Fulton County tribune. (Wauseon, Ohio) 1883-1925, 1914-11-20

Ing I'll fIlOIO UildIl III lii VI WOTk. |
England has partially established a
system to reduce the number of the
inefficient and hopes in time to make
it illegal for a minor to devote his
whole time to work which has no edu-
ucational value, and to require him to
attend for certain hours every week
trade schools established by local edu-
cational authorities. Similar educa-
tional requirements prevail in many
German cities. The Germans try to
give some technical training even in
the humblest occupations. England
also has a Department of Mainten-
ance and Training which is to care
for the households of the men who
are waiting for unemployment, pro-
viding that the men submit themselv-
es to the physical and mental train
ing which they may prove to require.
Massachusetts, and Wisconsin, two
states which have taken a firmer hold
of this question than the others, are
rapidly building continuation schools,
schools to which the day attendance
of working children shall be made
compulsory. There are many ~instanc-
es of work to be done, but no one to
do the work. Even during the hard
times in New York City last winter
Al per cent of the vacancies of 400
employment bureaus remained unfill-
ed. There was no one who could or
wanted to fill the place.
The matter of underemployment
can be dealt with only by the govern
ment working along the line of a min
imum wage. This condition brings on
strikes which throw a great number
into the army of the unemployed.
Underemployment forces people into
poor living conditions, takes away
and leaves them good subjects for the
class of unemployables. No business
place factory or institution that al
not pay its employees a living wage
should be allowed to exist, live, and
grow fat off the people of this coun-
try. All business men have the pro-
lection and advantage offered by our
government but they should not be
allowed to lower the conditions of liv-
ing for the common people. The
American laborer is the most effici-
ent in the world but he can not long
remain such if the conditions of his
living are allowed to deteriorate. All
able bodied persons for a working
day should receive a recognized living
wage.
With a system of charity for the
unfit, a labor bureau for the unem-
ployed, a cold shoulder and a hard
heart for the unemployable; a system
of training to make all efficient, and
a minimum wage for the underem-
ployed our problem still. has one
threatening condition. This last prob
lem is the one of immigration. When
We have taken care of our own land
we will have the pleasure of taking
care of the poor of other lands. Our
nation would then be and is now to
a certain extent, a parallel to New
York City last winter. When it was
generally known throughout the
country that that city was kind
to its poor, foaters from all sections
of the country drifted to that quarter.
Mr.. Adolphus Raglan who is in
charge of New York's Free employ
ment bureau says, when other states
look to their own unemployed and
when immigration laws are properly
enforced and the government pro-
perly cares for INDECENT immigrants
there will be no unemployment In
New York City,"
The conditions for the American
working mar r better than those of
any other working man in the world.
These conditions have attracted many
to our shores. But is our country just
to its own people when it admits these
immigrants by the thousands while
it's own neon1o are knockinp OF ;fc
doors for bread and a job? Would it
be better to accept only as many as
'Ecould be supplied with work for at
least six months in advance; or even
cut off the number entirely as long
as we have millions of unemployed?
We have long had a system of tariff
to protect our home industries. This
indirectly protects the working man
by afording a higher wage. Would
it not be just as well for the govern
ment to give a more direct protec-
ton to the laboring man by limiting
to a greater extent immigration?
All this is far removed from the
people of Wauseon. There are two
ways that we can affect our own
conditions. One is to establish a sort
of labor employment register for
those who are looking for work. This
might ever be connected with a city
bureau through which the jobless
man of the city could be brought into
contact with the more rural districts.
The other way is through the line of
efficiency. We can see that every
youth in u community is prepared
to do some useful and profitable lab
or. ~.