The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-05-08

given industry, and this organization is
more responsible than all otner causes for
the army OF unemployed men and boys that
furnish new recruits 10 our penal institu-
tions. and make life and property unsafe.
Driven from work by bludgeons or other
wise they must steal or starve. The jour
nal was right in an editorial referred 10
when IL said that these young criminals DO
not owe their bent TO heridity. Many OF
them are from ancestors who for genera
tions have been noteworthy for their hon
esty and industry. a son OF one or the
early carpenters OF indianapolis is MAX
ing his living now as a shoveler in the
cellars now being dug. He wanted TO be q
carpenter with his father twenty years
ago. but the i~neXorable law Of the union
would not allow him 10 enter as an APP
prentice, and he spent his young manhood
between occasional jobs at anything and
idleness. and now he is content with the
wages and work OF a shoVeler. just now
active in organizing a shOvelers' union. A
few days ago / met on the street a car
penter l had known fifty years ago. He is
an old man now, and, until recently, a
member of the union. on inquiry after his
son. now over fifty, he answered ne was
an idle boy and he now keeps a gambling
house. The city is full Of such cases or
worse. Driven from a lucrative industry by
force they are idle or engaged III some less
profitable industry, while at JefersonVille
or Plainfield or Michigan City are sons OF
those who drove them into idleness and
crime. In a few factories and boundaries a
few boys are employed. but non of them
are learning trades, nor can they learn a
trade except in limited numbers. the limit
being fixed by the union.
1t is with such facts as these We have
to wrestle when we think of diminishing
the number of juvenile criminals. We have
training schools connected with our edu-
cational system. but no trade is taught in
them, and a diploma from them is no intro
ductiOn to any industry. The son OF a car
penter, after such a training, cannot be
admitted into his own father s shop as an
apprentice except by the consent of the
union, and he must take his chances as a
cleaner of streets or as something else that
does not prohibit newcomers, or as an
idler on the highway to the Reform School.
There he is taught a trade. but what OF it?
He cannot work with other of the same
trade after he gets out. One has TO smile
superintendent of our Reform School when
he suggests to those who wish to employ
typesetters or other skilled workmen 10
send TO him for a skilled young man. Bless
his dear SOUL 1t is the very thing no en-
ployer can do. to furnish a plea for a
graduate from such an institution. Their
only chance is to take up with some I'M
skilled labor. or steal or starve.
Is there any remedy for this calamitous
condition? None is in sight-that is, none
that can take any perceptible effect imme-
diateIy. Time, and a long time, will be re-
quired to effect a reform. 1t is 10 be a
work of education more than OF legislation,
yet legislation may be required. First or
all, the home, the school and the pulpit
must emphasize as they have not for a
century that work is what differentiates
man from the lower animals, and that to
lead a worthy life all must work. the
child should hear il and see it at home
and then at the school instead of the too
common expression, Il hope none of my
children will have to work as l have" and
il should be as assiduously taught from the
pulpit. as the duty of resting on the Sab
bath is, and the very little child should be
impressed that its mission is to do some
thing. not merely to make a living, but for
the proper development of the noblest char
acteTistics. Then. in all attempts TO re-
in mind tina machinery will never go out
of use and that women will never rel1n-
ouish their jobs, and that men can never
displace them, but by doing as good or
better work at as low or lower wages.
Gallantry can cut no figure here; it is cold
business. The httest will survive. And
any scheme of reform must for the present
recognize the probable fact that the labor
trust. the most dangerous trust OF all, is
likely TO hold its sway for a season, II not
forever. 1t Is too much with
the economic. social and political fabric of
This and other countries TO be dislodged at
once. but il will be dislOdsed. Other trusts
have had their day, but the Congress and
the President and the courts are after
them with a purpose, and the result can
hardly be doubted, but no oil or railroad or
beef trust can be half as dangerous as
crime. It's assumed master in politics, It's
terrorizing of all courts whose officers arc
elective and its power to disturb all the
great industries OF the world at Will can
not always last. l. l.. SEE.
INDIANAPOLIS. Nav 6.