The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1913-12-30
CALIFORNIA; PROBLEM.


! San Francisco manages TO get con-
siderable amusement out Of the prob
lem of the unemployed To do this
the people of that gay city turn aside
from the pathetic incidents TO one of
America $. perpetual sources OF humor
the tramp. For many years the
| shifting proetariat of the country
have wiptcred in California and have
greatly enjoyed life IN good times. Now
they have fallen upon evil days. They
are confronted by something worse
than starvation. They are always
! confronted by the menace OF an
empty stomach, but always they find
way 10 satisfy their appetite. The
great evil that now threatens them is
| hard york. No work, no food, is
the slogan which the officials IN San
Francisco. Oakland ard other coast
points have adopted and 1t has
fuuereal sound to the professional
vagabonds.
In Oakland last week. ii is reported,
the charitable bodies, While feeding
scores of idle men. were compelled to
hire other men to saw wood. In san
Francisco loud complaints are heard
from the unemployable "This is the
worse treatment T ever got, one man
said, and when it was intimated that
perhaps he had not had much eX'
perience, he retortcd Indignantly;
"Young man, l have been unemployed
on the Pacific coast for three years.
Yesterday San Francisco abandoned
its temporary plan Of free feeding
and replaced it by system requiring
every applicant for food to do some
work. Before putting this system into
effect. however, the authorities had
already become convinced that there
was work for every man willing to
work, and that the only ones TO suffer
hardship would be the tramps. And
what are the poor tramps to do IN such
crisis? They cannot go on a strike
like the men who do the world S work,
and their complaints will not arouse
any sympathy. It may be that they
will adopt the methods which they
tried in the hard times of President
Cleveland g administration, shaking
the dust of California from their feet
and starting on n march across the
country with Washington as their OBJ
jcctivc. Most of the tramps are too
young in their profession TO recall
that Coxcy's army and Kelley's army
did not enjoy triumpbal march, and
in their ignorance they are apt to
adopt this means of escaping from the
terrifying nemesis of going to work.
Word comes from Los Angeles that
the labor situation in that city has
been greatly exaggerated, only 5000
men being idle instead of the 10000
reported. Two thousand of the men
are said 10 be iloaters,' peripatetics
who infcst southern California in the
winter time and migrate IN the spring
in search of work, which very many
of them undoubtedly hope they never
will find. AS a matter of fact, Los
Angeles IS always crowded with peo-
pie out Of work, being the starting
place for the tramp going east anC the
stopping place OF his brother coming
west.
The chances are that the conditions
on the coast Will grow worse instead
of better on account of the Panama
Pacific exposition, scheduled to begin
in 1918. All roads viii lead to San
Francisco and the box cars will carry
their full quota of men and boys who
don Z mind losing summers work to
beat their way over the mountains.
The idea, OF course, is TO reach Cali
fornia before the exposition is Off
cialy opened in the vain hope that
they can hold the town down while ii
is going on.
Attending the Panama-Paciic ex
position will not be so easy as the
World IS Fair at Chicago or any of the
other expositions held IN the east. But
thousands viii attempt it, and Salt
Lake and Ogden might as well prepare
for an invasion by the unemployed
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