1914-04-16ab

Hamilton City Hall was a focus for large gatherings of unemployed men in the spring of 1914 :

“ ‘We want work’ was the vociferous and persistent cry that was heard around the center of the city all yesterday afternoon and today. The unemployed, to a number of several hundred, congregated around City Hall, and, fearing trouble, extra policemen were kept busy keeping the streets clear.

“Some of the men stated that they were really in desperate need of money. One man said : ‘I was lured to this country with the idea that I could make a living very easily. I have been here now for two years, and since first coming I have only worked as a day laborer with a day laborer’s pay. According to the government agents, money grows on bushes in Canada, and all you have to do is to book passage on one of the boats and come and get the money. I am heartily sick of it, and if I had the money, I would go back home tomorrow.’ ”¹

¹ “Unemployed to Meet in Y.M.C.A. : Rev. W. A. Gilroy Will Be the Chairman : Exciting Time : Promised the Mayor, Invited With Controllers.”

Hamilton Times. April 16, 1914.

While no violence had broken out so far, many of the unemployed were in favor of making a disturbance to draw attention their plight:

“ ‘If we don’t make some commotion they will never pay any attention to us,’ they complained.

“A few of the men did start a yell, but the presence of the police seemed to keep them fairly within bounds. The greater majority of the men were foreigners; in fact more than one-half of the men were olive-tinted sons of Southern Europe. These men did not say a word, but hung around thinking that work would come right up to them.

“The Mayor stepped out onto the steps of city hall for a few moments yesterday afternoon, looked the congregation over and went back to his private office.”¹

The next day, the question of unemployment was discussed by members of Hamilton’s Board of Control. While it was acknowledged that the Corporation of the City of Hamilton could not possibly provide enough work for everyone who needed it, it could make decisions as to who would get the first chance to get what jobs were available:

“No work – no chance of work for the younger members of the unemployed, and advice to them to get out, was the slogan hurled at the heads of the unemployed at this morning’s Board of Control meeting, and the press was requested to act as the bulletin of this momentous statement.

“Only for the older married men, bona fide citizens of Hamilton, can work possibly be found, and possibly not for all of them.

“For the young men who are at present unemployed and have but recently come into the city, there is no chance of employment.²

² “Unmarried Men Must Go Elsewhere : Hamilton Cannot Provide Corporation Work For Men of That Class This Year : Heads of Families and Bona Fide Residents Will Get the First Chance.”

Hamilton Times. April 16, 1914.

It was noted that about 400 men were being hired on a temporary basis to work on city projects.

Sam Landers told the board that he had visited the John Street yard where most of the temporary workers were employed, and there he saw men whom he had known for twenty years, men who had been ratepayers in Hamilton for many years. Landers knew that those men would not have chosen to taken city jobs unless they were in dire situations.

Mayor Allan told those at the meeting that the same situation existed in other cities, and that he was very concerned about what might happen if conditions did not change.

Willoughby Ellis said that one of the city newspapers had stated in print that the City of Hamilton was about to take on as many as 1,500 men, and this article had attracted many transients to the city.

As the meeting came to end, the only resolution that was moved and was carried unanimously was that such statements should not be made in the newspapers.

Some of Mayor Allan’s fears appeared to be coming true when it was learned that two labor agitators, alleged linked to the I. W. W. (International Workers of the World), had arrived in Hamilton :

“If labor agitators attempt anything out of place, it is probable that their arrest will follow. It will be remembered that after the last unemployed demonstration, one agitator was arrested and deported. That will be the fate of all alien trouble makers who put in an appearance.”³

³ “Would Fight for Older City Employees : Controller Says They Must Get Work : Rumor of I. W. W. Workers in Town.”

Hamilton Times.  April 17, 1914

The jobs which were provided by the city were relatively well-paid at 25 cents an hour, but were very short-term in duration. A typical project was the paving of the market area, a task for which ten men were hired but would last barely twenty days.

On May 6, 1914, the Hamilton Times published the following editorial on the unemployment problem of 1914:

“In common with all other cities of Canada, Hamilton this past winter has had an experience which it hopes it won’t see repeated for many a day.

“The present generation hardly knew what hard times were until this past winter with thousands of workless, starving men.

“When Sir Wilfrid Laurier resigned the reins of office to Mr. Borden in 1911, the country was enjoying much prosperity. Hamilton was never so prosperous. The factories were running full-time and more coming in every day, and there were no idle men in the city.

“But this Tory Government was not long in power when a difference was felt. Things began to slacken down, men were gradually being turned into the streets, until lately there has been such a dearth of employment that this city was at its wits end how to meet the situation.

“It will not do to say that the Government was not to blame – that every other country felt the stringency of the times. It is not true. Last year, Great Britain was never more prosperous. Its employers were even advertising in Canadian newspapers for hands, the passage to be paid to the old country.

“Times are not better here yet, not a few of the factories running on short time.

“In these circumstances, the Times is pleased to see that the Board of Works decided to start a lot of work, paving streets, etc., which will give employment to quite a number of men, no thanks to the Dominion Government.”⁴

⁴  “Good News For Them”

Hamilton Times. May 6, 1914.

Two clerks at the Hamilton City Hall, whose duties brought them into daily contact with large numbers of the unemployed seeking work with the City of Hamilton had a unique experience on July 15, 1914:

“Early this morning, the two noticed a young person, attired in ordinary workingmen’s clothes, walking along the corridor to the engineer’s office. The pair of municipal employees rubbed their eyes when they noticed the steps the ‘man’ was taking, and they were even more astonished when, after hesitating outside of the door of Engineer Macallum’s private office, the party turned and asked them where a man could get work.

“With a cap pulled down, the eyes were turned away rather suddenly when the clerks, too surprised to speak, did nothing but stare, for there was no doubt in their minds that the party was a young woman attired in man’s costume.

“The stranger, seeing that she attracting attention, made a quick getaway, but not before a number of citizens had gathered around and agreed with the clerks that ‘he’ was a ‘she’ alright.

“It is surmised that the young woman donned men’s clothing in an effort to secure work She was evidently Polish, but spoke English fairly well”⁵

⁵ “Woman Dressed in Men’s Togs : In Order to Get Work at the City Hall : Disguise Was Not Sufficient to Hide Sex”

Hamilton Times. July 15, 1914.

A city employee within the Engineer’s department claimed that it was not the first time that a woman had tried to get work under such circumstances in recent weeks:

“ ‘I think the foreigners are beginning to feel this depression, and personally I have great admiration for a woman who undertakes such methods to secure work, even though she is taking chances with the law.’ ”⁵