THEY ACHIEVE NOTHING

NZ Truth, Issue 1180, 12 July 1928, Page 6

THEY ACHIEVE NOTHING

Unemployed Leaning Too Heavily On Charitable Aid

(From "N.Z. Truth's" Special Chrlstchurch Representative.)

A crowd of men of all ages; they are standing round and about a rostrum on which is an impassioned figure holding forth to his listeners about the hard lot of the unemployed, and, perchance, "putting the verbal boot" into the Charitable Aid Board and sundry social workers. •

HPHIS is quite a common spectacle m 1 Christchurch these days. Men who are out of work — and have been idle, many of them, for monthsseem to find some crumb of comfort m listening to the airy and noisy platitudes of their mushroom-growth, selfappointed moulders of unemployed opinion m the city. Many hours of . valuable time are wasted m listening to the yaporings of soap-box . orators and , then hanging about m groups discussing "the position." But while oratory holds sway there is little time available for getting about and finding work. Talk, talk, talk; much lamentation and criticism, but no work. It is not the intention of "N.Z. Truth" to be unfair m its comments on the unemployment question. This paper is fully aware of the fact that never have conditions throughout the country been worse than they are to-day. . i , „' Distress and dire poverty are rampant, while many families are maintaining a most precarious existence with want and hunger ever at their elbow. The wives and children of the workless men are the principal sufferers. It is for ' their, sakes. more than for the sake of the men themselves, that the work of sweet charity goes ( on. ' ~ ——— But so far as many of the men themselves are concerned, it is a case of: "Let everybody who will, help me, so long as I don't have to help myself." For their own good, "Truth" intends to tell the unemployed as a body tnat if they exerted themselves more their lot m life would be much easier than it is at the present time. , There is far too much time wasted m attending useless meetings and passing resolutions that achieve nothing. Such methods of filling m time never yet found jobs for men— and never willThe only object they can possibly achieve is to keep public attention focussed on the fact that there are many men out of work whose wives arid families are hungryThat such a state of affairs is possible m a young and flourishing Dominion such as this, is scan-. dalous. The present situation has come about thro'tyrh the folly of the Government's immigration policy, heavy importations from foreign countries, and economic factors which govern the social life of a nation. . . The problem is very largely due to maladministration on the part of the Government, which can only offer a solution m terms of relief work m the way-backs at nine t : shillings per day for single men and twelve shillings for married men. "Truth" readily concedes that the offer of such rates of pay is sheer exploitation" of the unemployed, (but while granting all this it must be remembered that Coates- is .mighty and wilL prevail — until November, at any rate. : Hot-air criticism of the Government will not feed hungry mouths, nor will it keep boots from wearing out or children from shivering before fireless grates. All the talking and protesting m the world will not shift the Coates Government from its policy concerning relief -work rates of pay. The sooner the unemployed realize this and decide whether or. not it is better to have half a loaf instead of no bread at all, the better for all concerned. • If a man is out of work and hungry, he has no right to refuse work which he is capable of performing, simply because the rates of pay are not up to trade union standard. The unemployed have a right to protest against exploitation of their position by the Government or anybody else, but the claims of, hungry wives and families are " greater than .the slavish adherence to a political or trade union principle. It has been argued more than , once =_• 1 1 1 rll n 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 ! 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 f 1 1 1 1 1 1 n 1 1 1 1 1 v 1 1 1 v 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 n 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 ] 1 1 1 1 1 1 ( 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 ii ) 1 1 1 1 1 ni r

Windy Resolutions

Taking Pot Luck

that it "does not pay" a man to go out into the country on Public Works Department relief work at the rates of pay offered, owing to the fact that after a man has paid for his own food, allowed for lost time through wet weather and so on, he has little— if anything — to send home to his family. There is some logic m this, objection, particularly at this time of the year, but the objection m many cases is being used as an excuse to stick around the city and . take "pot luck" with, charitable aid. Recently a prominent, business man m Christchurch carried out an interesting test, the results of which he communicated to "Truth." He secured a list of "the most deserving cases" m Christchurch and distributed grocery orders to them. He also heard the hard luck tales. One man, whose wife and family had nothing m the house, had actually been i offered a job a little way out of the city, but had turned it down because he had no blankets to take away with him. '.■.••■:. ' He evidently did not think that he could easily have obtained a pair had he gone to the proper quarter for them— with such a good excuse as that he. wanted them as he had work to go to m the country. Another man. "cashing" m on his order actually wanted the grocer to deliver the parcel. When he was informed that this could not be /done,. r~ he .grumbled about the distance he had to carry the goods to his home! And this one of the "most deserving cases." The trouble with the majority of the unemployed to-day is that they are leaning too much on "charitable aid. A little more, self-help would go a long way m improving their circumstances. This paper .is out %to help the unemployed ta help themselves— which is the best and most practical form of charity. . .. ; There are many ways m which it can be done. For example, there are millions of windows m Christchurch, -'. thousands of which require cleaning. But how many men out of work m the city have ever thought of arming themselves with cleaning rags and calling at every house m a residential street? ; Window- cleaning is a job that most housewives detest and avoid if they can get somebody else to do it. What a chance here for the workless" man who is more enterprising tnan to hang about meetings passing resolutions! How many lawn-mowers need sharpening; how many housewives— and husbands,; for that matter — would willingly pay a man two shillings to have a week's sup- * ply. of kindling wood chopped? Possibilities, these, which the unemployed as a body have never thought of , but :a. .systematic. door_-to-doo- • ayr peal ;would no doubt ;be = so successful that the enterprising man would be m •. ■a -position to build up a regular clientele. .' . ..-■..- Then, again, the thousands of chiru- • neys that need sweeping at this time of the year— and how few sweeps there are. • Can any man say that these avenues of effort are closed to him because he has not the money to buy the equipment? ■ + ' The most costly would be the chimney brushes, but application to the proper quarters would soon overcome this difficulty. Better to pay for brushes than for a benevolent society to pay out indefinitely m relief for a man who is willing to help himself. If the unemployed are as anxious lor woijk as they lead the public to beliewe they are, let them stand on their own. feet /a little more and try out the suggestions outlined above. If they are real go-getters, they will no doubt find that cleaning windows, chopping wood and sweeping chimneys keep them so busy that they will have no time fer idle talk and florid criticism of the Government and. the Charitable Aid Board. iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiniiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiniiiiuiiiiiiiiiiniiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiitii(iiiiiiimiiii€