Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1914-12-21
EMERGENCY FORCE WILL
. GET EMPLOYMENT TO-DAY
Administrative Board Departments
Expected to- Put 800 to Work
@ Immediately.
STREET CLEANING POPULAR
superintendent Cohn Deluged Will,
Applications From Unemployed,
Who Prefer Work In His Depart
ment-~:s37 Applicants Assigned.

The Administrative Board. through
the heads OF the departments under its
direction. will begin to-day to assign
"a small army Of unemployed men 10
the special Improvement work pro-
vIdcd for in the sie5.ooG aupropriation
ordinance. The measure became law
with the Mayors signature Saturday,
too late for the beginning OF work last
week
Applications frcm 337 men were. APP
portloned b. the board saturday after
noon to the several departments under
its direction. The assignments become
effective to-day. The men will report
to the head Of the department to which
put 20 work by him as fast as the in
stallation of the necessary new equip
mcnt will permit
STREET CLEANING
WILL ABSORB 40
The street Cleaning Department will
absorb about $50 of the unemployed
army. These, II is expected. will re-
ceivc employment promptly, many Of
them the first day. II appears that
the requests for work IN this depart
mcnt are much more numerous than
applications for work in any other de-
partment under the boards control.
Several hundred applications for en-
ployment. 1t is stated. have reached
the office Of Superintendent Henry ].
Conn.
1t is believed that the several de-
partnents will put at least $50 men 20
work to-day. The largest number will
be assigned to the street Cleaning De-
partmcnt. The Gas, Water and Elec-
trical Department Will provide work
for between nifty and sixty. The vari-
Gus parks and cemeteries. and a spe-
cial tree planting squad. will absorb
the remainder of those who will receive
Immediate employment
ADDITIONAL APPLICANTS
ARE iAPEC'TED TODAY
Additional applicants for work are
expected to-day in large number. These
Will be assigned TO the several depart
ments as soon as they are received and
will be employed in the order in which
they We're filed, soon as openings
occur. 1t is believed that when the
emergency force attains its maximum
it Will number between 400 and 500
men.
The emergency appropriation is ex-
pected to relieve to a marked degree
the present strained condition result
ing from protractcd suspension of
work In many trades and Industries. 1t
Will assure to several hundred able
bodied men n fair wage for next two
or three months, tiding them over the
worst part Of the winter. With the re-
turn OF spring the Stringency that is
now felt IL is expected, will in large
measure, disappear.
Emergency measures similar to the
one just passed by the Richmond City
Council, have been enacted by many
other cities in the country. In prac-
tically every centre OF industry the
problem OF the unemployed has come
sharply to the front, and in practically
all OF them remedial measures Of some
description have been taken by the
municipal authorities.
CONSIDER APPROPRIATION
AS ADVANCE on BUDGET
In the present instance the money
appropriated by the Jones ordinance
Will be little more than an advance on
ried in the new budget: Chairman Bar
ton II. Grundy, of the Finance Com
mittee. in reporting the ordinance for
passage, told the Council that the COM
mittee will look upon the sl25.000 APP
preparation as an advance to the sew
eral departments on their budget ac-
counts and treat it as such when it
takes up the task OF drafting the an
nual appropriation ordinance.
While no obligation to give perma :
nent employment to the extra force.
rests upon the city. ii is commonly con
coded that a large proportion OF those
who will go on the city's payroll this
week Will remain on the roll perma =
ncntly. The increases in the outdoor
force that would have been authorized
under the new budget to take care of
enlarged needs brought about by an
neXation and normal growth, will nat
urally be drafted from the emergency
force.