THE MAN, THE BOSS AND THE JOB
Sandburg, Carl
The Man, the Boss and the Job HOW MILWAUKEE, WITH THE AW OF EXPERTS, GRAPPLED WITH THE, PROBLEMS OF UNEMPLOYMENT By CARL SANDBURG WHEN THE PEOPLE are unloaded from the emigrant ships and set foot...
...We've been together for six years," said one of them, "And we're always welcome wherever we go because we know the right time to go...
...These twenty and odd millions of workers come from foreign shores to America the last half century have been led by a shining hope, always...
...Good, cheap lunches...
...Some claimed there were 3,000 while others put 20,000 as the number out of work...
...Jobs for the Jobless ONE OUT OF every five who registered got jobs...
...A number of employers made it a practice to phone the bureau when they wanted men, discontinuing the plan of putting up signs in front of the shop...
...When done, it will constitute the first collection of facts on unemployment published in America making any approach to comprehensive, authoritative handling...
...shoe-shining stands and toilets, are accessories of the German bureaus...
...Of these it is estimated 500 were "repeaters...
...And the methods used to combat the situation may have value for other cities in meeting similar emergencies in the future...
...Into the midst of a sleepy debate in the House of Commons, Richard Cobden one day threw a little stimulant...
...On report cards was placed a record as to each man's age, residence, married or single, children, and whether a skilled or unskilled workman...
...In the fall, we go to the canning factories...
...A general unemployment committee was elected...
...The economic ideal of democracy will be arrived at when every man who so desires and decides will own a Job and have a choice in his Boss, This is a topic engaging the scrutiny of the best minds of civilization...
...In the makeup of this committee, several elements, often hard to combine for effective work, were represented...
...Experts Grapple with Problem A"CITIZEN'S EMPLOYMENT BUREAU" was established and it is the work of this bureau that is one of the instructive features of the situation...
...Came one day to the Milwaukee bureau Four Pals...
...Unemployed musicians made up the orchestras...
...If prices of meat and clothes are steadily going up year after year while "two workmen run after the same master," the nation is on the high road to wide troubles...
...These words are Job and Boss...
...By mail and by long distance phone, these manufacturers and farmers called for men and got them...
...The Man, the Boss and the Job HOW MILWAUKEE, WITH THE AW OF EXPERTS, GRAPPLED WITH THE, PROBLEMS OF UNEMPLOYMENT By CARL SANDBURG WHEN THE PEOPLE are unloaded from the emigrant ships and set foot on American streets, two words are learned first of all by their tongues...
...At this time, there was a furore of wild guessing as to the total number of men out of jobs in the city...
...They are following the drift of civilization...
...Various men reputed for some accuracy of judgment conflicted in estimates...
...Under the newly chosen committee, a public benefit ball and entertainment was given in the Auditorium...
...These are known to have made more headway than America in unemployment relief and the results of their experience was applied to Milwaukee, in so far as practicable, by Mr...
...To obviate any control of wages or conditions in the bureau management, it is proposed that the authority shall be centered in a board having both employer and labor union representation...
...One of the important services of the bureau," says Mr...
...And a Job is to be had only from a Boss...
...In a battered, old building on West Water street, donated by the owners of the Germania building, quarters were opened March 29...
...The needs of seedtime and harvest-time require an army of several hundred thousand seasonally unemployed men in the United States...
...In the winter, we harvest ice...
...King,"is that it saves men this devilish tramping up and down and across the town and over the state uselessly...
...It was always the aim to place first of all the married men having children...
...He had made thorough investigation of conditions in the Empire state...
...The "Citizens' Employment Bureau" was conducted by Fred A. King, fellow in the University of Wisconsin, and an assistant...
...Leiserson had but shortly returned to Wisconsin from service as an expert for the New York state unemployed commission...
...The sum of $1,200 was realized...
...A sharp turn was given the unemployed problem on February 28, when the Chicago, Milwaukee and St...
...The card records of 2,000 men were examined in order to place the most needy and worthy...
...Leiserson is at present finishing his report for the New York commission...
...He said: "When two employees run after the same workman, wages rise...
...The German plan is for all employers in a community to be in connection with the bureau, getting most of their workmen directly from the bureau...
...From the opening of the bureau until June 10, there were registered 3,800...
...Stars from leading theaters gave their services...
...It is the hope of somehow getting a better Job and a better Boss than before...
...Manufacturers and farmers within a radius of 150 miles of Milwaukee were informed what the bureau was doing through the medium of daily and weekly papers over the state...
...This is a simple statement of one of the bottom principles of economics...
...And on a European trip, he gathered all the valuable points of experience which have been gained in Germany, England and Belgium...
...It connects grimly with our old neighbor: The High Cost of Living...
...All of this, of course, is recognized as merely palliative...
...Leiserson...
...The successful operation and methods of the bureau are due chiefly to two men, William Leiserson and Fred A. King, both formerly keen, hard students under the direction of John A. Commons at the University of Wisconsin...
...Incidentally, it is worth mention that Mr...
...It is understood that a big, clean, well-kept room should be provided—call it even a "loafing room," if you choose—where men may wait for developments in their lines...
...It was shortly after this that some tumult of discussion arose in the city and the mayor called a public conference to be held in the council chamber of the city hall...
...Through part of the funds obtained from the Auditorium entertainment, 78 men were placed at street work for the city...
...The wages for unskilled labor rose during the three months from $1.50 a day to $2.00 a day, thus vindicating the proposition of Richard Cobden...
...How One City Combated Unemployment THE MILWAUKEE UNEMPLOYMENT situation has been of particular interest this year...
...To live one must have a Job...
...The Merchants and Manufacturers association, the Federated Trades council, the common council, the county board of supervisors, the associated charities, and the press club, were organizations from which the twenty members of the committee were elected...
...It is one of civilization's fluctuating factors, always grave and sorry, and sometimes terrible...
...when two workmen run after the same employer, wages fall...
...Unemployment, for some years, will be the stalking ghost—the Headless Horseman—of social science and applied economics...
...All men applying for work were registered free...
...In the summer we raise beet sugar...
...During the first six weeks, from 80 to 100 men registered daily, while during May this daily registration dropped to between 30 and 40...
...The Headless Horseman" Still Stalks THE WORK of this year is looked on as a forerunner of more efficient methods of grappling with unemployment...
...Paul railway laid off 20,000 men—700 of these in Milwaukee...
...In the spring, we la up for repairs...
Vol. 3 • July 1911 • No. 30
