_We find the migratory wage-earner, the wandering citizen, at certain
seasons traveling in large numbers to and from industrial centers in
search of work. Most of these wandering wage-earners have exhausted
their resources when they arrive at their destination, and are
penniless--"broke." Because of the lack of the price to obtain a
night's lodging, or food, or clothing, they are compelled to shift as
best they may, and some are forced to beg, and others to steal._
_For the protection and good morals of society in general, for the
safety of property, it is necessary that every municipality maintain
its own Municipal Emergency Home, in which the migratory worker, the
wandering citizen, can obtain pure and wholesome food to strengthen his
body, enliven his spirit, and imbue him with new energy for the next
day's task in his hunt for work. It is necessary that in such Municipal
Emergency Home the wanderer shall receive not only food and shelter,
but it is of vital importance that he shall be enabled to put himself
into presentable condition before leaving._
_The purpose of each Municipal Emergency Home, as advocated in
this volume, is to remove all excuse for beggary and other petty
misdemeanors that follow in the wake of the homeless man. The Twentieth
Century Municipal Emergency Home must afford such food and lodging
as to restore the health and courage and self-respect of every needy
applicant, free medical service, advice, moral and legal, and help
to employment; clothing, given whenever necessary, loaned when the
applicant needs only to have his own washed; and free transportation
to destination wherever employment is offered. The public will then be
thoroughly protected. The homeless man will be kept clean, healthy,
and free from mental and physical suffering. The naturally honest but
weak man will not be driven into crime. Suffering and want, crime and
poverty will be reduced to a minimum._
_In looking over the field of social betterment, we find that America
is far behind the rest of the civilized world in recognizing the
problems of modern social adjustment. We find that England, Germany,
Austria, France, Switzerland, Sweden and Norway, and other nations have
progressed wonderfully in their system of protecting their wandering
citizens. All these nations have provided their wage earners with
old-age pensions, out-of-work funds, labor colonies, insurance against
sickness, labor exchanges, and municipal lodging houses._
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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