A Municipal Solution for the Unemployed
City and county officials propose a public stone yard to provide work for the unemployed and discourage begging.
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City and county officials are finalizing an ordinance for a public stone yard, a project driven by the high number of applications for relief from able-bodied men at the Bureau of Associated Charities. The plan aims to provide immediate employment—breaking stone for road macadamizing—to ensure there is 'no longer any excuse' for an able-bodied person to be idle. Workers would be paid 75 cents to $1.00 per day. Officials also suggest incorporating city prisoners into the labor, keeping them separated from the regular applicants. Proponents believe this initiative will simultaneously improve city streets and curb mendicancy.
“These men all profess to be willing to work, but the bureau has no means of putting them to test only so far as they can secure situations for them.”
This 1892 proposal for a work-relief program reflects a deep-seated historical anxiety about 'mendicancy' and the desire to tie social support to labor. It mirrors the ongoing civic debate in Seattle over whether to offer unconditional services or work-for-support models to the homeless.
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