Show THE PROBLEM OF THE UNEMPLOYED Copyright 1915 1916 By B y Elbert Hubbard Hubbar By e. Newspaper Feature Service Inc In In December 1 1911 9 1 1 I attended an oratorical contest at Harvard One of the speakers chose as his subject subject- The Problem of the Unemployed The rue intent of his speech was to show that the phrase The Problem of the Unemployed p oed was vas as merely one of indoor sports a part of the thc great lingo of the people born under the Zodiacal sign of Taurus faurus and used when they had nothing tc to say The rIte speaker fully admitted th that t in iF times past there had existed exsted a problem of the unemployed but at the time of his speech there was vas no such thing There was however the problem of the UNEMPLOYABLE An And l the judges awarded this young man the first prize in n a field of eight both on his fa facts ts and figures and also on Oil his handling of the theme In 1911 t 1 and andt t 1912 everybody in America who vho could work and wanted to work found work Farms factories s mines offices railroads demanded men Inen At the same sanle time there were vere a certain number of incompetent diseased and morally moral moral- ly Iy and mentally inefficient men mostly in in the tle cities who vho required more supervision than they were worth and these were ere out of employment The number however ho was insignificant as compared with the population The steel mills the mills the greatest employers of labor were ere running at capacity Also there thereas was as a car shortage by the railroads In lii the year 1915 there is a positive problem of the unemployed which is in no sense poetic Soup kitchens a and bread lines have been inaugurated in all the principal cities Pinching poverty through lack of work ork has come conle to many And so sove we ve find in Washington and among so called settlement workers in n the cities and reformers generally an earnest effort being put forth to meet the exigencies of the situation Numerous suggestions have been made and are being made The one suggestion continually being put forth by professional politicians and reformers is for Jor the government go govern ment to take over certain industries and operate them It is also des desired red that the government shall institute great public works say in the theline theline theline line of building in irrigation in manufacturing ng and even in farming fanning That men Inen shall work and then be paid for their work vork is all that they ask Yet the fact remains that these very vety same sanle men who vho are crying for the government to step in and give work ork to the unemployed are in some instances the very persons who vho have made deliberate deliberate war vai on the men Olen who have maintained big pay rolls When business is unhampered and the men of in initiative originality and enterprise are not bothered badgered and baited they build factories invent machinery produce commodities transport men and materials and thus we get a natural spontaneous s activity activity activity ity that turns lurns the wheels of trade Then Ihen the nien who vho labor produce wealth under in intelligent intelligent intelligent in- in supervision and the world prospers the waste places are made green and nd the desert blossoms like the rose To kill enterprise and make war on employers of labor is b deliberate industrial suicide Work Vork for works work's sake is palliative palliative-a a mere expedient to bridge over a trying time It is thinly disguised charity charity and and only one removed from patronage and beggary beggar Charity at best demands an apology for its existence j Men who ho can oan work vork and who vho are willing villing to work vork should have work But the work should be productive so all the world will thrive through it A compliance nce with natural law v which allows men Inen of p p- power ver and ability to secure capital inaugurate enterprises spontaneously and as as' a matter r of course gives work vork to millions Capital is timid and stays close to the traditional old stocking unless there be bemen bemen men of enterprise who vho inspire confidence and can lure it out out- of its hiding places The world needs a Moses to lead it out out of the slavery inaugurated by political Egyptians I The world needs a Lincoln to lead white hite men Inen out of the bondage of ineptitude and idleness idleness- by jy y an excess of busybody legislation The North American Indians had a problem of the unemployed It was eternally on their hands All the potential wealth of America was here but they were unable to utilize it The colonists at Jamestown perished of star starvation within sight of a district which today sends every night in the year three shiploads of provisions to New York Boston and Philadelphia The Ilie colonists simply lacked science and will to work For or or the government of any country to make life difficult for its industrial leaders is isto isto isto to invite the days when the North American Indian had things all to himself untroubled by either competition monopoly or labor problems |