing done. The only thing he could sug-
gest was to have the street sweeping
| done by hand, If the city should make
contribution, it would be necessary to
cut down the present force and reduce
the expenses. The subscription plan
was to his mind the only feasible plan.
He was confident that if this matter was
| put in the hands of men in whom the
! people had confidence, there would be
no trouble in raising handsome fund,
and the distress and suffering prevail
ing would he 1IinV1ta6 until firoaS Inn
proved.
+. M. Daniel thought it would be best
| to first ascertain how many people were
out of work, and need assistance; they
could then tell better what was expected
of them, and could approximate what
| they could do. Ee asked for information
on this subject.
been informed that there are from 1000
| to 5000 men IL the city cut of employ
ment. Not more than a thousand had
attended any of their meetings but he
had understood that many had remained
away because they feared that there
was something anarchistic in the plans
proposed. When they found that such
| was not the case he thought that others
| would come in.
Mr.. Daniel said if this was the case,
the situation was much more serious
than he anticipated, and it would re-
qulre great deal more money than
they had calculated upon. 1t was GER
tainly the duty of the citizens to pre-
vent actual suffering, but as the mer-
chants are constantly being called upon
ne thought in this instance they should
come In secondarily, and that an effort
should first be made to reach the
wealthy capitalists and property owners
who had heretofore generally escaped.
President Frank said that he did not
believe that there were any such number
as 5000 or 5000 men out of work, and that
the reports were greatly exaggerated.
He called on Captain F. R. Colver, Of
the Labor World, for any information
that he might have on the subject.
captain Colver said that he had never
estimated any such number as that
given. He thought there were from two
TO three thousand men out of work, but
not more than five hundred who were
in actual distress, or who would take
advantage of the emergency work at 81
per day Captain Colver gave some sta
tistics in regard to skilled labor, which
showed that the situation as regards
this class of workmen was not much, if
any, worse than usual. Captain Colver
was corroborated by Mr.. Gilmer of the
Typographicalsu sunion.c
Judge Silent said that this was as he
expected; the reports were greatly eX-
aggerated, and if the citizens could fur
nfsh work for 800 to 800 men it would
solve the difficulty for the present. He
had taken up this matter to solve this
question, and to stop this howl about the
great numbers Of unemployed, thereby
creating the impression abroad that we
were city of paupers. Judge Silent
also spoke about the difficulty of getting
capitalists and property owners not en-
gagged in active business to subscribe
in matters of this kind, and said that
the reason he and others favored the
issuance of bonds was to compel them to
pay their share.
President Frank again called attention
to the fact that the time for talk was
passed, and that action should be taken
at once. The object was to help people
In actual distress, and he did not think
the number would exceed 500 OF course
skilled labor would not have to be taken
into consideration, as but few of them
were in such straits that they would take
advantage of it. The question now be-
fore them was how to get money for the
purpose of relieving the actual distress
prevailing. The merchants, like other
people, were feeling the effects of the
hard times, but they would do their
share. He was ready to listen to any
suggestions that might be offered The
question was whether 1t would be better
to make direct appeal to the people for
funds by the association, as he believed
that the people had confidence in IL e~~-
ganization, or whether it would be bet
ter to appoint a committee to solicit
funds. AS to the best plan for work, he
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