The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

4 | Ril't . * much to enlarge the opportunities f * for employment. The additions to * the University of Toronto would not have been gone on with this year, | . 6 except for the unemployment .prob-- | $ lem. The money was provided for . the University on the distinct under-- | standing that the work would be speeded up. The number of men employed at Whitbhy Hospital will wmmmmmmemes mm memmmmam be increased as soon as possible, he ; said. Large amounts of money were Unemployed ASk fOl' EmpIOY' being provided for the various Gov-- tor 4 ce >rnment institutions. He pointed out ment, Which Premier * in reply to Mr. Hevey that it was L , « + 3 * i impossible for the .(éo;'eanlm;'mt to step in in Toronto ar ulld houses,. Promlses 'l"h;lat was for the municipality. * mennorman es zes m 4os w wA ¥ Sir William referred also to the L A N N E D extension of the T. & N. O., the work BIG WORKS P to be done by the Hydro--electric | npriguripinid uienss Power Commission of Ontario, and | A te on the highway system. "Toronto| i i is the storm centre of unemployment s.tuatlon at Present cute, in the Province," declared Sir \Vll-" | | liam. "It is where the great diffi-- | bUt Better Tlmes Are in $ culty exists. Men congregate here, | S; ht Toronto cannot absorbh all these men, | % f 'g * and there will have to be a disburse-- | uio Te lenmanprlaraisiong F ment in order to find work." Even ' ftovern! A now the Labor Department had ap-- Co--operation of the Government plications for laborers for work out-- 1 in alleviating what they -- declared side of Toronto. he Pri M R foming an ac nemploy-- In conclusion, the Prime ] inister' was be(om_lm-,. . d,('me U p'kyd said the Government wouid urge | ment situation in Toronto, was aske cA ri C Alllam Hearst and. his Col-- |upon the various departments the of Sir William Hears 1J i the | need for speeding up on all works. leagues by a deputation a y : ' Trades and Labor Council yesterday , jSo;'i:llsts tBusy;h d ot h The Prime Minister, in > out _ two ousand of the un-- afternoon.. The ]"m(', Ministe! [ ; employed; with a few soldiers and turn, toid the deputation that they 'an occasional woman, attended the . were entitled to the co.operation of. meeting ini(;)ueeni'sxi Park prior to | im acpach L4 s at it would the deputation waiting on the Gov-- Fhe Administration, and t:) lt: it v \ ernment. _ As -- was _ anticipated by; be given to the best ability of the officials of the central body of trades | Government. . .unionisfts. htha Sor::iailists took advan-- | r fitati ras sed of 'tage of the gathering to distributo | lhe feputalion MA COMDOSCU: literature. A number of them stood | leaders in the Trades and Labor on the outskirts of the crowd with' movement in the city, who had pre-- bundles} Of pamphlets;. agd later, ive 3 easor : ss a in ; when the deputation left the band---- Viously addressed a e tes mte;ir:)g ¢ |stand to meet the Cabinet in the' Queen's Park of about 1,500, o ( Parliament Buildings, held forth ad---- whom between 40 and50 per cent. vising the unemployed to let® the | were foreigners. The speakers were landlord worry for his rent and the | Mr. Arthur O'Leary, President of zgggi;re).eculator worry for his food in } the Trades and Labor Council; H.~ ' There was a }I'arge squad of police | Met: orkers, Frank i present when the unemployed com--| ;':Wis N thet\iitdlBW_ldm Trades | menced to gather in front of the atkinson 0 e Building r Parliament _ Buildings. Police In--' Mr. Mollineux,.John Sutherland of spector Geddes had with him several the Trades and Labor Council, and police Inspectors, a large number of Wm. Hevey, Secretary of the Trades ?;':t:g:f:r:;nd tfi;':";%lg t?)?)sl:'clgn'we:; and Labor Council. The members of !prepared for any trouble. The th Government, in addition to the : i gathering, however, was of a very Prime Minister, who received the | orderly character. _ deputation, were Hon. I. B. Lucas, |_ _ President Arthur O'Leary of the Attorney--(General, and Hon. F. G. Trades Council; its Secretary, Mr. Macdiarmid, Minister of Public , W. J. Hevey, and Messrs. Frank Works, under whose direction'ts the ! Watkinson, John Sutherland, Thom-- Labor Department of the Provincial | as Molyneux and Herbert Lewis ad-- Administration. | dressed dthe meeting, when it was y ; requested that it move from the Speed Public Works. !front of the buildings to the band-- -- Mr. Watkinson urged the Gov-- istand in the rear.. ernment to speed up the work on Dec buildings which it had been inti-- ' lares Situation Scrious. | mated would \be gone on with this & Mr. Lewis declared that the sit-- season. When employers failed to » uation was serious, and had to be supply work, Labor naturally turn-- dealt with in a serious manner. The ed to legislative bodies to provide a ' unemployed, he said, desired im-- remedy. He specifiecd the Whitby mediate action, and it was useless Hospital as one institution that ' any longer to talk of the good things could be proceeded with, as well * which were coming in "the sweet as the proposed addition to the Par-- by and by." There were many sol-- liament _ Buildings. Replying to diers returning from overseas, and questions of the Prime Minister, the only solution of the problein Mr. Watkinson said about 50 per was a six--hour day and a thirty-- rent. of those out of work were un-- three--hour week with a minimum skilled laborers. Fifteen to 20 per wage. cent. of the members of the build-- Thomas -- Molyneux pointed oit ing trades were out of work, where-- * that the average worker earnedl as the usual percentage of unem-- $750 a year, according to figures in ployed at this timg of the year was _ daily newspapers, during war--time, 6 to 8. Eighty per cent. of the mem-- and that he produced $2,000 worth bers of their union who were out of of goods. Someone was making a work, he believed, would accept huge profit out of Labor, and while! such work as concrete construction. there was unemployment the sur-- Replying to the deputation, Sir plus wealth being held for markets William Hearst promised that the should be turned over to the work-- requested co--operation would be ers who produced it.. John Suther-- given. The situation was difficult land said that the crowd was larger for the present and would remain than expected, and that the trades' so for a few weeks, although he b. -- unions were looking for action, not lieved conditions would then change promises, from the Government: * very quickly. Statistics compiled by mm mm e mm mntimemenmmmmze A the Trades and Labor Branch show-- ed improvement in the situation. In x November, before the termination of / the war had caused a depression, + * labor bureaus in Toronto were able to place 62 per cent. of those asking for positions. In December the * percentage dropped to 45 per cent., s in January to 43 per cent., but in ' w¥ February it jumped to 58 per ceant. and for the first half of March it K was 61 per cent. Much Employment Coming. f on The Government, Sir William said, * wwill be able to develop its works very R e