The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1907-07-31
some DEGGARS
THAT ARE CHOOSERS
Idle Men Who Seek Work,
But Will Take Only a
Certain Kind.
NO LACK OF CHANCES
Say the Managers of En-
ployment Agencies
Mere Buffers.

are ClOOSerS mere. lnlS is the DelleI
Of men and women long connected
with employment and charitable
bureaus of this city, A lot of non
sense, they think, is talked and writ
ten about the army of the unemployed.
This army might easily be cut one
half. they are sure, if the adage quot
ed was lived up to.
1t was a signed letter in a newspa-
per in which the writer gave harrow
ing details of unsuccessful efforts to
get work which caused an official of
the charity organization to make
few remarks on one aspect of a pro-
blem.
The letter writer, overtaken by f1nan-
cial disaster, faced for the first time
at forty the necessity of earning her
living. She was educated, refined, ac-
customed to a beautiful home all her
life, and could do almost anything, she
said, except mental work or hard
manual labor. After a long search she
obtained office work at 81 week, but
this job she lost in the spring because
her employer cut down his office force
and since then she had visited agency
after agency, leaving the required fee
at some, at others promising to pay
should she get work. The woman APP
piled also to the labor bureaus Of
charitable concerns, including the
Charity Organizations, all of which
took down her name and address with
the promise to let her know if any
thing turned up for her. None ever
did let her know, she complained. The
point amplifed by the writer was her
capability to do good work in more
than one role and the imposslbility of
getting a chance to fill any role in the
city
The Charity Organization official, a
woman Of untiring patience, saw the
printed letter and mentioned it as an
instance of the injustice frequently
done the society she represents.
1T is possible that woman came
here and that I saw her and took her
name, although do not remember any
person whose qualifications answered
to the description Of those enumerated
in the letter" she said.
ut is possible she came and that
could not Immediately provide her with
work such as she thought she could do.
1t is hardly possible, however, that she
came and went without an offer of
some sort of work or the promise of
some within day or two. For exam
pie, at this time of year I can often
make room for women of intelligence
accustomed to the management of a
house, in the fresh air homes and 9TH
er summer institutions to fill the post
of assistant matron and help look after
the stores and linen and servants. A
place of this sort pays $25 a month and
board, not big sum, of course, and
the work would be temporary only, but
surely far better than nothing at all.
Nevertheless l have trouble often to
Iget women suitable to fill these places
some of those meeting the require
ments demanding bigger wages than
can pay, and others refusing to accept
any work which takes them away from
their own home. My experience is this:
That men and women often remain
don't fancy the sort of work offered
and that persons apparently on the
brink of starvation refuse a tideover
job at IS or Sc a week with the indig-
nant remark: / can't live on Sc a
week. And when I point out that q
quarter loaf is better than no bread
at all and that when in a place the
chances are all in favor of getting a
raise or of hearing Of a better job else
where / am looked at with suspicion.
II have no end Of patience with
seekers after work. 1t is my business
to be patient Were | easily annoyed
or quick to take offense / could do nc
good here. / try to put myself in the
applicants place and understand her
lfretful, Respondent state of mind. dc
not permit impertnence or i'll temper
the bias me against the persons whC
offend,
Its a great mistake to imagine APP
plicants to this bureau are willing tc
take almost any sort of work they car
get. for that is far from the truth.
The other day, after several week!
of persistent effort in behalf of {
woman who is worthy and capable
succeeded in getting her a place tc
take charge of or rather to oversee
workroom and a number of girls.
wrote to her and she came down t
get particulars While I was talking
to her in came lady who does gooC
deal of philanthropic work and who
had seen the woman before, On hear
Iing the news she congratulated the lat
ter. The woman with a toss of he
head remarked: I was determined no
to take a position where l would have
to take orders from anybody
! 1.-THE lady stared and said nothing
/ She knew as well as I did that tn
woman had been on the ragged edge o
poverty for long time, depending of
ten on the kindness of friends for foo
and carfare. But l answered: Their
are very few persons working for
living who do not have to take order
from some one higher up
! Another woman, who by the way /
Iagain out of work. but who is intelli
gent and capable, has tried my patti
ence perhaps as much as any one
have ever met. She is about 30 year
old. consequently she balks at work
ing for a young girls wage. and
was under protest that she consente
to begin at Sc week in an of1fc
where her task was indexing and wor
of that sort.
THE head of the concern really mad
a place for her at my urgent request
and he promised to raise her pay if sh
was worth it. He kept his word TIL
woman was capable and made hersel
so valuable that in six months she wa
eettfne. S1n Two months later the fnrr