Evening star., 1914-02-27
PLAN TO THIN RANKS
OF THE UNEMPLOYED
Delegates to National Conference
Gather in New York to
Find Remedy.
Reformation of Industrial Methods
Most Needed, Declares C. B. Hen
derson of Chicago.

NEW YORK. February 27.-Delegates
to, the national conference on. unem-
ployment gathered in the city hall to-
day to find remedy for irregularity of
employment. to hit upon practical
method of bringing together the Job
less men and the manless jobs and
SO to organize the labor market that
there may be a permanent thinning in
the swollen ranks Of the unemployed.
This floating army of men without
Jobs has assumed such proportions in
New York city that d municipal EN-
ployment bureau has been recently
formed. On the authority of the census
bureau, % per cent of the entire num-
Der of working persons are without
employment for one to three months
during the year.
Mayor John Purroy Mitchell opened
the conference. which is to last today
and tomorrow. with an address on Pub
lie Responsibility"
The delegates brought. to the confer
ence special home problems from every
large city in the country. and from
an exposition OF these special condi-
tions a general panacea is being
formulated.
Says Problem Can Be Solved.
This problem" said Dr. John B., An
drews, secretary of the American Asso-
citation for Labor Legislation. will sift
down to this: How employers can en-
ploy constant staff of men and keep
them busy in slack seasons?
Germany has done it. and certain man
ufacturinS concerns and railroads in this
country have shown how it can be done
by shifting men engaged in construction
RI of n
another as the slack season in any given
locality leaves surplus of labor. This
obviates the necessity for the annual dis
charge of employees by railroads and the
consequent swelling of the body of the
unemployed.
The definite constructive result of this
conference" he declared, will be the es-
tablishment of great many employment
exchanges, which ought to be run by the
state.
eight cities have established free employ
ment exchanges.
Takes Issue With Mitchell.
Charles B. HENDERSON, secretary of the
Chicago Commission of the Unemployed,
tool, issue with Mayor Mitchell relative
to existing conditions among the unem-
nloyed. The mayor had declared in well
coming the delegates that this year pre-
sented almost unprecedented conditions
Three hundred thousand. said Mr.
Mitchell. might be an exaggerated esti-
mate Of the number of unemployed in
New York. but the number was at least
the largest that had ever flooded the
city.
"Present conditions. said Mr.. Hender-
son in reply. -are not abnormal. Most
agencies report that the number of the
unemployed is not larger than usual.
The tragedy Of the present conditions
consists in the fact that they are not
abnormal but are steadily recurring inev
liable results of industrial mismanage
ment throughout the country
Mr. Henderson said the two years work
of his commission proved that most of
the work in alleviating conditions of un-
employment has been done by private
bureaus with great economic waste, and
in some places with grave abuses.
present free public bureaus he con-
tinued. ARE almost without exception in
efficient They may be called a failure.
1t is our aim at present to improve and
reorganize these public bureaus
THE root of the problem or the un-
employed goes deeper than this. The
fact is. it is impossible to furnish men
with jobs when no jobs are to be had
The solution lies in reforming industrial
methods so that full STATS of employees
may be retained even in slack seasons.