The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1918-02-20

| cities III IuSCdu9. AHG &AAiSAASe1A
lace dealers-the chief buyers-went
making is done in the peoples
homes, so that the industry. car
make shift wherever the people &C
If thread and appliques go witt
J them: and the extent Of this vol
untary shifting Of population to
Florence is reflected in the fact thai
| q Venetian newspaper is now pub
lished there. BY early December,
have since been informed, nine
tenths Of the industrial plants and
two thirds of the stores Of Venice
were closed.
What the Red Cross Found.
AS each plant shut down, each
store closed, the number OF depen-
dents had increased, and as the lat
ter could only stay If the govern
ment or philanthropiC bodies FED
them and could only go if the means
were provided, the responsibility on
these agencies for working out
consistent policy was clear. They
were confronted with the civic prop
lem of a. city whose normal life had
come to a dead center. or the al
ternatives before them, I cannot do
better than quote from a memoran-
dunn before me, prepared in middle
cember for the Red Cross by Consul
Carroll: Its.
"The news from the front. while
encouraging from military stano-
point in that it always anords the
possibility Of a further resistance, Is
not encouraging from an economic
standpoint, as there is evidently no
serious possibility Of business deYet-
onnent in a community where the
banks have ceased to function where
the wealthy have gone away, ana
where manufacturing ana merchah-
dising enterprises can only be con-
timed at q risk too heavy for IN
surance) Of losing stock and plant.
'Many people who have always be-
lonped to the self-sustaining classes
are already in actual want. IL Is
strongly indicated that within one
months time there will be forty
thousand people who Will need 10 De
helped. and who win not be able, 10
ing There %Te are only three possible al
s'To take care Of them here.
'sTo take care of them elsewhere.
"To let them be gradually driven
out by need to wander about seeking
i'm already overcrowded eommuh-
tiles a help that will be increasing
ly harder for the unaided indiYlduaI
IF we take care of them here. IL
must be taken into consideration
that they already have shelter mere
most of them have belongings
enough to give them some degree OF
comfort: and the cost Of transpor-
tation the disaareeable trip in win
ter weather and the pang of break
ing old associations and seeking new
homes would be avoided. All the
force Of inertia is in favor Of keep
ing them here. Many Of them want
to stay at present as they cling TO
''The initial expense Of taking care
M them here would be less than II
would be to move them. This eX-
pense would constantly grow, how
ever. and the burden become cumu-
lative and without hope or any
return. 1t will cost 10 reed
those who must be fed at free
kitchens one Ira per person per day
to give them one good meal. SucI
help as could be given, even IL 1t
were sustaining, would not be salts
fyinR. and discomfort would md eX-
Dression sooner or later in riots.
! I have learned that the number
of daily rations distributed at the free
ldtchens has increased within the
mast twenty days from 1000 rattons
Der day to 10000 persons per day
only one meal per person per day
III the people are taken elsewhere
there must be considered;
FINDING the place where they are
needed or where they can be utilized
in whole or in part transplanting
them there: feeding them en- routes
them in the new homes
and assisting in taking care OF them
In the initial periods until they can
become self-supporting.
In view Of the great number o.
it seems to me that the one
impossible task would be to UNDER
take to support Gil the unemployed
M a result Of the war whether
thew were refugees or not) unless we
are able to find an economic use fot
their time and labor. 1t would be
equally uneconomic waste to employ
those capable Of machine work and
fine needle work at the pillow or iE
the field or in the conrser and less
well paid forms of labor where only
a scant living for them would be the
return.
There Is a certain amount Of un-
av0idable dead weight. such as the
sick and the old and the babies; but
nothing should be undertaken that
Involves the continued support Of p
healthy persons, men or women, liz
.dleness. It Is just that fundamental
fact that makes the colony idea the
only remedy for the situation. Italy
can readily use the labor Of EVIL