The movement which resulted in the formation of the committee began with a series of public meetings " of idle men whose express purpose was to attract public atten tion to the need, then rapidly becoming more and more distressing, of working people who had been out of employ ment for several months." I At one of these public meet ings a committee was appointed to appear before the directors of the Commercial Club, and a special committee was appointed as a result of this appeal. This special committee submitted its report to the directors on Novem ber 14, emphasizing the idea that relief should be given in a way that would enable recipients to earn it ; that as a first step there should be an appeal to citizens to give employment wherever they could, however little it might be. The methods suggested were : I. Registration of unemployed.
II. Efforts to secure temporary employment for them through public contracts and such work as could be pro vided by citizens.
.HI. Leniency toward worthy persons known to be ullable to meet their obligations for rent, to building associations, etc.
IV. Protection to home laborers from an influx of outside workingmen seeking employment.
V. The establishment, when it became necessary, of a place where substantial food could be bought at a nominal price.
The report was concurred in by the directors of the club, a public meeting of the unemployed, and the mayor. The special committee was continued as a permanent com mittee to carry out the recommendations which had been made. The committee held daily sessions, and at the out 1 Report of Relief for the Unemployed in Indianapolis, 1893-1894, from which report the present account is condensed.
set much time was consumed in "explanations to inter ested persons who had mistaken ideas, and conferences with representatives of the unemployed, whose misunder standings needed to be dispelled."' There was later a series of public meetings, conducted by men who were not identified with the beginning of the movement on the part of the destitute unemployed, and whose efforts were directed to creating dissatisfaction and ill feeling ; but, although annoying, these meetings had little perceptible effect.
At first it was announced that contributions for relief were not desired, and efforts were directed mainly to procuring employment. In the meantime, the committee representing the unemployed, chosen at one of their public meetings, had undertaken to provide relief until the per manent committee could take up the work. They were, however, asked to discontinue this when arrangements had been made by the permanent committee for the relief of destitution through the agency of the Charity Organi zation Society. The report of the committee says that
"in asking the society to temporarily take up this part of the work the committee desired that the ability of the organized agencies for the relief of distress should be tested before proceeding with other plans. The usual methods of charity work were not applied to the unem ployed class who were referred to them." All cases of need which were thereafter reported were looked after by the Charity Organization Society, which expended about $4000 in such emergency relief. The committee pledged itself to reimburse the treasury of the society, so that it would not be without funds to carry on its usual charitable work during the remainder of the year. This enabled the committee to supply food where necessary, without mak ing an immediate public appeal for that purpose. Any effort to raise funds by benefits on a percentage basis was discouraged.
Four days after receiving instructions to proceed to carry out the plan which had been outlined, the com mittee opened an employment bureau in the basement of the Commercial Club building. It was the intention to make registration in this bureau a basis of the further work of the committee, and an application for employ ment was regarded as having some significance of worthi ness as well as of need. Applicants at the Charity Organization Society, who had not registered at the bureau, were sent there to give some evidence of willing ness to work before relief was given ; and, on the other hand, the bureau referred to the society those who, in registering, stated that they were in immediate need. In the first month between fifty and sixty registered on an average each day. Temporary employment was procured for about one-fifth of this number. The relief afforded in this way, although not less than was anticipated, was inadequate. It was demonstrated, among other things, that the " dependent class was largely composed of per sons who were the first to be discharged when labor was not required, and the last to be employed when it was needed." While the need of relief was thus being demon strated, steps were taken to arrest tramps and to send them to the workhouse under the vagrancy law, where a stone pile was provided as a means of furnishing work. Gradually, as the public began to realize the extent to which they were being imposed upon by tramps pretend ing to be unemployed men in need, the enforcement of the law became more strict. The mayor and board of public works promised assistance in requiring the speedy construction of sewers, the repairing of streets, etc., but on account of unfavorable weather and other reasons little relief was experienced from this source.