Show SOME THOUGHTFUL SUGGESTIONS Labor Bureaus and the Unemployed Considered To the Editor of The Herald SirSome few weeks ago I published in one of our local papers a letter upon the Condition of the Unemployed Since that time I have been thinking what remedies could possibly bo applied ap-plied to improve the condition of things Go where we like in Europe Canada or the United States and we find the same lamentable condition of things existing Thousands and hundreds of thousands thous-ands of honest men out of employment employ-ment Poverty and privation staring them in the face driving some to destruction de-struction and others to deeds of crime It is useless to theorize as to its cause for different thinkers attribute it to a variety of causes I admit that in our great cities the more charitably disposed are doing their utmost to improve the condition of things by creating temporary employment em-ployment For this they deserve credit and the thanks of the people But something more should be done than mere temporary relief In all countries even in the best of times there are always some unemployed unem-ployed who if uncared for becdme either criminals or pests in society Therefore I maintain that it is the duty of the government to look after the unemployedthis surplus labor and provide work for them It is un just to punish a man because he is poor You call him a vagrant and a tramp because he has no employment and nowhere to lay his head and you find him a home in your jails and work on your atone piles His character char-acter is Injured he loses heart and he goes from bad to worse Is that the way in this age of Chris tian civilization you treat the poor I Your wrong and unequal condition of 1 things have produced this and you have applied no remedy other than making criminals of the unfortunate they who have failed In the great strug gle of life It is a disgrace to our boasted civilization that such a condi I tion of things should exist It has been conceeded to be the duty of I the state to look after its criminals I paupers and idiots but forsooth It has miserably failed to look into the cause of all this production II Our legislation has nearly always been in the intenests of wealth when I it ought to have been in the interest I of the community at large I Excessive wealth on one side and excessive ex-cessive poverty on the other only shows tne imperfect condition of society that there must be eomefchiqg rotten I in Denmark But let us look at this question of the overstocked labor market and see what can be done In European countries where there is an overplus population it has been found necessary to encourage inimigra tion But it ought to have been state aided immigration end means provided provid-ed to give the emigrants a new start in life How that should be done is a ques itton for the political economist to set tle But it b is question which governments gov-ernments and political economists have never troubled their heads about In this country this question presents a different aspect We are the recip ients both of the Industry and scum of the old world Therefore it is necessary neces-sary that we should have some kind of a restricted emigration We have millions of acres here in the far west awaiting settlement and cultivation culti-vation this portion of the country requires re-quires to be built up Kate Field has suggested labor bureaus bu-reaus as the cure for the congested condition of thingsshe is undoubted ly on the rjght track But this needs government supportit should be a national na-tional undertaking acting in conjunc tion with all municipalities I do not mean that it should interfere with private industries but it should be a system so devised that no one could say I am seeking for work but oanmot get it It would once and forever for-ever ruin the business of the professional profes-sional tramp There would be greater security to humam life and property and less hunger and privation in the home of the poor There arc irrigating ditches to be dug roads to be made desert lands to be reclaimed canals to be constructed and new railroads to be cut All this would give work to the unemployed Every encouragement should be given giv-en for the people to settle upon the land and cultivate It instead of being absorbed by speculators to the injury of its settlement and cultivation In this wide expansive and fertile country of ours with millions of acres yet uncultivated there Is no need that millions of honest sons of toil should be walking our streets and tramping our highways seeking employment The responsibility for this rests upon the shoulders of our legislatures Yours ONE OF THE UNEMPLOYED |