The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1915-03-14
~, JuA>>ErrE l.. GLIDER

Frances A. kellor has chosen
for her book out of Work"
Putnam. Miss Kellor knows wha,
she Is writing ABOUT. She has been
.ecretary for the New York Commits.
son on immigration appointed by Gov.
Hughes and was chief of the bureau
OF Industries from its foundation.
Her book is not AN academic study:
4 is written from direct personal
knowledge of Americas labor mar
ket. While the subject is a serious
one, the book is not written in a pom
derous manner Miss kellor has "A
pleasing style and writes as she might
talk. The book is dedicated 'To A..
NJ. a citizen of the worlds heart"
A NJ" I take IL, is Anne Morgan.
who mas worked side by side with
Miss kcllor in many of her philan-
,tropic ~endcavors. Miss Kollor has
he ear of a number of women Of
wealth and public spirit who have
helped her in her work and she makes
special mention 81 Mrs. Willard
straight. who has enabled her TO put
many Of the practical measures out
lined in the book already into opera
Ion
In her opening chapter Miss Kellor
discusses the general subject OF I'm
employment in America" and she ridi-
cules the saying that An, man who
really wants a job can get ono OF
some kind That might have been
true some time ago. but the entrance
., women and children into industry.
resulting in losses in wages and in
regularity OF work for male
has made a difference. She even re-
flutes the statement that you can
always get work on a farm"
This popular theory ignores the
seasonal and isolated naturc of farm
labor. tho growth Of manufacture
and the difference in wage rates she
says. 1T minimizes the fact that il
= often impossible for the laborer
20 pay for transportation to the places
where farm work exists
know of my " experience that
n the harvest season in the rush
time there is nothing harder than to
got farm labor. Up among the Con-
necticut hills, whore | spend my sum
mers, there is only one dependable
man. re NtIhS dbplN twenty NV
hours out of the t~wenty-four during
the busy season and II he is fortunate
enough to get laborers to help him
they are usually the lame. the halt
and the blind.
Another statement which Miss kel-
lor takes with a grain of salt is $50
lar "a the women are concerned any
girl can get housework." II any girl
who knows anything about housework
is necessarily out of a job | am sur
prised. Try to get a scrubwoman
in New York-a ~scrublady. | should
say-and see how many good ones
apply for the job. I had one, an ex-
cellent one. an Italian who
understood how to clean and who was
never out OF work. She became in
cap~acitated through illness and ! have
v since been able to Ill her place.
Nevertheless I know that there are
a great many people out of work and
q great many worthy people III of
work.
acknowledgements Miss kellor finds,
IS not yet regarded as n of the
factors that must be taken into ac-
count in the problem of industrial or
ganization. and no adequate pro-
visions have therefore been made for
Is representation. such as credit has
n the banking system and Treasury
Departments. investments in the Stock
Exchange and capital in boards OF
trade. 80 1t is not strange. there
fore" she thinks, that the present
intensifcation of unemployment is
being met merely by increasing relief
measures.
Such questioning as his Is formu-
lated more clearly by the rude shock
tlis country has received in the Eu-
ropean war and by the subs quent
realization Of Americas dependence
upon international markets, Just as a
sh.rtwaist factory fire was a sad pre-
requisite for fire prevention laws, a
Titanic disaster a tragic prefar- Ia
safety on the sea, a holocaust at Calu-
met and a massacre at Ludlow heart
rending a~ntecedents to a more au-
thOritative knowledge of labor condi-
lions, so, il seems. may the present
war be a tragic agent for arousing
America 10 the menace OF unemploy-
ment.
Before It. unemployed men had in
vaded churches, asking for shelter and
work, babies had clamored for places
n bread lines; armies OF men had
started out TO march to Washington to
register a protest, and men had been
shot down in hop field riots. None
" these things, however. served 10
focus public attention upon unem-
ployment as an Industrial evil, The
employed, from the vantage point OF
a Job, and the employer, secure in
his investment. have held plac!dly 10
ne Old tradition that there was plenty
o. work.
Even the unemployed, tramp!nP
he streets for Jobs, have cherished
no traditional faith OF a new coun-
Try famed for prosperity. and hat
heir fears lulled to sleep by the FIRST
temporary job. The won't works,
FEELING secur IN Americas generous
but not too inquiring liberality and
AK regulations of vagrancy, escaped
10Th work and discipline. The mer
on the firing line who urged action
we're regarded not as prophets but as
agitators."
Mss Kellor paints a sad picture
of the unemployed right here in New
York
And what OF the silent sufferers
women did not stand in bread lines
Or frequent municipal lodging houses
stations and saloons. Men that hat
n0TnaQ AfRAr .t. IAIn fatNt