Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1918-05-25
REGULATIONS II
FOR LOAFERS
ARE RIGOROUS
and State Authors
ties Demand That
Men Work. 4.

u LII WOW VI kAo FA0NS - ~SsSS -
United States military authorities and
the state council Of defense are ex-
tending their hands for the purpose
Of apprehending loafers. tho question
was asked here today: How many
loaferB are there in Grand Forks city
and county? And: Just what 10 .
As to the first query. 1t is diffl-
Those who desire to speak in extreme
~ polite terms about the community
are inclined to believe that no loaf
ers are to be found here, but others
think there are quite \ few who are
either habitual or occasional idlers
The pity of it, according to some
real workers, is that certain Glasses
of occupations have been thrown to-
Eether with the regular loafers; for
instance gamblers. fortune tellers,
passenger elevator operators. sales
clerks and other mercantile agents,
persons employed in domestic service.
etc. These and many others are in
cluded in the war departments list of
non-useful occupations-and whatev-
er distinction the classification may
confer upon the loafer, it is thought
to be pretty hard upon those who
perform many hours OF work every
day.
What Constitutes q I0ofer?
When asked today about steps to
be taken by the local war board in
order to enforce the regulations of the
officials said that this had not been
determined yet. Official notification
has not yet arrived, and in the alb
sence Of that it is difficult to gay just
what is to be done.
1t was admitted that the attempts
to define exactly the word ''loafer"
will meet with some difficulty. mas
much as the dictionary is not quite
explicit when the etymology Of tho
ito loaf" may have originated in the
German verb, "laufen." which means
exactly the opposite Of what the Eng
lish word seems to convey. "Laufen"
means "run"-and a loafer ordinarily
doesn't run. He prefers either to
stand on a street corner INDUCING i'll
all kinds of gossip or to idle his time
away in pool rooms. A running loaf
err is a thing unthinkable-except.
begin to be enforced. Then, 1t is
said, there will be some Of them on
the run.
The State Regulation.
While the war departments order
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be. Of course, that it contains loop
holes through" which certain loafers
may succeed in making their escape
for a time.
But If they do, the state will get
them. For on the very same day the
war department announced its new
order. word came from Bismarck to
the effect that the state council of
defense had passed a Shaker regu-
1otiar whiOh -iI1 o4~~AI oil oh1A-
bodied men in the state between Is
and so to work at least 81 hours a
week in legitimate and productive la
Dor"
states Attorney Theo. &. Elton
said today that he thought the task
of enforcing this regulation III Grand
Forks county automatically would be
delegated to him. but so far he had
heard nothing official about it.
thought the step taken was a good
one. but said that it would result in
a number of puzzles. For instance
What is the member Of the labor
unions. working 4s hours a week, tc
do Under the Stacker" act? The law,
of his union have once for all pre-.
scribed 8 hours a day for organized
workers. so in this case it will be &
question of whether to obey the Law
OF the state or that Of the trades or
ganization. ="
One union man said there woult
be a safe way of getting around thu
difficulty; he pointed. out that the
state Stacker" act does not expressl,
say that men have to work 81 hour,
each week in one certain line. A.
long as legitimate and productiv,
work is done, no violation takes plac,
and union men r free to work To-
many hours. If they like. in their gar
dem thus meeting the demands o
| the act. -- --. -. ).