The evening Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1918-1920, 1919-06-18
THE MAN AND THE JOB
The Whole Thing Starts With the
Job and is. Biggest Thing
Against Bolshevism

president OF big industrial eStaD-
lishment, who has been working for
several months as a laborer in large
industrial establishments, has been
ent to many Congressman. This
shows at first hand the sentiment of
the worker:
June 7, 1919
Washington, d. G..
Hon. James w. Good, chairman,
House Committee on Appropriations,
House OF Representatives
Washington, d. C.
My Dear Sir
AS the result of my experiences of
the past few months, | find myself
greatly interested in the question of
the future of the u. S. Employment
Service as now being considered by
you and your committee.
l am an employee of labor. In order
TO get to the viewpoint of the coun-
try's workers, have been working as
a laborer under an alias in several
plants and factories. Ny observa-
tons to date seem to me pertinent to
the question now before you. In a
word they are this: "The difference
between Americanismsand Bolshevism
is the difference between having a job
and not having one" To an extent
which no one can conceive who has
not himself walked the streets for
work, the axle on which the whole
world turns for the working man is
the job. AS long as he can enjoy his
three meals a day and think of his
own and his family's future with
some certainty, he is self-respect-
ing citizen, and all this stuff about
unrest is of less interest to him than
to his employer. But when he is out
of a job-then the axle of his world
is busted; it's jagged slivers enter and
cut his self-respect and his very soul
to pieces.
To be strong Of mind and body,
willing to work and work hard, to
walk and walk and ask and entreat
and find no work "nowhures," to
hear the curses of those who are less
hopeful than you because they've
walked longer, and to see your purse
making a thinner and thinner wall
between you and hoarse and hollow
chested bum-land-that is enough to
try the most reasonable mans faith
in his country and it's Institutions
all of them.
This fact is well known to the
radical agitators. In their meetings,
have heard them urge redo~Dled eff
forts to enroll new members "before
these men now out of work get jobs
and so close their minds to our Cos
pei"
AS you Of course know, thousands
OF employers are devising methods for
working conditions in
their plants, many of them instituting
shop committees, profit sharing, etc.
These are all good things. But
they arc the frosting on the cake!
The whole thing starts with the job.
That is what holds the whole thing
together.
The biggest single piece of insur-
ance against Bolshevlsm that this
/ ntry can think about just now is
a nationwide organization for bring
ing 400 per cent of the jobs available
into connection with the men who
need them for their daily bread and
butter.
This connection is not made eff
GENTLY or even fairly when workers
have to go to the so-called "fee agra
cies." Jobs need workers as much as
workers need jobs. No citizen should
have to buy chance to work. Be- |
sides, too many times the superinten-
dents or foremen who hire men
through these agencies get a part of
the fee themselves-and therefore,
find means to fire one worker in order
to have a share of his successors fee.
1t is both unfair to the worker and
it is highly dangerous for the whole
country to put the matter back on the