The hour for worship came and on the instant the lights were suddenly
turned out. As we stumbled over the benches and chairs, as well as over
one another trying to get out, a man told us emphatically "to go in to
worship [in a very large audience room, which had stood empty while we
were packed in the small one] or get out." The religion or the mode of
worship of many of these men was not after their way, but that made
no difference. As the thermometer registered twenty-two degrees below
zero that night, it was not a very comfortable experience for the
half-clothed men who were forced to walk the streets in search of other
shelter.
I followed them out to see where they went, and just as I was leaving I
recalled the last motto I had read before the darkness was forced upon
us:
"No law but love, no creed but Christ."
Most of the men who sought other shelter went to the saloons and by
the big red-hot stoves kept from perishing. Others went to the tramway
station or the depots, or the offices of the cheap lodging houses.
In one of the Milwaukee daily papers January 2, 1912, I read: "The
first man to be sent to the house of correction this year was John
L----, sentenced in the District Court yesterday to a term of ninety
days. He was begging on Grand Avenue, Sunday night."
The spirit shown in the Milwaukee Rescue Mission, as revealed to me,
was not Christian. The heart of the superintendent of this institution
may be in the right place--I did not meet the gentleman--but the hearts
of his subordinates (at least those I came in contact with), and the
spirit of the institution were not. I heard men in the Police Court of
Milwaukee beg of the Judge to be sent to the House of Correction as a
relief from suffering during the bitter cold winter.
This, my exposition of the condition of the unemployed homeless of
Milwaukee, should not be regarded as a criticism on Socialism,
although the latter failed in its care and treatment of their
unemployed. There are many excuses to offer. An old, rotten political
and social system, four thousand years old, could not be reconstructed
in a moment's time. Bound by City and State Charters and a netted
tangle of City and State laws, it was impossible for the administration
to carry out the fundamental principles of Socialism. That brief
Socialist administration was more one of theory than of practical
interest, although the Fire and Police Departments were not out of
control of the administration except in matters of salary. The good
intent of the policies of the administration are reflected in many
permissive bills which went to the Legislature, in most cases to
remain. Among them are bills providing for:
Men dealing in ice;
Unequivocal right to construct Municipal Lodging Houses and Tenements;
Public Comfort Stations;
An act through to build parks.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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