FOR THE UNEMPLOYED
An organization or industrial army of the United States was provided for in a bill presented to the Senate by Senator Poindexter, upon the request of R. A. Dague, of Creston, Iowa. Eligible to membership in the army would be any unemployed man more than sixteen years old. The Secretary of Labor would be the recruiting officer, but an “industrial general,” at a salary of $250 a month, would command the forces. The army, according to the bill, would not bear side arms or fight bloody battles, but would be employed in labor at harbors, forts, government buildings, irrigation ditches, canals and other public works of the nation, state and municipality. Residents in the United States who become members would receive $2 a day, “together with board and lodging,” while those who have been in America less than five years would receive only $1.50. Foreigners who hereafter come to America would receive only 25 cents a day, which would be wrong. We expect from the United States government that ideal justice, even to a foreign workman, which we shall each receive when we stand in the presence of Eternal Justice.
All this shows that the idea of a Bureau of Labor which will help the laborer is steadily growing.