The Democratic advocate., 1909-07-02
NATIONAL EXCHANGE
Leading Financiers of New York Will
Try to Solve Hard Problem

Because it promises to fill long
felt want the National Labor Elk
change has attracted attention al
: over the country. The 100000 citi
. Zens who are out of work, accOrdin
, to the estimate of the American Fed
Grafton of Labor, represent the entir
population of Wisconsin. They eQua
the entire wage-earning population
of the states of New York and New
Jersey.
Mere figures give no adequate idei
: of how materially the country woult
benefit were these 100000 unemploy
ed put to work. The $1,100,000,00
they would earn in a year would bu.
the equivalent of every dollars wortl
of manufactures and products export
ed from this country during the yea
1908. The same sum would buy out
right the state of Virginia and every
thing in it, according to the last cen
sus valuation.
Just imagine how the mercantile
and manufacturing concerns woult
boom if the purchasing power of the
people were increased $1,100,000, ,00(
a year. Then you will gain some idea
of how tremendous is the problem o
the unemployed; then you will realize
why the astute Wall street f1nanciers
are so anxious to solve it. For il
means as much to them as it does tC
| the poor, unskil1ed laborer who is
wearing out shoe leather he CAM
replace in vain effort to find the
necessaries of life for hungry fam
lily.
There is plenty of work for then
to do, but they are never where they
are needed. There are millions OF
acres of land to be titled, but they
can't get to it. There are new COM
munities forming which are crying
| for men, skilled or unskilled, but the
helpless urbanites profit as little from
them as a reservation on the moon
were opened to settlement.
To put these men where they belong
where they will contribute to the
prosperity of the country instead of
retarding it-that is the task to
which the new labor exchange has set
itself. And that it will not lack CO.
operation seems assured.
why, from single newspaper ar
ticle,7 said Mr.. Barnard, president of
the exchange, 81 have had more than
200 letters asking what we were going
to do. These letters came from all
parts of the country. One Of the
first was from Dallas, Tex. Down
there they wanted us to establish a
branch Office right away. But we
are not going to be in hurry about
establishing branches. We're not
ready for that yet If we attempted
to do anything of the sort now we
could make a canvass, perfect an ell
aborate organization, spend all of our
100000 and at the end of a year have
nothing to show for it.
Back of Mr.. Barnard and his assO-
ciates are all the big men of Wall
Street.. Pierpont Morgan, biggest
of brokers and bankers; E. H. Har-
riman, the railway. king; John D..
Rockefeller and John D. Archbold,
the monarchs of Standard Oil; Elbert
H. Gary, of the Steel Trust; Otto H.
Kahn, Mortimer M. Schiff and Adolph
Lewisohn, all big bankers; George F..
Baker, John S. Kennedy, Edward s..
Harkness and other powers of the
financial world, not to mention the
Russell Sage Foundation.
Organization of the exchange has
been effected by the election of the
following officers. President, Otto
fremont Barnard; vice president,
John R. Macarthur; treasurer, Paul
NJ Warburg; secretary, V. Ever1t
Macy.
In New York city the task con-
fronting these men is no slight one.
The vagrant population alone in nor
NAL times is estimated at 10000. Dur
ing the dull months of 1907 1t was
estimated that 10000 men in the
clothing and building trades were out
of work. That time the percentage
of the unemployed in the trades union
was 34.2. But during the revival Of
business that percentage has decreas-
ed, according to recent report Of the
New York State Labor Department,
to 21-5.
Still, even in normal periods there
is usually too large a percentage of
unemployed men in the great, con-
gested cities. In 1906 this percentage
in Greater New York was 1928 among
the skilled workers.
From this it can be seen that there
will always be a fruitful field for an
exchange which will provide places
for those who are willing and anxious
to earn an honest living.
AQOLuGT LI1uS, duuOA6 hohy ohO
that such an exchange is both neces-
sary and practical. Immigration, al
ways a good barometer of trade condi-
tions, is on the increase. Many OF the
aliens who fled the country more than
"a year ago are returning. They are
coming back because they can again
get work. And they can get work be-
cause they can go where labor is need
ed. The helpless city dwellers could
get work too, if they knew where to
find it and could get to it when found
The whole movement, in fact, is an
attempt to solve problem that has
been puzzling sociologists for many
years; a more perfect adjustment OF
the population to the changing condl-
tions in town and country, which
would mean check on the herdlng
together in the great cities OF the most
HELPLESS class of people. Not only the
prosperity, but the health OF the ma
tion is beginning to demand that some
thing be done to relieve the congest-
ion in the industrial centers.
Certainly, with 754,S95,0 900 acres OF
unclaimed land in America there is nc
necessity for congestion. Accord1ne
to recent report of the Department
of Commerce and labor there are 6l,-
| 1T, 900 acres awaiting claimants IN
Nevada, 1852, 900 in Montana, 44,l7S,-
| 600 in New Mexico, and 42,769,OO0 IL
Ari1ono tho remainder of the tOtal