The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1924-04-26
|JODLESS ARMY
KEEPS GROWING
AT KANSAS CITY
Even Building Trades
Boom Punctured
BY JOHN MIHELIc.

Especial to The Daily Workerl
KANSAS CITY, Mo-, April 25.-The
winter months in and around Kansas
City have been marked by steady
increase in the number of unemployed.
Altho the time worn hope chat indus
trial and business conditions would
improve with the coming of spring.
was frequently expressed by pious in
dividuaIs, this hope has not material
lied and shows no signs of doing so.
During the past three years Kansas
City has experienced something of a
building boom, but now the building
industry is noticeably on the decline.
Altho the weather the past few months
has been ideal for building, there is a
large number of building trades men
without work.
Packing Industry Idle.
The packing industry, another large
industry in Kansas City, is also very
slow. The local Armour and Morris
plants are now completely CONSOLIDATE
ed. This is part of the nationwide
consolidation scheme of the Armour
and Morris companies. The result is
that the Morris plant was stripped of
all machinery and fixtures and is now
being used as a storage plant only.
This put several thousand people out
OF work. ..qa8kesfe
Many Of the railroad shopmen who
came out on strike here in the nation
wide shipments strike, are still with
out steady employment and are forced
to accept casual jobs to keep the wolf
from the door. Needless to say that
railroads are not in need of additional
help.
Wait in Slave Market.
Kansas City has always been ship
ping center Of the floating element of
workers for out-of-town jobs. There
are large numbers of employment
shipping agencies, but almost no out
of-town jobs to be had thru them.
Any day of the week large numbers of
workers are to be seen on the streets
in the shipping district waiting in vain
for something to turn up.
The farmers in and around Kansas
City are not generally as hard hit as
the farmers of the Northwest, due to
the fact that the farms are smaller
and generally owned by the farmers
and there is variation of crops. New
ertheless, nowhere else in the coun-
try can a better COMPARISON be made
between the prices paid to the farm
ers for their produce and the prices
paid by city workers for food.
The cost of freight on cattle and
hogs from these nearby farms to Kan
sas City stockyards is insignificant.
Yet the difference in price paid to the
farmer for live stock and the price
paid by city workers for meat is al.
most unbelievable.
Bumper Crop No Help.
In the state of Kansas there is great
prospect for a bumper wheat crop
this year, but the farmers are showing
no enthusiasm, as they say that they
will not benefit by it.
Owing to unemployment and gener-
ally bad conditions here, the bosses
are very arrogant. A sample of this
attitude was shown at a dinner given
by the local employers association,
when the main speaker of the evening,
in an appeal for the open shop, advo-
Gated that all labor papers of any kind
be boycotted and no member of the
association, under any circumstances.
should advertise in it.
The one helpful sign here is the
general sentiment among the rank and
file of both organized and unorganized
workers for labor party in the COM
ing national election. What is needed
most of all is organization and crystal
lization Of this sentiment. The great.
est obstacle is the insufficient number
OF good leaders to carry out the work.
The autocratic trade union leaders In
control Of the local labor movement
are unusually bad An example of
this type can be gathered from observ-
ing tleir opposition to a labor party
and all progressive movements.
II conditions continue thru the sum.
mer as they have been during the mast
year, the discomfort by election time
should be strong enough to pile nm n
large vote here for a labor party presi.
dent.