STATE FREE EMPLOYMENT OFFICE. The keeping of such an office by this Bureau is enjoined by a state law which still stands on the statute books; but no proper provision has ever been made for equipping or conducting such a public convenience. A free employment office under state auspices is very much to be desired. To be of any practical use it should have branches in Omaha and Lincoln, at least, or in Omaha and some town in the central portion of the state say at Grand Island or Kearney. The Omaha office could be kept open the year round and be looked after by the Factory Inspectors, with the assistance of the Deputy Commissioner, with one permanent clerk, and the other office could be kept open during a period of two or three months in the busy season, with the expense met out of the general funds of the Bureau. That there is a neglected field of usefulness here will, we think, be generally conceded.. During the past two seasons a good many men, and a few women, have visited and written this office, seeking employment. They understood that the state conducted a free employment bureau; and spent time and effort to hunt up the Labor Bureau, on the top floor of the capitol. All we could do was to direct the seekers for work to local employment offices. The only exception was when we happened to have letters from farmers or business men asking for help. Finding work for idle men, and supplying help to employers, especially on the farms, is a state-help proposition that ought to have serious attention at the hands of the legislature. All of the Northern states, practically, now maintain state employment agencies in the principal cities. Through these agencies men and women are furnished situations so far as possible, and farmers and manufacturers are furnished with help as needed, free of cost. In Germany and some other countries the cities establish, control and support the free employment agencies; but in the United States state control seems to have proven most satisfactory. In Nebraska the law we have appears to have been ignored, except spasmodically, The fact is, that to conduct such an office effectively and make it of service would require a substantial appropriation. When people seeking employment will go far out of the way to seek the service of a shadowy possibility, and when farmers and business men write seriously at times of great need for help from the same source, then a real employment office under the authority and responsibility of state auspice would be capable of rendering much good service to people out of work and to employers seeking help. Massachusets, New York, Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Minnesota, Ohio, are a few of the states conducting state free employment bureaus, with one or more branches aside from the central office. The incoming Deputy Commissioner, Mr. Maupin, can readily furnish the legislature with informing data on this important subject. |