The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1916-10-01
BRITISH INDUSTRY
IS HUMANIZED BY
WAR NECESSITIES
Z Health and Well Being of
Workers Being Guarded
by the State
EVERY MAN MUST DO
MUCH AS POSSIBLE
To Keep Production at the Highest
Level Every Brain Must Be
Clear and Every Hand Must
81, Be Steady

= the making of weapons of destruction |
should afford the occasion to humanize |
industry
!. This remarkable sentence is taken from |
g, the "foreword" by David Lloyd George |
the British minister of war, to a report |
on welfare work. which has just been
issued by the London School of Econonl- |
les and which has been compiled by
% Miss E. Dorothea Proud, an Australian
student of industrial and economic con-
'sditions. 1t is issued at an opportune
time for never has England been more
deeply interested in the Improvement of
industrial conditions and as Lloyd George
points out in his foreword, this interest
u arises directly out of the great expan-
sion of English factory work and the
introduction into it of an entirely new
class of workers, directly due to the
war. The following passages from the
, book show how great change the war
has brought about in the realm Of British
Industry:
q; For the first time in our history
y says Mr.. Lloyd George many firms have
submitted to a general control by the
state; many workers save desisted from
1.-THE endeavor to regulate the supply and
restrict the output of labor. The fac
needs and opportunities arise industrial
tories are alive with new workers; the
/ state assumes fresh responsibilities; fresh
conditions are in solution. ,asss5iH
LABOR is CHANGED
In no respect has the change in our
factories been more marked than in the
z character of the labor employed Men
or all descriptions drawn from every
walk of life, half skilled and unskiled,
have poured into munition works Even
more remarkable has been the advent of
the women. From the shop, from the
Morkroom, from domestic service, many
IL Or them utterly unaccustomed to factory
= or even manual work, they have come
r. in their thousands and hundreds of thou
= sands There has been no reader pa
s~trIotism. And these women, these young |
girls, submit cheerfully to long hours.
= to hard work, to monotonous work so
4 that they may beat the Germans.
: The conditions of their work soon
r engaged my attention. If a maximum
: output was to be reached-nay, more.
III it was to be maintained for a pro-
: tracted period-it was all important that
+ the health and well being of the work.
ers- should be safeguarded. This was
y 1specially the case with;sthess women and
Nyouns people. The workers Of today are
z the mothers of tomorrow In a war Of
workshops the women of Britain were
needed to save Britain3 1T was for Brit
am to protect them,
Mr. Lloyd-George then describes the
appointment of a departmental COM
mlttee to consider the hett,h OF NUM-
llcn workers, 1t was under the chair
1nanship of Sir George Newman the
famous doctor who is CHI ef OF the medi- 4
cal department of the board Of educa-
ton. That committee has been bard at
work ever since investigating condit
tions in the munitions fact ,-ies recon-
mending changes and improvements,
and the result is now that the state
is the model employer for the whole
of the British empire and in many re-
spects for the whole of the world as
We'll. And the welfare activity Of tho
department of munitions goes farther
than the state workshops. Every en-
ployer who is controller by stne de-
partment, or who Is un1ec contract
to it, Is compelled to live ap to tho
state standard, and he is even helped
financially to do SO if this is found to
be necessary.
NO NEW IDEA
welfare supervision, says Mr..
Lloyd George, lis no new thing either
in this country, the dor:nions, or
America. Beginning with view main
ly to the well-being of IT,. employed, it
gradually became eviden. u at welfare
supervision was equally beneficial to
the employer. particularly in works
employing women. If chosen with re-
gard to personality, experience and
character, it was found thai b lady well
fare supervisor could rciieve the man
agement of mass of minor but i'm
portant detail. She heard complaints
and Investigated dismissais. She SUI
pervised the canteen and other accom-
mediation. She helped to engage new
labor. The character and tone of the
works depended largely upon her. Tho
foreman referred to her in matters of
discipline slack work or bad tinekeep-
ing. The workers brought their trou-
bles to her. She became not only the
friend of the workers but san essential
part Of the business organization. En-
ployers and workers alike wondered
how they had done without her
This admirable system Is being intro
duced into the munitions factories. APP
pointments are being made in all national
factories in which women are employed.
Many controlled establishments have sfol-
lowed suit. M
STRANGE IRONY
1T is strange Irony. but no small
compensation. that the making of weap-
ons Of destruction should afford the oc-
casion to humanize industry. Yet such
4 is the case. Old prejudices have van
ished; new IDEAS are abroad employers
and workers. the public and the state.
are all favorable to new methods The
opportunity must not be allowed to slip.
1t may well be that when the tumult
ing Of munitions Is nightmare of the
past, the effort now being made to. soften
asperities, to secure the welfare OF the
workers and to build a bridge OF sympa-
thy and understanding between employer
and employed. will have left behind re-
suits of permanent and enduring value
to the workers, to the nation and to
n, mankind at large
"The most extravagant projects OF
the most progressive employers today.
says Miss Proud in her book, have
their prototypes in some OF the earl
lest mills. Doctors and school masters
have from the time Of the industrial
revolution been associated with fac
tories; works dining rooms. doubtless
primitive and unlovely, were In exist
ence in the middle Of the eighteenth
century: baths in mills were deemed
expedient century ago or more; re-
creation clubs antedate all factory Leg
| islation; and old age pensions and
sick insurance have superseded the
charitable doles of employers prompt
IA ed by kindness of heart or pressure
Of public opinion to provide more or
1 less adequately for those whose lives
4 or strength had been spent In their
4 service. Even the special welfare sec-