New-York tribune., 1919-01-24
100000 Service
Men Seeking.
Jobs ir1 CITY
Continued from page /

~VHaI1ueu from page L
peddling "Welcome Home to Our Sol
dier Boys" signs
we have no actual figures on the
number of unemployed in New York.
sald Dr klrchwey. "But unemploy-
ment is more pronounced here than
anywhere else. An indication is fur
nished by figures that come from Buff
1alo. There the number of unemploved d
last week was estimated at $1,000 as
compared to about 5000 the previous
week.
ne reasons are apparent Men are
out on strikes in some instances. Som.
of the trades. particularly the building
and clothing trades have not resumed
business on normal scale
The military authorities have de
cidcd to demobolze soldiers and sailors
at their place of disem mbarkation. In
stead OF railroad tickets to the mems
home towns the money equivalent j.
given The result is that the men stay
mere and spend their money.
Don't Want Old Jobs
About 60 per cent of the soldiers
who arrive here stay here. Ninety pei
cent of the men who have been in ser.
vice could get their old Jobs back II
they want them but | venture to say
that not half of them will The con-
sequence is that New York has more
workers than it has Jobs for.
"Ihe rapid closing of the war indus.
tries has helped produce the labor sur
Plus. The government has done every
thing possible to overcome this by
clos factories gradually.
About 12,OO0,000 wage earners are
lhvolVed IN this great transition
100000 who were under arms and
100000 who were engaged in w, war "'lv in.
dustries. This represents 10 per cent
Of our population, or about 40 per cent
or the adult wage earnsrs of the coun-
Try. 1T is the greatest economic
change this country has ever known.
There is this hope-the United
States on normal production basis is
short Of labor. There probably viii be
no immigration for the next tour wears
"nlch means shortage Of 1000 .O0C
workers year from this source.
foresees Great Prosperity
"This country will be called upon to
manufacture foods and other products
tor all Europe. In six months when
peace conditions prevail we ought tc
enter upon a period of roaring pros
perity. But the unemployment problem
during the intervening six months viii
be serious.
Lieutenant Leslie D. Mayne. directo,
OF the American Soldiers and Sailors
Protective Association, 144O Broadway
sad that the plight of thousands of
unl1ormed men in New York is dis
tressing"
"our first effort will be to induce
nose out of town to go home. A crowd
OF them recently joined the radicals
lhlhKihg that they thus might obtain
MorA. WORK, IL was Just this very thing to
Keep them away from Bolshcyissi-
that we formed this organization.
I'VE have been consulting WITH MON
bers of the Civic Federation with .
view OF getting some big business men
t! pack ;, OF US to take hold of, the situa-
Call Mass Meeting
Five hundred UNEMPLOYED men mo.
at Peoples House, East Fifteenth
street yesterday and, after drafting .
demand that Governor Smith and
Mayor Hylan do something tangible
1or them, issued a call for mass
meeting to be held at Madison Square
tomorrow.
ne communication to the Governor
and the Mayor declares that there are
thousands OF worthy men and women
out OF employment, calls attention tc
the fact that President wilson has as
asked for an appropriation Of S1OO.-
100000 for relief in Europe. and con
cludes with demands that public eating
houses be established where the un-
employed may obtain food free.
The communication says, in part:
Careful students have estimated
that there will be more than half a
million workers idle in New York
within sixty days.
"You know that there is already an
unprecedented wave of crime aud law
lcssness which IS direct result of the
war and the disturbance of peaceful
Industry.
Want Food and Clothes
We assert that it is just as i'm
portant to feed and clothe the army
Of the unemployed as 10 feed and
clothe our military and naval oreaniza-
tions.
Owe note that the sum of 100000.
600 OF United States funds is now be-
ing requested by the President for the
purpose of feeding Europe, combating
Bolshevism, and preventing fall in
focd prices in our own country
I'VE demand that you apply your
selves at once to providing relief for
the unemployed; that public eating
houses he opened at once whore food
will be supplied to the unemployed
without cost, and that if necessary a
special tax for this purpose be i'm
mediately levied upon war protitccrs
and traffickers in the necessities of
life"