The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1899-10-21
MRS. DIGGS PLAN
She Would Provide Soldiers
With Employment.
COmmendable Plan OF the Com
mOnWealth Club
LOOK TO THE FUTURE.
Returning Heroes Must Have
Something to Do.
News From the Various State
House Departments.
LOOK TO THE FUTURE.


which was founded through the ener-
gies of Mrs. Annie L. Diggs, state
librarian, has started a commendable
movement in appealing to the people
of Kansas to see to it that the return
ing soldiers of the Twentieth Kansas
are at once provided with employment
A glance at the muster rolls in the
office of the adjutant general shows
that there are men in the regiment
from every walk in life. There are
clerks, bookkeepers, school teachers
butchers, bakers, blacksm1ths, news
paper men and all classes of labor are
represented.
The winter will be upon the people
bv the time these boys are mustered
out and landed at home and the CLUB
suggests that some of them may eX-
perience hardships unless employment
be at once found. With the idea OF
calling this subject to the atrentlOn OF
the people of the state the Common
wealth club adopted the following;
Whereas, The returning Kansas sol
diers, by their manly performance OF
duty, by their sobriety, and their cred
liable conduct are entitled to substan-
tial consideration, and
Whereas, A proportion of the pri-
vate soldiers will find themselves at
the beginning of winter without en-
pIOyment and with scanty means;
therefore be it
Resolved, That we urge upon the
Kansas the obligation of some definite
action whereby these soldier boys may
be afforded the opportunity of securing
at once remuneratiVe employment OF
whatsoever character their training
prior to enlistment may have fitted
them.
while we share the universal senti-
ment of joyous enthusiasm over the
return of these young men to the state,
and believe it entirely proper to mark
their arrival by the most brilliant re-
ceptiOn the capital city can present,
yet we can not forget that twenty-fOur
hours after the great feast, nature will
call for more Sustenance; and however
dazzling may be our display Of well
come its light viii not suffice for the
days Of disheartenment should there be
delay or difficulty in the experience
of any of these young men in obtaining
Woodwork which is the promoter of
self-respect and the developer of good
character. We therefore insist that
now while interest in our soldier boys
is at high tide, while generous impulse
prOcla1mS that nothing is too good for
them, that some plan will be fOrmu-
lated which will forever preclude the
possibility Of even one of these Kansas
soldiers seeking vainly, or with that
nope deferred which maketh sick at
heart, for such honorable and gainful
employment as may prove the per-
NANCY Of public interest in his wei
fare.
ITO this end we suggest that before
theer shall be one iOta, of subsistence
or the welcoming enthusiasm, the var
iOus clubs and organizations preparing
for the reception Of the Twentieth
Kansas shall appoint committees whose
duty it shall be to digest a practical
method of looking to the permanent
prosperity of these young men who
have tOiled sacrificed and suffered in
obedience to their sworn obligations.
'Disclaiming utterly all purpose of
surveillance, of charity, of espionage or
patronage of these young men, this ap-
peal is made to the public in view of
the stern facts to which all the history
of the past bears witness, namely that
after the subsistence of the first flush
of honorable attention there comes a
struggle to many; to such as have i'm
paired health-and already there are
some who left the state strong for the
battle of life, whose strength will never
come back-to such there should never
come one single dark day or night of
anxiety or one slight feeI-ug of depend
ence. Nor should one soldier ever be
subjected to the humiliation of seeking
or begging recognition.
The state department of labor might
be used as the already constructed ma
chinery through which a dignified. in
dependent and honorable method for
obtaining intelligence, looking to the
employment of the Kansas BOYS who
went a soldering