The morning journal-courier., 1908-03-06
Unanimously Votes That Situ- ation Was One to Justify Him in Taking
 Action.
WARDEN'S INVESTIGATION
Thinks Conditions Are Quite Bad Differing Views Expressed by Members on Extent of
 Depression.

If the forty gentlemen who met with the mayors special committee, yester- day afternoon, are not conversant with the employment, or rather, lack of em- ployment sitution in this city no one is. From everything said during the session of the committee of fifty three" the situation locally is fully as bad if not worse tran the public be- lieves. The meeting was in charge of the special committee of five, because of the unavoidable absence of Mayor Martin. Both pr. Watson Phillips and F. L. Warden took part in conducting the meeting. The other members pres ent were Harry Asher, and Father Coyle, the latter however was unable to remain during the entire session, being i'll with the grip.
 pr, Phillips after calling the meet ing to order and explaining the cause of the mayors absence, asked F, l.. Warden, the secretary of the special committee, to explain the situation as he had found it in his personal inves- tigation.
 MT Warden said in part: q have made very thorough investigation of | the employment situation in this city. have visited the different manufac- tories and talked with their heads and l the general managers. and I, for one, do not believe they are telling the truth, I don't think there are the number of men working they claim. have also talked with the secretaries of the various labor and trade organ izations and unions, and they have told me a different story. These secretar. l ies have told me the number of mer out of work in their respective organi. tions," At this point MT Warden reat from a list he had, figures which show cd a deplorable state of affairs. IT some of the unions fully 50 per cent
 of the members are out of work. Mir
 Warden then told of talks he had haC
 with various'men, more fortunate thai | their brothers, who still held theil | johs in the various factories, and al these tended to prove, the situation
 even worse than painted. The speake
 then said in his investiga tions h,
 found that many skilled mechanic
 were out of employment. and that h,
 even knew of men who had earned d
 much as $30 to $40 a week, who wer
 unemployed, and without any re
 sources
 pr. Phillips next called upon Henr
 Herz, president of the Hebrew Benev
 olent association. Mir Herz declare
 that the situation this winter is nc
 much different than that of any other
 Some people do not work in the win
 ter, living on charity. Concerning thos
 men who had earned from s30 to s4
 week, and are now out of employ
 ment, those men ought to suffer. The
 should have saved something out c
 that reasonably fair sized salary When MT. Herz was questioned as {
 the demands for assistance made O quests for aid were moro numerou than they had ever been before.
 Mr. Cronin. the superintendent
 streets followed Mir. Herz. He said i part. Yesterday morning there wa , a line of 500 men seeking work on til streets at the city supply house. Thes r men were worthy men. factory hand T machinists. skilled mechanics, me Q who never have had to do such meni; : work as work on the street. The~cit
 could use but a small portion of ths ! number. There are more out of vor now than any year as far back as I can remember Mir. Cronin then ga, d the substance of his conversation vii some of these men. And some of thes
 stories were pitiabie. A few of tl
 men in line had mere apologies f. shoes. Many did not know what u
 warmth of underclothing was. Othe q told him that they were out of flu
 and had broken up chairs for kindlir
 wood. Some had told him that the ru 2 of the Boarl of Education compellir g children to purchase their own pa e had taken food out their mouths. N t Cronin expressed the opinion that t r. present period of distress would on F last until the beginning of spring. pc l. haps for month or six weeks, b E not any longer.
 f MT. Warden then called upon I i Frank J. Diamond of the Woost 'f school district to tell what he knew 10 the conditions in that part of the cir l. He said that his work was large le among the Italians and that they ws 10 ----