The labor journal. [volume] (Everett, Wash.) 1909-1976, 1919-01-31

! ing well written editorial:
The Government is making a Sc
rious mistake in its method of de-
mobiIizing the soldier which is ere
| ating a menace to the various cities
near which are located the train
ing camps in this country.
The cities of Seattle and Tacoma
are already beginning to feel the
effects of the system the Govern
ment has inaugurated, although
there are but few men. compare
lively speaking, already discharged
from the service.
The soldiers are brought to Camp
Lewis from all over the western
portion of the United States and
are discharged there. When the
men are released from military SER
vice, their first thought is to Sc
cure some sort of a situation, and
most of them are very DESTROYS of
locating on the Pacific Coast. These
men flock into Seattle and Tacoma
and nearby cities, and attempt to
find employment. and as result
there is beginning to be a great ov-
ercrowding on the labor market.
Most of these men are non-resi
dents of the State of Washington.
Most of them have never been on
the Coast before and do not know
the country and are unfamiliar with
its industrial life, and are mostly
unskilled laborers. AS conse-
quence they are willing to do al
most any kind of work at which
they can make living, and as they
are unorganized, the one who will
work the cheapest will eventually
secure the job.
Now the great mistake the Gov
eminent is making in it's program
of demobolizing is the fact that the
system is wrong. The men should
not be discharged from Camp Lew
is. They should be discharged by
the Local Draft Boards in the cit
les in which they were indicted
into service. This way they would
be distributed over the country in
such a manner that each section of
the country would be properly sup
piled with labor and no congestion
of unemployed men result. There
are two important reasons for this
in the State of Washington, two
mighty important reasons.
The first is that our own boys
when they receive their discharge
from the military service will have
to find their place in industry.
When they entered service the en-
ployer assured them of the old job
when they returned. In some in
stances the boss is making good his
promise, but in most instances he
has forgotten his word of honor
or else he never intended to keep
his promise. AS a consequence he
is employing other labor, in many
instances women and cheaper male
help, and his former employee must
seek other means of employment.
So he is thrown on the labor mar
ket in competition with his fell
lows. And there are still thousands
of Washington boys who are in the
service and who are yet to be dis
charged. Will they have job when
they return to civilian life? Not if
the present system of demoboliza-
ton is continued.
The other important reason for
a change in the system is that I'M
employment breeds discomfort and
worry, and no man, especially one
with a family, can be as good a
citizen as he should be under those
conditions. The men in the or
ganized labor movement, or the ma
jority, at least, can be taken care
of through their organizations, but
there are thousands of men who
are now drifting into the Coast
cities who have nothing upon which
to depend excepting their own la
Dor.
What are those men going to do?
Jobless, hungry and discouraged.
They are in a mood for anything
that will change their condition.
And here is where the real danger
lies. The professional agitator and
the organizer for the l. w. w. get
in their deadly work.
They meet these men, give them
a little money, pay their room rent
for a few days and look after them
in other ways. 1t has been anthem
tically reported that the l. w. w.
Organization in Portland meets ev-
cry train that discharges male pas
n 4