Evening journal., 1917-04-26
NEEDED-A LOAFERs' LEGION.

NEEDED-A LOAFERS' LEGION.
VEJE published. on April H. an editorial in which
w we urged that Delawares loafers be modified
and ordered imporatiyely to farm or fight That ed-
trial, which we reproduce below, has ELECTED many
words Of approval and led to action that is more or
less dehnite
There are thousands of constitutional loafers in
Delaware.
Many Of them are whites; many others are Negroes.
There is not a city, town, a village or country
side in our State that is not cursed with them
A census of such lOafers should be taken in each
representative district in New Castle Kent and Sussex
No time should be lost in taking it,
After it has been competed, those men, whose most
energetic occupation heretofore has been that of loaf
ing their way through life should be mobiliaed and
the following order backed by ample Federal and
Farm or fight Take your choice"
And you may depend upon it that with such an alter.
native confronting them, nine-enths OF them would
We say that because observation has convinced us
that the average oafer is arrant coward.
There be little of a manly nature about man,
be he white black who lives upon the charity OF his
neighbors, the industry of his wife and daughters
or, worse still upon the earnings of his mistress or
the fruits OF his theft
There is not a ward i'm Wilmington town
village i'm the rural districts OF our state that has
It's constitutional loaiers who refuse or dodge the work
they solicited TO perform.
them. IL they forced to work. honestly and con
sstently at the prevailing rate of hundreds OF
farmers who now are crying for help in the cultya
their labor needs supplied and the producing power OF
our State viii be increased correspondingy.
In the present emergency, when it is proposed that
college and high school boys, and even women and
girls, shall be sent to the farms let these cons,itu-
tonal oaiers whom we have discussed above be called
10 the front and informed that they must farm or
gh and lose no time in making their choice Of steady
okcupation.
Rrheir debasing vacation should be ended not only
IA the duration of the war, but for all time. Entirely
~ much leniency has been shown in the past. to eou-
sN Nutiona loafers Delaware t is time to cali them
dpnQupuCioS
form them firmly that they must shoulder the rife
the hoe and prepare to work at least six days week
week i'm and week out at whatever vocation they
pursue by election or governmental coercion,
qhe thoughts expressed and the policy outlined
therein found substantial echo at Governor Town
sends war preparedness conference, held in the State
House in Dover last Friday. Several OF the men
present advocated drastic compulsory service action
agaipst such loafers.
When the Della ware War Commission appointed
by Governor Townsend. and OF which lie is the head.
met in Wilmington this week. the feeling against
tho constitutional loafers was voiced In fact Gov
ernor Townsend has issued formal statement in
which he earnestly advocates that the loafers be com
PEELED to farm fight.
The Governors statement is as follows:
"Foowmg the suggestion OF the state Commission
on Food Production and Conservation / am taking in
consideration the question Of those without visi-
Bile means of-support, generally known as loafers
Il am requesting the State detectives sherins. con-
stables and police in general 10 cooperate with the
available. They will forward this 10 the State Depart
ment at Dover for the consideration OF the author
ties
almost every town and community has such a tyne
Of citizens They are needed on the farm Failing to
respond to the demands can only say to them
work or fight To draft them into service where mos
needed is the question at hand Conditions today make
it imperative that every man be at some steady en-
ploymcnt"
The matter should not be permitted to stop there
II must be followed by definite action which will
fI,n Inofor
front Nor should the policy be restricted to Della
ware It should obtain in every State in the Union,
A dead loafer is better than a live loafer in such
an emergency that which confronts our nation
That because dead loafer is a non-consumer while
live loafer is as a rule social parasite whose
stomach to crave for the food fruits OF
the labor Of others
Now is the time Of all times TO call such human
parasites 10 book. II they will agree to farm indus
trioSsiy, they will man hundreds OF farms which now
seriously in need OF labor II they refuse to farm
Loafers' Legion should be recruited forthwith by
conscripton and it should be one of the first of the
military uts to be sent to the irst-line trenches in
France Flanders.
Wilmington, New Castle Newark Delaware City.
Mddetown, Odessa, Townsend, Smyrna, Clayton
Dover Harrington, Milford Georgetown Lewes
Laurel, seaford Demar. Milton selbyvile and all
other towns and villages have their constitutional
loafers. Many Of them white men; many others
are Negroes No matter whether they be white OF
black they should be rounded up quickly as poss-
Bile and sent to the farms the frst-ne trenches
A Loafers Legion doubtless would be a new thing in
war Twentieth century warfare however has brought
forth many new things and Delaware can contribute
Loafers' Legion State will set pace in conscrip
tion that other States will be prone to emulate not
withstanding it will be generally understood that the
loyalty Of the Legion is Of an enforced nature.
The best evidence OF the nefHcieney Of the volunteer
system in this country the way in which it is work