Spokane 100 Years Ago: This is how local leaders thought the city should curb unemployment in 1921

Unemployment was rampant and the Spokane Ombudsman proposed a comprehensive plan to resolve the problem.

The plan included:

• Create a central employment agency in which all positions are listed and all employees can report.
• Rather than laying off workers, encourage companies to put in place a split-shift plan where employees can work at least part-time.
• Create a “communal logging place” and give employment to “honest workers” there.
• Forcing all inmates to work on the theory that less “lazy men” would commit petty crimes in order to get free room and board.
• Separate the labor exchange from the charity offices on the theory that some workers would not want to ask for work because they didn’t want to look like they were asking for handouts.
• “Do your best to prevent ‘Down and Outer’ from pouring into town and becoming a burden in winter.”
• Prioritize work for “Spokane Family Men” and announce that “Outsiders cannot expect work here until all local men are looked after.”
• When companies have been forced to cut back, they should “seek their help to find out who is the best to rent because there are several employees in the same family”.

The above plan was drawn up by city commissioners, members of the Chamber of Commerce’s Employment Committee, labor leaders and other officials. A commission would be set up to implement some or all of the ideas.