The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-10-18
Distress of the Unemploy- cd Gives the Public W ficials Much Concern

pioyed. earning little money and with
 In very short distance of distress at all times.
 The number of dock and other la
 borers recorded in the last census was nearly 32,000. Moreover this class has | an exceptionally large number of de-
 pendants. Many of the men are Irish 1 and Roman Catholics and among them families are not eschewed. The poor CT quarters of the town swarm with | children and the shipping industry whereby they live is very depressed. Inquiries made among large em- ployers on behalf of the Central Res
 lief Society a representative body for organizing charity similar to the City League of Help at Manchester have elicted replies showing that they have
 many ships laid up and are only giv- | ing employment to about one-half the | ordinary number of men.
 The Chief Constable recently report
 ed that out of 1000 men ''onstand"-
 that Is. waiting to be taken on-only | 300 were wanted. The subsidiary | trades dependent on shipping are in
 similar state; ship repairers have re- ported 50 per cent out of work, and engineering is dead slack" Many employers report the discharge of a | large number of men.
 An estimate made for the Distress | Committee by Mir. Rouse. who Is la- bor correspondent to the Board of Trade and the officer in charge of the employment registry for the commit. tee, gives a total number of 12,36O
 men out of work. thus distributed: Dock laborers. 5000: carters and driv. | CTS, 60O carpenters and Jotners, 500. painters and plumbers, 500; warehouse | men and porters. 500: iron and ship building trades. 500; engineering l branches. 500; bricklayers and ma- sons, 450; builders laborers. 300; ship-
 wrights. 200: plasterers and siaters' 100.
 Distress seems to have increased
 very rapidly in Ehe last few weeks. which is one reason, perhaps, why more has not been heard of It before. The opinion has been expressed by persons of experience that the depres" sion is greater than has been known for many years. and 1t is certain that | among the dock laborers, who never average more than $4 week and have no resources at all, the destitu- | ton must be widespread and severe. | Many stories of extreme distress are | told in the newspapers. Happily there are said to be indications of some i'm. 1 uroyement in shipping employment Tor l the winter; but all calculations will be upset if the cotton dispute goes on long, and no man knows whether 1t will or not.
 The measures taken and contem- plated in Liverpool differ in some in- portant respects from those in Man
 chester. They are directed Tar less 10
 the provision of work and far more to
 the distribution of charity, It may be that the circumstances justify or com pel this line of action. but in prin- ciple 1t is less satisfactory. With re- gard to work. the corporation depart ments are providing such regular work as they can. and they will. no doubt make any extensions that are feasible within. their scope; but no large scheme such as that adopted at Man chester is in hand or contemplated. !. About $25 1000 has been subscribedcd to the Lord Mayors relief fund.
 Help in Birmingham.
 The Distress Committee of the Bir- mingham City Council has in three days registered the names of 500 men
 who are out of employment. The
 great majority of the men are skilled mechanics, and at least 80 per cent are between 20 and 35 years of age.
 A large number of men have also reg
 iatered themselves at the Labor Bu- reau. The City Aid Society report that the number of eases of distress re- corded Is three times as many as at the corresponding period of last year. The unemployed in Northampton are estimated at 300; one-third of them are boot and shoe operatives. At Totten- ham 5000 and 1000 men are out of work One hundred and fifty Putnam unemployed. headed by a person named Brown. marched on the Putnam workhouse to demand work or relief. Fearing a repetition of the Manches- ter disturbance, a large force of po- lice was in readiness, but there was no disorder. In Glasgow the unem- ployed women have appealed to the Distress Committee for help. Many of the factories are running on short tin C, while in others the number of workers has been greatly reduced. In some cases the earnings of the wo- men has sunk as low as 75 cents and even 62 cents per week.
 For the first time in many months the London representatives of the bet ter-known cargo ship building firms are talking hopefully of the future. There is a great deal of business in the market, and a lot of it is going through How far the revival will so 1t Is really difficult to say. but there is no reason why it should not go quite a long way, considering that boats placed now cannot in ordinary circumstances be ready much before the early summer.
 On this showing people qualified to judge are looking for an all-round trade revival next summer. Settle
 k~AH