The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1915-03-28

a tramp m%achinist and a man
who once clerked in a cross
roads store are working out a coun-
trywide plan to bring together per-
sons wanting work and persons
wanting workers.
The former miner is William b.
Wilson. Secretary of Labor in the
PrSldent's Cabinet. He came to the
United States in the steerage from
Scotland when a youngster.
The former rowing machinist is
Terence V. Powderly. once the chief
of the knights of Labor and now a
Government officer under Secretary
Wilson; His father. an 1rishman,
6 feet 3 Inches in stature, landed on
the shores of Canada with a shilling
in his pocket.
The former rural clerk is Anthony
Caminctti. Commissioner of 1mmigra-
ton. His nationality can be read in
the name of his father. which was
Rocco Caminetti. The family finally
settled in California, where Anthony
hacame a lawyer. Mr.. Powderly. too.
was admitted to the bar. but in Penn
sylvania.
The day may not be remote when
you, madam, needing n housemaid.
cook or seamstress. may notify the
national Government and soon have
a housemaid. cook or seamstress rap
ping at your door. or IL your hus-
band wants a chauffeur. a gardener or
a bookkeeper he also may apply to
Uncle Sam instead OF advertising in
the newspapers.
To put the matter still more plainly.
tho national Goyarpmapt 10 pnu, ON
gagged in creating an employment
agency covering every city and VIII
lage in the country. and every farm.
it can be said. so that any one needing
help may obtain it without the pay
ment Of a fee. and any M needing
work may obtain it speedily without
n cent of cost to himself.
All his should have been done"
Mr.. Powderly told me. twenty-five
years ago"
Caminetti is subordinate to Wilson
and Powderly is subordinate to Can't
netti. but all are scheming and toiling
together in one of the greatest activi-
ties ever undertaken by the Washing
ton Government. Powderly. however.
has long been supplying farmers with
herdsmen, orchardists and laborers,
ana the uelalIS OF the new ORGANIZATION
have been turned over TO him.
Eight years ago he was appointed
chief Of the division Of Information in
the bureau of immigration. and since
then he has been trying to break up
the congestion of aliens at the large
ports along the Atlantic seaboard and
to start the newcomers from Europe
toward the agricultural regions of the
NJ g.. l.. -. -.,,tAl an mn
families.
There was a day when T. V. Pow
derby was pictured as a big rough
man. with a big. rough army at his
heck and call. He has never been big
however, and never rough. Now. az
the age of &C. he looks more like an
author-Lcw Wal,ao-, for instance,
writer of "Ben-Hur"-than like an
agitator. as he was nee called, or "A
battle SCARED veteran of the wars
savagely fought by w~orkingmen a
generation ago He has always been
courteous, diplomatic. Imaginative and
rhetorical.
Briefly described, such is the man
who is still trying "to solve the labor
problem" He has been distributing"
and finding jobs for immigrants.
hereafter ne Will uS Ib HHu JopS LOT
every kind Of worker in the country,
for the newest Of aliens with all of their
property in bundles on their backs a.
well as for members of the Sons or
Daughters of the American Revolu-
ton.
"How many idle men are there in
the United States?" Mr.. Powderly was
asked, the question being intended as
a door opener to the latest information
he possessed.
I'VE do not know" he replied. The
same inquiry was put TO me in 1852
by the editor Of the North American
Rericr. l investigated the matter and
in the article I prepared l said that