Evening journal., 1911-08-16
THE UNEMPLOYED.

A MONG the many ideas put forward by the al
n legged millionaire hobo How, who has been
travelling around the country in the supposed in
terest Of the unemployed, there is which is
likely TO be considered by Congress-the sugges-
ton of national labor bureau.
The purposes of such body would be to keep
in touch with industrial conditions throughout the
country and 10 find out where labor is scarce and
where il is a drug. The bureau would daily gather
information from all regions, and such informa-
tion would be at the disposal of those seeking
employment
The plan involves the government paying the
cost Of transportation Of workers from one place
where there is dullness to another point where
labor is needed. The paying part OF II might not
be practical, but the government should have at
its command statistics Of the actual condition OF
labor.
There are always men ready and willing to work
If they have the opportunity. Ii may be that they
cannot get work because they are incompetent and
not good workers. for it should not be difficult for
men who are really competent to secure work. On
the other hand there is a certain class of the un
employed who run away from work. They pre-
tend to want job but they don't. They prefer
TO hang around complaining of their alleged hard
luck and their inability 10 secure labor. What they
really mean is that the world owes them a living
which they have no inclination TO earn.
The State Of New York recently determined to
deal with this class Of people by placing them as
vagrants on a colony farm where they will be COM
PEELED to work
Another cause for the unemployed is that men
naturally want work in a place amid congenial
surroundings. The last place where some men
used TO life in the cities would care to be en-
poyed is on a farm They would prefer eking
out miserable existence in cities to toiling
the farms. Hear some of them who have gone
from the cities to labor the farms tell Of their
experience and how glad they to come back,
The problem of the unemployed in the vigor
Of life may be difficult but much more difficult is
that Of the older men What an unpromising old
age confronts numerous men with good trades and
capable in their prime of making fair wages
We saw an instance Of this at Arden the other
day, where the worker who had grown old, had
happily solved the problem-or he thinks he has
He is German who had a good trade at which
he worked for years, and nearly all Germans are
good mechanics He labored for years raised his
family, we think. Then work became slack He
changed from one shop TO another, and fin
ally forced out probably because of his age Then
he took his savings and went to Arden, and he
has built himself a cosy home in the woods and
has a splendid truck patch with the promise that
he will have a much happier life than he would
have had in the city.
AT any rate, he seemed happy, especially so as
some Of his relatives from THE city" dropped in to
see him. A Socialist is this German as are most
mechanics who come from Germany, but Social
ist who thinks it will be long time before Social
ism can he practced
Some phiIanthropist might find good use for his
money by establishing colonies where the older
men who have saved something could close their
days in a home such as this German has made for
himself. 1t might help to solve the problem of
the aged unemployed, the worthy unemployed.
For so long Delaware has been easy mark
for predaceous interests and perhaps Mr.. Crosby
cannot be blamed for firing a shot at the target.
His scoring so far has been perfect.