AMONG THE UNEMPLOYED.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 534, 15 June 1909, Page 9

AMONG THE UNEMPLOYED.

TWO PHASES OP THE QUESTION, r Sir, —"Tho unemployed!" stock term, but how oxprcssivc when- used intelligently by thinking men. How the words roll from the lips of speakers during election fights! Government, Opposition, Independent, and Labour candidates exploit tho workloss until tho rending and hearing public is sick to death of the whole question.. Tho unfortunate out-of-works aro used as capital by ,SocavKst-Comrade and Minister of tho Crown; by tho workingman candidate for Parliamentary honours, and by the aristocratic aspirant to tho Mayoral chair. All alike talk glibly of the poor follows who are out of work, and who sometimes make much noise and stir whan asserting t&eir right to work and live. How many of th«o speakers , understand the wholo position of the unemployed ? A prominent public man was asked recently mthis connection; Who'are the unemployed? Where are they to be found? ' To:what class do they; belong?' His replies aro worth noting. Said ho: "The,unemployed arc the.men- who cannot got work. They may bo'found on the wharf and loafing at tho street corners;-and their! class is, well, I supposo one would caU them tho unskilled workers, commonly called the 'orny 'andod." This .from a man who claims to, have made a study of the question. His study had been from one standpoint only,' and no greater error can be made, ni reference to this question 'than in studying only tho one phase of the subject. .The' unskilled worker, the '"orny anded, hundreds of hrm, may be "seen in'the places named, loafing, only because he canaiot obtain the right to do otherwise. He has applied .to ,tho Labour Department and has met with tho .stock replies re farm hands. He hae never farmed, nor handled cow or sheep, and consequently remains workless. Married and with a family, to support, workless for weeks past, and his belongings gradually finding their way to the pawnshop, is it to be wondered at'that he rushes the advertiser for a , stoTemiin or labourer? . To the keen observer the faoes of these men tell a tale of suffenng, both m>mt.il and physical. ■ The ever-present to provide, for t-li-e outgo, in.fhe almost total absence of income, wears them out, • until their-very force of. character, is gone for. the time, and they, scarcely retain the .energy to search for the work which is not. Moving amongst, these men, as the writer hias done for months past, ono comes across many instances of downright despair and even-par-tial starvation.- Only last week I watched •a man;,fishing from the wharf end.After '.much 'patient waiting he landed a fair-sized fish and promptly started for home, saying that ho and tho kids would .soon polish that feed off—the first for nearly two days. Poverty? 6h,-no, not at all! Probably the situation is', most acute in the case of a man who, being thrifty, is payine for/a home by monthly instalments or in the form of rent. When his payments step what happens? Take an illustration. It was in a street car one wet evening, recently.ln.the corner, of a, smoking compartmont sat . a sullen-looking man who was pulling at a "dry" pipe. At a , stopping : place another, man entered, .and, seating, himself next to him of the nipe, inquired of him, "How- is it, Harry?" • "Oh! Not too bad. Bill" was the . gruff reply. , "Working yet, Harry ?" A shake 'of the head was all the reply given. "How long Kavo you been out now, okl ma.n?" " 'Ave'nt done a blessed tap-for eight weeks arid more,, and see no 'ope either so far." . Bill's next .query was for the health .of Harry's "old' woman," , and Harry's reply was' an _ eye-opener-to some present? said lie. '.'No, nor not likely, either while this •■lasts.' She can't eat'what' we 'ave to,'and there'is nothing to buy fancy touches' with. Then she is worrying over tho house. You know, old man, you can't keep i>aymetits going out of.nothdng, and old'—~is going to close if we don't square up soon. Hard luck after, •paying for .eight-years or more." This is a solitary, instance of diro distress, and scores of similar cases could be. unearthed if' the trouble were taken to look for them.

; The remedy? Well, relief-works during the winter months would alleviate a good deal of this distress, andperh&ps s-avo life too. Given ■ fundsjithe 1 ' belief "of the uniskilled labnu'rsr is "not'a difficult matter, and reijuares very little organisation or thought on the part of the administrators. Looal impVovomerits, drain-' ago, roads, etc, would readily absorb all the labour available in ttug class were funds available..: But'Tiaving dealt with this side of the question, what about Eliase 2? Tho "'orny 'anded , '. have been dealt with, biit'what of : the other 'section of the .wodtless army? How are they, getting' along meanwhile? 'Suffering hardships, many of ,thom, and in comparative clerks, the warehouseman, the shop assistant.; ; These, of :no use on drainage works, •'being' strangers. to the pick and shovel and the .useful wheelbarrow. Yet there are scores, •aye;'even hundreds of these men wanting work'at.tTio present' time, simply on account of the reduction of staffs through depression in trade. It is useless to quote statistics of. the Labour Department to show the , state of the labour, market. ..Scores of tho unemployed nercr go near tfio Labour Office, knowing as they do that such visits must be futile. The Jsbour'ma.rket,' as concerning thi« olass,- is simply overflowing, and no amount of ordinary relief works can help towards the solution of the.problem.... Then men;are constantly. arriving from the Old Country a.iid helping to swamp the market. They are willing to work at anything for a" bare minimum wago, and so cut the ground from under the feet of local men .who ask a fair living wago i*i return for .'{heir, service!.'--. ltecently a departmental manager 'resigned from his position .in a.local warehouse, and tho management, instead of filling, hia place with a competent :man, engaged two new arrivals at low salaries, which m tho aggregate were only equal to two-thirds of the amount paid to th« departed ono. This.sort of thing is occurring coMtantly in Wellington, and is helping to-keep the labour market in a bad state. " '• '■• ' . '.■ ..'-,'■ ''■'.. ',

'. A man of long experience in his own line who is acknowledged to be capable above the ordinery, , was squeezed out of a local warehouse owing to severe depression. After trying vainly.to obtain a position in this city ho systematically wrote to all the warehouses in the Dpminion inthe line of business with which he was familiar. /Some of the replies received ajro decidedly eloquent of tho state of affairs in tho Dominion." Ono large North Island' firm writes:— '; . ■"■. .-.. Can scarcely keep our own hands going, and, if this depression continues, must shorten hands before long, much against our inclination. . . . " v. .-, ■ . : . Another large houso (Souti) Island) says:— " . . .'_ Regrqt cannot advise your visiting this district just now.. Wo.aro dispensing with eeven hands this week, and believe other firms are also shortening. The outlook has never been so bad in our experience. ... . •"'•■".'.. . :' ■ From Wangaoui:—" . .. Our own hands more than able to cope with any work offering. Depression keenly felt in this, district. From Napier:—." . . .Cannot dream of adding to staff at present, as we are dismissing :somo of our oldest hands on account of extreme slackness of trade,' a state of things unknown hero until now." • •

Theso replies and a scoro of othore show that tho state of things commercial in the Dominion is far from good. Tho recipient of these replies, is only ono specimen of tne class Of men who: aro not usually included in the term ."unemployed." They make no public demonstration of their need, nor do they apply to the Labour Department for. work, which J they know cannot bo forthcoming. They suffer in recrot and yet struggle to maintain something of the position winch wns theirs in the coocl timee. Gradually they n.ust drop all ontsido enjoymonts, etc., and, alter wooks of fruitless search and cruel rebuffs, they become broken and disheartened to such an extent that/ they lose all trace of sclf-ro.ipect, developing into moro machines that live somehow, but , have > no hope for the future. What can bo done to relieve this • undercurrent of distress? Alas, I know not!. The fncti remains, cold and harsh as it mav be. that a largo proportion of the unemployed nt the present time are not unskilled workers —tho orny-'anded onfs—but will lio foinul anions the well-dressed crowds on tho Quay, and at public functions, etc., where they go in the endeavour to kdou in touch with thoir own class, and yet despairing of ever regaining their places in tho circle in which ithoy are wont to move. To tho average

clerk or shop assistant, a few months of unemployment moans financial ruin—the gradual loss of his belongings and of his self-respect. Failing to obtain work ho goea from bad to worso, becomes shabby and broken down, and so loses all chance of getting work when things do brighten up onco more. During the past four months it has been the writer's lot to come in contact with all sorts and conditions of unemployed, and it may be safely said that not more than fivo per cent. of. tho workless are loafers of the "won't work" class. Genuine distress, moro or less acute, is the keynote at all unemployed gatherings at the present time, and no Ministerial statements to the contrary can remove tlio hard facts. Pulpit platitudes will not fill the hundreds of mouths of those who want, and yet cannot for shairte's sako make their ■ wants known. Soup kitchens appeal to one. class only, and' the ordinary relief works cannot affect any but tho able-bodied worker, leaving the mercantile and- professional sufferers unprovided for. The advent of largo numhors of Civil Servants into the ranks of the workless is looked upon with feelings of horror by those already, out of work. Unless somo change for tho better takes place shortly, there will bo a groat amount of suffering in the Dominion during this winter. . ' ' ■Whatever may be the causes which, have i led- up to the present state of afl'airs, the, fact remains that a chance presents itself for a feat ; of statesmanship far before the Dreadnought offer in magnitude, and one, the carrying out of whioh will earn for some man or men the heartfelt thanks of hundreds of silent sufferers.—l am, etc., > SCOTSMAN. June 12. i ■