The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1903-03-29
UNEMPLOYED
N GERMANY
System of Taking Care of
Such Very Good
COMPARED WITH ENGLISH
Work More Easily Found and
Socialism Buried.
COMPARED WITH ENGLISH

| The present depression in trade has
given good opportunity of testing the
value OF the German system of dealing
with the unemployed. 1t is very diff
ferent from the English. Men here do
not parade TIE streets begging, or storm
government Offices, nor do they make
speeches in the parks. Instead, a meth
odical attempt is made to bring those who
want work into contact with those who
want workers, by means of registration
and notification. AS to which system is
the better, that depends on the object in
! view. If the aim is to utilize the mis-
fortunes of the unemployed for political
demonstrations and the furtherance of So
cialism. even the English plan undoubt
eddy has the advantage; if it is to find
them work and to promote the general
welfare of the community, we must give
the preference to the German. 1t is high
ly significant that the two countries
should have changed places in regard to
this matter; that Germany. where laor
questions are so largely mixed up with
politics. should be wholly practical, and
that England should leave a practical
matter to be exploited by politicians. The
industrial world at home has recently
discovered that it has good deal to learn
from this country, and it was precisely
in the town of Dusseldorf that the lesson
was most forcibly impressed upon the
British mind last summer. l am conf
dent that at least those manufacturers
and they We're many-who visited the eX-
hilton here will not pooh-pooh anything
because it comes from Germany. Indeed,
considering that the Dusseldorf work
shops, as I have seen them with my own
eyes are at this moment filled with things
great and small being made for every
important industrial center in Great Bri-
tain-including the shafting for the Man
chester Corporation Electrical Worksa
little humility in regard to German pro-
ducts may fairly be demanded from all
sections of the British manufacturing
community, from workmen not less than
from employers. The system of labor
Tegistries is a German product which con-
Germs them both. not only on occasions
of emergency, but at all times. though
it is naturally most valuable to employers
when work is abundant and workers are
scarce and to the employed under the
opposite conditions. There is the more
reason why it should succeed in England
in that the superior existing provides bet
ter machinery for working it than they
possess in Germany
The principle is simple and familiar; ii
is that of laor exchange, through
which those who want to sell and those
who want to buy labor can make their
wants mutually known. Its success in
practive obviously depends on the COM
pleteness of the organizations and the de
gree to which Capitalization is carried.
The wider the area covered and the
greater the number of places brought
into inter-communication by a central
Office the more effective the working
The ideal would be universal system
with the head Office and ranch local CEN
tres. Here in Germany they labor under
the disadvantage of having begun in 2
small way and in widely separated local !
tiles. Stuttgart led the way a good many
years ago. and was followed by ORES |
den and Berlin. The Rhine province
Westphalia. and other districts came in
later. Beginning in this way with separ-
ate local efforts, they have had to work |
from without inwards towards civliza- |
ton instead of working outwards from |
single-head centre. The consequence
is that the system, though it has grown |
and developed. remains very incomplete. !
1t still consists Of a number Of local |
centers with a certain amount of inter
communication between towns in the |
same district, but without anything like |
a general organization. In this Rhine /
province for instance where the depres- /
sion is acute. there is 4 union embracing |
Dusseldorf Essen. Elberfeld. Crefeld and |
other towns. which, TO some extent. work /
together for purposes of labor exchange: /
but they have no machinery for exchange /
with the labor markets OF Berlin. Ssxony. !
or Stuttgart. There IS some prospect of |
obtaining the framework for more COM /
plete system from the Industrial Courts /
of Arbitra ton. in which an equal num- /
her of employers and employed sit as as
SCISSORS with Judge This scheme en- I
bodies the principle Of equal representa- /
ton Of labor and capital and has had a .
marked success in Frankfurt, but it is /
only in an elementary stage. on the /
other hand. the conduct Of labor ex- (
changes by the local authority. which /
has been adopted in some towns. is said .
TO produce Disappointing results. In spite I
OF these defects. the German labor reels
tiers do a amount Of practical work .
which deserves attention. In the year
1901 they obtained situations for 3s6,s74
persons IN search of work. or nearly one
half OF those who registered 7 have not
the figures for the whole country in 100,
but % Judge from the Dusseldorf dis
trict the activity OF the registries was
much greater than the previous year.
In the twelve months ending June. ls12
the number Of situations provided was
- e0a against : 2s9 in The p-evious twelve
months. From individual towns We get
TIE following number OF places found
Rarmen 40os. Essen 80, Dusseldorf
slsS: EI5erfeld, 1913: Gladbach. lei;
Ne,ss. Soe The aggregate population %
thcss SIX towns is about equal n that
of Manchester and Stafford. ond n. nun
Der OF situations provided wss 1-S2 or
course, the reEistries cannot make work
bug The facts Just given show that they
perfor-, a substantial pubic service 81
any rate. they do more for the unenpiov-
81 than the childish antics u TIE Social
Democratic Federation
With rcEard q the working ~ the reg
istries. I have seen them IN actor this
winter IN Berlin ard Dusseldorf ard wiz
describe what goes on u Berlin they
have provided ths-selves after TIE FISH
ion q that city which suffers q good
deal from ueSaicr-ania- With an imposing
building coata5nIng ore ve-y small hall
and q number CT su1sfisr roo=3s and Offices
and The men T. search q work come the-r
and wait TIE large hsu IS devoted % I
ordinary adult iahors. about 50 we're sir