The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1932-03-21
Among
the Unemployed
in Illinois
by Labor Research Assooition)

NDy LABOR ReSearcn ASSOcId0nD In
ILLINOIS Governor Emmerson) "WhU
there is much restitution in Illinois, none Of
our people is actually starving, due to unems
plOyment relief funds provided both privately
and by the state. We estimate that approxis
mately 100000 people in Illinois are unable
to secure employment although able and will
ing to work" NY. Times, March IL, 1881
With an admission that 100000 are jobless IN
Illinois, Governor Emmerson dares to claim
that no one "is actually starving, due TO uaern@
ployment relief funds" We let capitalist req
ords answer him and prove that he Is delibers
ately concealing the facts. Even with only
100000 jobess,. and this is undoubtedly an uns
derstatement, there is actual starvation in uli~
nois on mass SCALE
Chicago Hunger CalP Admits 10000 Starve.
On Jan %, 1872, desperate Hunger Call" By
the Cook County Emergency Relief Fund for an
emergency session of the Illinois Legislature adj.
mitted that in Chicago alone:
With available unemployment relief cash eS
hausted, actual starvation threatens 10000 fan 4
lies here unless aid is forthcoming by Feb. 3
With 100000 destitute, "the city faces rio
unless the state acts" This Hunger Call wa
printed on the front page of the Chicago Daily
News, estimating that Chicago and Cook County
+@SS0 CIV
rest OF the winter" This amount was supposed
to pay the welfare agencies enough to continue
food relief for about 10000 families In Chi
cagO at the rate of 1-3 cents day per persons
the average for food relief in the city, Accord
ing to Frank D. LOOMS, secretary of the Emer~
gency Relet Commission. Congressional Rec
ord Feb. 2, 1882, page 3181)
So with the threat of hunger "riots" held over
its head the Illinois legislature finally voted
early in February $20,O0O00O unemployment re-
lief for the entire state, or $40 apiece for the
100000 who are iobless, according to Governor
EmmerSon's own admission. How long would
even $40 last hungry nan and his family?
But, of course, the jo5lass did not get any
thing like $40 apiece this winter, for out of the
relief funds the agencies pay their own expenses
and their own salaries. A relief worker gets at
least $25 a week, and often great deal more,
for investigating" worker and his family to r N
sure he is hungry enough to get his 8 1-3 cent
a day for food. ~
Even the relief agencies did not claim that
the state fund would last except for a fraction
of the jobless for the rest of the winter" Win
ter is over now. Funds are exhausted again and
no jobs are in sight
Died of Starvation.
Here is the typical story of worker who tried
to get some of that much touted relief He tried
for six weeks. Every time he was turned down.
"The other day he dropped dead in his back
yard, raking leaves He died of pure hunger and
DR.. Arthur E. Holt, chairman)
grieved to death because everybody turned him
down." CTestimony of social worker before the
Chicago Workers Committee on Unemployment,
Nor have coal miners in mining districts OF
illinois seen any of this relief" President John
L. Lewis of the United Mine Workers of Amer
lea early in the year admitted that $4,000 miners
in Illinois were Sin dire want" and had no
place to go for relief. Congressional Record,
Feb, g. 1882, page 3179)
The Chicago Federation of Labor in JanuarN
adopted resolution admitting that:
There is estimated to be 100000 unemployed
men and women wage earners all OF whom are
hungry and a great number at the point Of
starvation, and it is believed that 100000 babies
go to bed hungry every night; and
-. there are $4,000 school teachers and 1000
miscellaneous employees of the Chicago Board Of
Education without pay since April, 1897
Such evidence as this, admitting mass starva-
ton, not only in Illinois, but throughout the
United States, continues for page after page Of
small type in the Congressional Record Of Feb. 2,
when Senator La Toilette presented it before the
U. S. Senate. The admissions are from public
and private welfare" agencies and other capi=
talist sources.
No starvation in Illinois? Let Governor EN-
merson step out of his limousine and look into
the faces of jobless workers on the streets