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DEdEarbER, 1914
The Commoner
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1913, states that out of 29,282 persons who ap
plied for. work, 28,862 had been . referred to po
Bltlons,.and,of this number 15,660 had sepured
them at an. average cost, to the bureau, of 35
cents per person.
"An interesting feature of the report is that
employers seem to use tho bureau more than .
employes. In 1913, a total of 30,922 applica
tions for help were made. A serious problem
which confronts the state employment agencies
is how to secure .employment for the jack-of-all
trades. There is not an employment agency
which will keep this man out of the labor mark
et. He belongs in a1 different set, and there are
more of these men than there are of the .legiti
mately unemployed. They tell me that if there
are 100 jobs for 250 applicants, the office does
not worry. Why? Because so large is the num
ber of the unfit, the roving, the untrained, the
lazy, other agencies must- handle these.
"There seems to be no reason why other states
can not do what Wiscpnsin is doing.- And if.
cities within a state can co-operate to reduce un
employment, why can not these different states
co-operate with a federal agency acting as a
clearing house for them?
"Keep the wheels moving! That is the great
responsibility of those who presume to employ.
It is no less a responsibility. than for the bank to
keep its -doors open. To co-operate with the
employers in. this work is the duty of the com
munity, of the state and of the federal govern
ment." A NOVEL TEMPERANCE LESSON
The Philadelphia North American tells of a
novel and effective plan adopted by temperance
wdrkers to bring, home to drinkers just what
their spending meahs to their families. The
article follows:
'Hundreds of men andv women stopped last
night on Frankford avenue to look in the win
dow of temperance headquarters, where they
saw a pile of groceries; enough for many sub
stantial meals. The groceries; are worth $46.75
the. cost of three 'beers' a day for one year.
4 "This is a new temperance lesson, the anti-rum
w.orke'rs of Frankford want to teach the drinking
people.. The .pile of groceries presented an
econojhlp argument that 'went home to the drink
ing people who gtfft it last night, or will see it
through 'the week, " They were impressed with
the nourishing food. They thought of the good
meals for themselves and their families, which
they had thrown away over brass rails and
wooden bars, in exchange for three beers a day.
"The exhibition is at 4361 Frankford avenue,
and will continue through the week. The W. C.
T. U., the Sons of Temperance, the Good Tem
plars and missionary societies of Frankford are
in charge. At night representatives of these
societies are at headquarters to tell any drinker
who may stop in about the curse of drink. Be
ginning tonight Frankford ministers '.will give
temperance sermons each night, and qhoirs will
sing. gospel hymns.
" ''The workers will distribute during the week
$10 worth of temperance literature. This liter
ature is in the form" of leaflets. Among the in
scriptions on these leaflets are: 'Use the ballot
box and wash your hands on election day.' 'The
drink biir in the United States is $1,410,236,702.
All the corn, wheat, rye, oats, barley, buckwheat
and potatoes put together will not pay it.'
"'Other leaflets attack the cigarette habit.
These are directed to boys and young men,"
LOSSES IN THE INDUSTRIAL ARMY
At the recent' session of the American Feder
ation of .Labor at Philadelphia, Commissioner
of Labor Bryant of New Jersey, startled the del
egates, when he presented facts and figures in
his plea for safeguarding the life, limb and
health of workers. He declared that if it were
possible to secure complete statistics of men,
women and children in this country who have
had their health impaired and their lives short
ened by employment conditions, the revelation
would be more appalling than the losses during
the present European war. Among other things
Mr. Bryant said:
"It has been calculated that out of our nor
mal industrial army of 36,000,000 workero there
ate about 3,000,000 incapacitated for full service
and it Is further calculated that of this 6,vvvr
000, one-third are from cause probably control
lable. -It i, therefore, apparent that this is a
problem of equal interest to the employer ana
the employe. It is ta the interest of this countrj
t6 recognize that It is quite as Important for us to
keep our men in the same state of high efficiency
as our machinery, and further that thoro is
a yery decided difference in the work performed
by tho man who is simply negatively well and
the man who is enjoying the fullost degree of ,
health.
"We read much of the efficiency expert; and I
know of no other field that presents greator op
portunities for his efforts than that of scientific
ally surrounding workers with conditions calcu
lated to keep them in condition fit to perform
their best service. This field presents the great
problem of industrial disease.
"The importance of safeguarding may best bo
gathered from the statement that for ovory fif
teen seconds of a twenty-four-hour day somo
workman Is injured, and for overy sixteen sec
onds of a twenty-four-hour day some member of
the industrial army is killed. These figures are
more lamentable when authorities generally con
cede that at least' 40 per cent of these accidents
are in the preventable class."
THE CHRISTMAS SPIRIT EXEMPLIFIED
One of the finest examples of tho Christmas
spirit is shown in the movement that inspired
the sending of the United States collier Jason
to Europe, laden with Christmas gifts for child
ren in belligerent countries from children in tho
United States. Tho idea originated with tho
Chicago Herald. It was adopted by many Amer
ican newspapers, and in response to a public ap
peal, gifts came pouring in from all sections of
the United States as well as from other coun
tries. A ship of the American navy was solected
to carry the unusual cargo, and when it arrived
at its first European port on November 25 it
received a royal welcome. Of this cargo less than
10 per cent were toys, and included in the 6,000,- .
000 gifts were millions of articles of clothing,
shoes, sweaters, caps, stockings, underwear,
shawls, gloves, mittens and dresses of every
kind. These gifts will be distributed in Ger
many, Austria, Belgium, Russia, France, Eng
land, Seryia and Montenegro. .
An incident related by the Chicago Herald,
under the caption "The Blind Girls of Korea Un
derstood," Illustrates the widespread Interest in
the movement. The article follows:
"In the. Herald office window Is displayed a
collection of gifts .sent to tho Christmas ship by
little blind girls of Pyeng Yang, Korea; a baby
jacket, baby stockings, baby gloves and similar
useful articles.
"These gifts came too late to reach the Christ
mas Ship. But they will follow soon, and to a
most distinguished addressee the Queen of
Belgium. In view of their source, it has been
decided that these tributes from the children of
the East to the children of the West are entitled
to an unusual form of recognition.
"As one stands before these little articles and
thinks that far away in Asia thosa blind girls
worked joyously to help the littls children of an
alien race as one pictures the scene when they
were told of the Christmas Ship project and their
Willing aid was enlisted the world seems a little
place after all.
"We talk about the East being the East and
the West the West about how difficult It
is for people of one race to understand people of
another race. Those little blind Korean girls
understood. We talk of the irreconcilably dif
ferent ideas that must divide tho races and ulti
mately lead to conflict. Those blind little Korean
girls felt no irreconcilability in the ideas of the
East and the West.
' ."We often act on the theory that our own peo
ple, our own nation, or our own race are all that
we- should consider. 'Let the others take oare
of themselves' is the motto. We may be sure
that there was no thought of selfish racial di
vision in the minds of the blind little Korean
girls as their- thin little fingers darted to and
fro in the knitting and their faces lighted up
with smiles at the thought" of how good those
things would feel to little babies living half way
'round tho world.
"There is a lesson here for statesmen, diplo
mats -and politicians. We do not understand
the East and the East does not understand us
when we approach it and it approaches us with
plans of superficial friendship and disguised self
interest. Let us approach it in the spirit of
frankness, nobleness and generosity and it will
understand in tho end as those blind Korean
girls have understood' , '
.r " ' "' ""
"jAVES GONE TO SCRAP" " , . ' ',.'.
. The problem of what to do with the "dead
timber" of the churches is age-old anil, it would
seem, little nearer solution than It was years
ago. Discussing thin aubject an editorial in the
Pittsburg Leader sayn: 'y v
"The statement from Rev. William Fultori,
chairman of tho Preabytorian gonoral asaonibly
committee on educational policy, that in' the. last
flvo years moro than 200,000 members of that
denomination havo been put on the suspended
list is likely to strike tho public as a shock.
When moro than a quarter million members of
any church are placed on the punishment list It
is a shock, no matter how largo or powerful In
numbers that denomination may happen to be.
For, in round figures, that is an average of about
50,000 each yoar for fivo years. '
" 'They sllppod back Into the world says Dr.
Fulton in his report. 'They fell away, were
re.legatod to the occleHiaotlcal scrap hoap
"Dr. Fulton, in discussing causes for this ex
traordinary movement toward tho ecclesiastical
scrap heap, gives It as his Judgment that it is
duo to 'the modern view of life
"It doeBU't matter what the cause Is when tho
falling away from any great denomination
reaches such figures. The .thing to do is to look
for means of adjustment between tho church's
domand and the viows of life that are common
to our time. Tho report that In five years some
quarter million members of a Binglo church have
gone to the scrap heap because of a lack of ad
justment between their views of life and the de
mands of their religious organization is serious.
. "It might bo Unfair to other denominations to
assume that they have been affected in member
ship in like ratio, but at tho same time it might
appear unfair to tho Presbyterian church to as
sume that It Is the only sufferer because of this
lack of harmony between the attitude of the
church and tho 'modern view of life Certainly
this report would seem to demand that the
churches look up this matter of disharmony and
see if 'it can not bo adjusted. The how of the
adjustment is best left in the hands of those who
know most about It."
FRIENDSHIP FOR THE PEOPLE OF MEXICO
John Llnd, personal representative of tho ad
ministration In Mexico during the Hucrta regime,
made a plea at a recent banquet of the Industrial
club at Chicago for a warmer and kindlier spirit
on the part of Americans toward tho Mexican
people. Among other things Mr. Llnd said:
"I want to make a plea for a warmer arid
kindlier Interest In our neighbors. They bear
us no 111 will. They need our good will. We
need theirs. We must be friends in peace and
allies In trouble.
"The people of Mexico dwell In a rich and
beautiful land. I feel that they are a people of
great promise.
"They have suffered vicissitudes which we have
escaped. I believe that they are emerging into
the light of a new and better day. They may
still stumble politically. They may fall at times.
But I would rather have them stumble and fall
traveling our way than to see them slide peace
fully back into the bondage, the ignorance, the
vice and sloth of the sixteenth century.
"I have asked myself, and I asked some of the
critics of President Wilson's policy, whether it
was hot within the range of probability that a
people who within a brief generation had re
sponded with great facility to the new social and
economic environment might make equivalent
progress in the field of politics and government
if afforded a fair chance. I am hopeful, aye
confident, that they will.
"The hard experience of the Mexican has made
him wary and suspicious. It has been difficult
for the Mexican people to believe that our pres
ident did not have some ulterior motive in his
proffered assistance and good offices.
. "Europe condemned the idealism of our pres
ident as well as his diplomacy. They are reap
ing the fruit of their diplomacy, we of ours.
Which do you prefer? Fortunately, in the case
of Mexico,, idealism and practical statesmanship
followed parallel lines."
It was really believed by a large number of
persons, following the extensive personal adver
tising given Secretary Wilson, that, the national
department of agriculture would suffer "through,
his departure from the cabinet. Secretary
Houston has Just made public the report' of his
department for the year. It teems with interest
to the farmers of this country. It makes very
plain that under the wise guidance of Mr. Houg.
ton, this department has expanded and developed
more rapidly than in any previous period, that
its organization has been made more compact
and efficient and that it is doing better and big
ger work than ever before.
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