The Hocking sentinel. [volume] (Logan, Ohio) 1871-1906, 1902-12-11
A BIG LABOR FAMINE.
CHICAGO UNABLE TO GET ALL
THE WORKE6S NEEDED.
Conditions Tor Wage-Earners in TIE
Western Metropolis Are Unusually
FavOrable-Cierks and Stenographer.
as Well "a Laborers Are Wanted.

N unusual condition prevails IN Chi.
c1so. There is Il labor famine. rhe
city needs workers and cannot get them.
although the conditions. as TO wages and
manner of employment. are favorable
The number of employees demanded last
year was 5000 above the number that
could be supplied and. in consequences of
the insufiiciency of help. some large CON
Germs have been unable to accomplish all
they desired to. Not since the soup house
period in 1895 has the condition of labor
IN Chicago been SO propitious rs now.
OF the $4,000 men enrolled in the ranks
OF union labor not one is idle unless he
te among the few on strike The de-
mand for union workmen in all branches
of the industrial world has far exceed
ell the supply. so much so that in a great
number ct instances the mechanics
and others have been able to choose
where they desired to work and havs
been given Il higher wage than the scale
called for.
OF those not affiliated with unions few
are not receiving more wage for the
same work than they did in former years.
Three chief elements figure in the exist
ing conditions: First. increased prosper
ity and added output; second. demand
Tor better class of labor; third, inabil
ity IN securing the supply of labor in
keeping with the demand.
Railroad Workers Needed.
Railroad laborers are also greatly in
demand. so much so that more than 3.OOe
have been brought into Chicago from
States as far west rs Nebraska to fill
contracts. One employment bureau
which has contract with one of the
largest railroads operating out of Chi
rago has taken off its fee for applicants
and has received all the men the State
labor bureaus could send. It has also
sent notices to other cities agreeing to
pay fares for workmen to Chicago IN
order 10 fulfill the contracts which call
Tor 1000 men at once. So far but 81
have been secured, and they are being
shipped as fast as possible to the points
where construction work is in progress.
a problem for housewives is the Sc
curing OF domestics. Here as in other
heids the shortage is marked This is
due IN a measure to the fact that many
oi the women who formerly attended to
the household work for families have
found more profitable employment in the
factories and other places where The
shortage OF men has opened new ave
ntN OF employment for them. Over 1,JOO
servants are wanted. and the supply is
less than third of the amount. As a
consequence the wage has been raise1
In many instances.
In the large packing plants there is
room for hundreds of men at this sea-
son OF the year. Trouble has been ex
perienced in securing desirable material
IN the labor line in many instances. and
as result better conditions among those
employed prevail at present than in the
past
Clerks and Stenographers.
Not among the laboring class alone
does the present condition exist. 1t is
equally marked among the workers in
the large stores, the clerks. Office help.
and all those connected with the mes-
camille institutions throughout the city.
Stenographers. bookkeepers and others in
the same class are in demand owing tc