The silver state news. [volume] (Winnemucca, Nev.) 1907-1909, 1908-02-10
Craze Question of What Shall
be Done with the Unemployed

Tbev cannot afford to be idle as
tons Of thousands of them now are,
and what are they to dot we are
NOT thinking of the PROFESSIONAL va
grant. the man who will not work as
lonc as he can live without working
of honest and industrious ana
sober men. There are few adder
sights than of a sober, able and VII
limo man who is unable to secure work
nv means of which he can exist ana
put bread into the mouths or ms VI
tIe children. Such a sight ought never
never be witnessed in this good iand.
There is no essential need OF III,
and such a man ought not to be forced
to live on unearned bread, and AVE
charity be doled out to him by the
stateor private hands. There is plenty
of honest work that needs to be done
and there is plenty of money to pay
for the doing of it, and tins honest
man ought to be given a chance to 40
this work and be givena wage FOR
4 which he had fairly earned. 1t IS
in~comparably better to give INN a
chance = earn a living for himself
thar it is to reduce him to the lever
of a helpless dependant. or a pauper
or a beggar Even this is better thar
TO LET him starve or that he may De
driven to theft. but it humans and
dishonors him. Even as an economic
condition it is better to give him the
work.
In Boston, Cincinnati, st. Louis,
and other cities the unemployed
in treat numbers have demanded OF
the authorities that they be employed
on the public works that they may
live. and may not be driven to either
starve or steal. Exact figures are not
obtainable. but the best estimates OBJ
tainable. show that there are not less
thar one hundred thousand unemplov-
ed. and who are eager and want work.
in the city of New York alone. Pro
portionate numbers are to be found
elsewhere. They form an element
which ought to excite our sympathies
and our fears. They cannot be expect
ed to lie down and die without doing
something. They create a condition
which must not and cannot be ig-
nored.
We have our share of these nuem-
ployed in this community, not very
numerous and certainly. so far, not
troublesome. But there are enough o.
them to entitle them to attention.
We suppose that our city govern
ment has no authority to employ men
on the pablo works simply that they
NAV live on their own earnings, ar
ticularlv when there is no money in
the public treasury out of which they
can be paid. But some things are
plain-there is a vast amount of work
on our streets which urgently needs
to be done, and done right now; and
there are many men who are able and
willing to do this work for a fair
wage; they greatly need the wage
and are unwilling to become a public
charge; there is plenty of money in
this town to pay for this much needed
FORK. These things are plain. All
that is needed is that the men, the
work and the money shall be proper
aligned and connected. Cannot osme
way of devisig this be found. Cannot
the public do what it wants to do and
needs TO have done, iif it goes about
it in the right wayg We have our
ideas about this, but before present
ing thou refer to wait suggcstiors
from others who are probably wiser
TO such problems than we are.