Los Angeles herald., 1908-01-25
MANY IDLE
STRANGERS
FILL CIT Y
DROVES OF UNEMPLOYED MEN
FLOCK TO LOS ANGELES
BETRENcHMENTs IN EAST CAUSE
coLoNlSTs' INFLUX
Investigations Reveal That Local Con-
dtions Are Not to Blame for
Destitute People Now
Here

and is liable TO De COLHpleLely OVerrun,
with the destitute unemployed of other
cities, who are daily taking to the
brakebeam, led here by the vast
amount of advertising done in the east
relative to local prosperity and i'm
provements, is the opinion freely ex-
pressed by local business men, who are
confronted with the problem of pro-
viding for scores of hungry men, said
10 be non-residents of Los Angeles.
'rThe city is filled with unemployed
mem" said a director of the chamber
of commerce yesterday, but as a loyal
citizen I believe we should refute the
commonly accepted statement that
these men belong here, or that they
are men who have been thrown out of
work by local retrenchments.
1.-The fact of the matter is, but a very
few local business men, corporations
or factories have SO far retrenched, OK
cut down their pa. or regular en-
ployes rolls.
1.-The men now here looking for work,
who say they are not able to get 1t,
vhen questioned will be found in most
instances to have come here after los
ing their positions in other cities.
They are the product of other muni-
cipal setbacks; but. even so, the
charitable associations of Los An
geles, backed, of course by our benev-
olent citizens, must care for them.
1.-The chamber Of commerce has for
year: industriously but truthfully ad-
Yertised Los Angeles and vicinity as a
region of golden opportunities and 1t
is surprising to note, in a tour OF the
east, how many scores of business and
laboring men are interested in Los An
geles and intend to come here.
Why They Come Here
$50 long as the laboring men hold
their jobs there they refrain from
1,,f rl,or, cal1 n
'nable to procure further employment,
they take their misfortune as an added
inducement to come west and to leave
their old homes.
I'm many instances they can scrape
together a few hundred dollars from
the sale of their homes and with this
money a great many of them head di-
rectly toward Los Angeles.
Never in the history of this city,
believe, has there been such an influx
of colonists and So-called homeseekers
as we are having this winter. on the
other hand the usual winter influx or
wealthy tourists is smaller, owing TO
the financial and business depression
of the east, which neceSSitateS the con-
tinual presence there of the managers
and owners-the men who in other
years have taken winter vacation
and come to Los Angeles to recuperate
but who, from fear of business col
lanse or a bad setback, now remain
at home to carry on the work OIL re-
trenching and of reaching out harder
and farther for new business that Will
offset the depression.
Russian and other colonists have
been more numerous in Los Angeles
this winter than in other years, and 1t
is the influx of these poorer classes
the unemployed of the east, north and
south-that Los Angeles owes Its pres
ent army of unemployed.
ttrrt.- ILL .1r a.
trenched to a great extent, but the
local yards still hire as many men as
ever. There has been absolutely no
retrenchment, so far as / can ascer-
tain, on any of the Los Angeles diVi-
sions of the Salt Lake, Santa Fe or
Southern Pacific, yet investigation has
revealed scores of idle railroad men in
Los Angeles looking for work.
''Where did they come from? They
have been discharged in other cities
and have come here because they
heard of the golden opportunities in
Los Angeles.
Must Face the Facts
"The time has come when our local
newspapers must recognize the facts III
the case, and the chamber of commerce
and other organizations must hasten
to inform the great army OF unem-
Moved men in other cities that Whine
los Angeles is all that it is ADVERTISED
to be. climatically and otherwise, it is
able to provide for only certain
number outside of it's workers and
producers It's capacity is limited, as
is that of other cities.
"If these men continue to come,
when Los Angeles has all it can do to
provide labor for it's normal popula-
tion the consequence will be appalling.
1--WE are now facing the prospect Of
being overrun with great droves OF
unemployed men who are daily be-
ginning to walk or beat the trains to-
ward the west.
IT believe a careful investigation will
confirm my statement that Los An
geles is amply taking care of its own,
and if the city is being filled with un-
employed men, it is because or tho
business retrenchments elsewhere.
"Of course, many of our own LABOR
ing men may be crowded out of work
b. these newcomers, who, in countless
instances, will usurp their places by
offering to work fer much less than the
resident employees have been getting
If, therefore, eventually, if not now,
there should be some or many of our
own laboring people unemployed and
destitute in our midst, 1 repeat, 1t 10
not the fault of local conditions
Business Is Good
Business in Los Angeles city and
was never much better.
Naturally, the scare produced
among many business men, as a result
of the New York and general eastern
financial stringency, has caused us to
supplant coin with scrip, and there
fore many superficial observers con-
clude there is no money here; but ev-
eryone must concede that the city was
going forward at it's usual prosperous
rate when the scare came and the
scrip was issuel
1T is not reasonable to suppose that
the money was taken east, or that 1t
suddenly dropped out of existence. We
must realize, If thoughtful that 1t was
merely withdrawn and stored away for
safekeeping pending the settlement of
the eastern panic.
The money is still here times are
still good, and will be still better as
soon as the eastern scare has ubsided.
But some step should be taken inn
mediately to prevent the further influx
of destitute laborers and so-called col
onists-most of whom are penniIess or
nearly so--from other cities less for
innate than our own"