The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1911-01-20
A PLEA FOR LABOR
Mayor Billiard Plans for 800
Idle Topeka Laboring Men.
City-County WOrkhouse and
Farm-Ask the Legislature.
FOOD AND SHELTER.
CookL: Mel ID. no u,<.I
Something Must Be Done Until
Building Season Opens.
"Send Your Screens to Mills
Now" Says f. G. Cox.

Il The interview from Mayor Billiard
given in the State Journal a few days
| ago, regarding the problem that is fac
ing Topeka on account of the large
| number of idle men in the city at this
time, has aroused an intense interest
in the matter and will result event.
ua1ly in the establishment of a per-
manent working place for laboring
men.
Even the mayor is astonished at the
interest displayed in the matter and
he has been working this week on a
4 set of plans to submit to Shawnee
| county in an effort to solve the labor
problem in the winter time when work
| is scarce.
His first plan will be to form com
bination city-county work house and
work farm. The work house to be To-
Gated in the city and the, farm to be
somewhere near the city. Mayor Bill
| lard believes that through this me-
dunn the alarming condition of the
poorer class of labOring men could be
| relieved and in the future Topeka
would have no trouble in providing
work for the honest but unfortunate.
When the mayor made his first
| statements to the effect that there
| We're 500 idle working men in Topeka
who needed work and money at once
| to feed, clothe and harbor their fam
| lilies, he didn't realize that he was
touching such a tender spot in local
| conditions. A week before an army
| of idle working men in Kansas City
had marched to the city hall in that
town and had demanded that Mayor
Brown give them labor.
Big Growth Is One Cause.
| 1t has been discovered by Mayor
Billiard that the same conditions exist
| in Topeka as in Kansas City. Topeka
has been enjoying marvellous growth
! in the last few years and the con-
| SfTn0fiOr in rr1l
has handled an immense amount of
| labor. But when active building
| ceases in the cold months the hun
| dreds of workmen are thrown out of
| they have moved to the city.
Now Mayor Billiard believes that the
| city and county work house and farm
would be of untold value.
! The workhouse could be conducted
| on a business like basis and the labor
ing men paid so much for their work
say, about one dollar a day, just
| enough to keep themselves and fam
! lilies in comfort in the winter. On the
| farm better provisions could be made
| for the men who have no families, but
who desire to make Topeka their per-
| menent working place.
| Handle all kinds of indoor and sta
| tionary outdoor work from, the city
workhouse with a scheme of deriving
| a small revenue for maintenance is the
| idea. The mayor thinks that there are
many forms of work to be done this
way.
Then it will be necessary to get
some sort of a bill through the legis-
/ lature that will allow us to levy a GER
tain tax to start this farm and work.
house, said the mayor. 81 have not
studied the matter thoroughly as yet,
but I have IN idea wha. 1 want. 1t
will be necessary to consult with the
county and present proposition that
will be of value to them as we'll as to
the city
Suggestions Coming In.
Almost every day someone suggests
| to the State Journal or to Mayor Bill
] lard a scheme to keep the idle en-
ployed in the winter months. Some of
these ideas nave been taken seriously
and some of them have been imprac-
teal, but it shows that the sentim ent
| in Topeka is in favor of providing
work for the men who have families
| to support.
| F. c. Fox of the South Side planning
mill has offered a suggestion that is
practical and timely. Mr.. Cox states
/ that the planning mills Of the city
would be able to keep 100 more men
| in employment if the people would use
| a little judgment in the handling of
their work.
It is his theory. that practically
every citizen finds it necessary every
year to have repaired and rescreened
l L
been the custom-althoUGh no reason
| is advanced-for everyone to wait until
| late spring when the screens are need
ed and then rush them tc the mills in
! a bunch.
| This means that hundreds and thou
sands of screens are dumped on the
mills at one time-and at the time of
| the year after building work has be-
gun and after every workman avail
able is obtained to attend to this labor
1t does not take a skilled laborer to
repair screens and to put screens on
frames and Mr.. Cox asserts that 100
men could be given good wages all
winter if the people would send their
screens to the mills now.
Following the discovery of Mayor
Billiard, a number of business and
manufacturing firms have increased
their working forces to the limit and
have tried to pick out substantial
class of labor-the kind with homes
| and families in Topeka 1t is a matter