The Municipal Rock Pile: Kennewick's Hard-Nosed Welfare Policy

For the benefit of the man without a job who hits town broke and hungry, the city authorities are planning to inaugurate a municipal rock pile, labor at which will be followed by a good nourishing meal. 'Every cold day now renders more serious the problem of taking care of the unemployed men who wander into town,' said Chief of Police Copeland. 'We are trying not to hold out any inducements which might attract more of the stragglers this way but on the other hand we don’t want to turn away anyone who is really hungry and has no way of getting a meal. The only practical way of telling whether a hobo is hungry or not is to give him a chance to work for a meal. In order to apply this test we are going to start a rock pile and if some of these fellows are as hungry as they say they are, by spring we will have enough crushed rock to improve most of our downtown streets.' Nearly every night this week the city jail has been filled with sleepers who were driven to shelter by the cold. Last night every bunk was filled and several of the sleepers were forced to spread their blankets on the floors and on top of the cells.