Tulsa daily world. [volume] (Tulsa, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1905-1919, 1917-11-25

an automobile road FOR at least thirt,
| or sixty days. When he gets to Calf
iornia, oh me. oh my. l made the
"Trip out th?re twice In an automobile
! beHevc every judge must be ma
! tive SON. They sure know how "a
take care OF good old California. All
must have gone to the same school
and were taught the same phrase, for
every hobo gets the same thing: II
VIII fine you $iC0 this time; II you
ever come back this way IL Is going
to be n year and q fine"
The laws OF Oklahoma must be very
lax or the officers, In all Justice TO our
splendid state, yet ] am fain to con =
Tess that In no other state in tho
union. except in the great cities. do
you find thousands OF men doing
nothing with wages higher than ever
Known In the history Of the country:
crops going to waste. men sitting
around Smoke Houses and pool
halls. Tho newspapers have made too
much publicity OF IA few men going to
war. There liz not yet shortage o..
men. Gcs your last years statistics
and see how many Idle men there
were in the United States and you
Will find there were five million In
Iite Of plenty of work IL certain re-
gions and Q ood wages, now the army
has taken n million. we will say as
the maximum: there are possibly two
hundred thousand who have enlisted
in various ways. thru Canada In the
French foreign legion and with Great
Britain, so we have yet a surplus of
idle men.
What the army has really done tho
is TO take the productive men, usually
the ;irst fellow to enlist Is a valuable
hand. He Is valuable to someone else
haf In Is, .alI hoo n
Is imaginative. full OF fire and vim.
When man enlists in war times he IL
alDcst always a producer; II IL diff
fercnt IN times of peace as at that
;imc q great many men enlist who are
not worth killing. ] say this as one
who knows as 7 was captain of Com
pauy A, United States cavalry, five
years service in United States
Now We are confronted with Sc
:ious problem. your Lion and Rota-
ry clubs in Muskogee. I don't know
what is going on in Tulsa. may. to Il
certain extent, get rid Of the idle class.
But why get rid of t9em Put them
to work. Force them to go to work.
No man is greater than the law, Il
would be necessary to call a special
session of the legislature to make
state law hut let the villages, cities,
and counties get busy, grab the |
Won't Works, put them in. jail. II
they can pay fine, we'll and good;
turn them loose; if they cannot. then
let John Doe come in from his farm.
guarantee the fine (mark you. ] say
guarantee the fine). take them out
with him. allow we will say 75 cents 4
day, to be paid the county. city or vii
lage on this mans fine. Get behind
that man with gentleness If You
please, with a shotgun II. necessary,
but make him work. work. work.
1t has been proven in rexas and
California that great percentage of
the men who ~se forced to go 20
work finally adapt themselves to IT.
they learn how to work. Most OF
them did not know before; some OF
tn EN- become foremcn on bridge AMI |
work. sewers sairoads |
etc. As suggested in the above. the |
farmer gets the convicted man, makes |
every provision In his power for his |
sa FOO keeping, the officers all along |
he highways make business of look |
ing out for tranps; II the loafter gets
away from the farmer he is caught
and brought back: if he gets away the |
farmer pays for what time he is actu-
ally in use.
OF course the system will be |
lbused. Some farmers will take the
men. use them and pay less than
rrnmised. but IL the community only
yets enough out of him to pay actual
'ees expended and the farmer only
gets a days labor. everyone ought to
eel good over it; it will help that
much.
In conclusion, do you ever hear of
shortage of men anv more in Cali
ornia or Texas? I don't think you do.
Malcom Burns.