Omaha daily bee., 1917-05-29
War and Women Workers
BIZ Frederic J. Haskaa


and children Of America take the places OF men
in factories without waste OF energy and loss OF
health, without wearing out women and killing
babies? The chdren's bureau of the United
States Department OF Labor has set out to solve
this problem by study of Europe's experience
during the war.
The substitution OF inexperienced women and
children for skilled male factory workers has
caused inevitable loss, but it was not this alone
which caused Great Britain and France to estab-
lish commissions for the investigation OF labor
conditions. 1t was because in time OF emergency
the government Of each of these countries has
looked for quick intelligence and found it want
ing; had expected efficiency and been disappointed
and had come at last to realize that this was not
the fault OF the workers. but OF the industrial
system itself. - =
Great Britain's new educational bill contains
number of progressive measures which would
doubtless have been scorned by the House OF
Commons before the war. Moreover. Herbert
Fisher, the president of the Board of Education,
in speech made in Parliament few weeks ago
declared that hereafter it would be the policy of
England to insist upon the education and INDUS
trial training of the masses so that the nation
could depend upon sufficient number Of skilled
and intelligent workers. One of the measures Of
as soon as possible Is the provision for con-
tinuation schools for persons between the ages
Of ID and 49, The attendance of these schools
will be for not less that eight hours week and
will be at the employers expense
In the first place, according to the bureau, at
the beginning of the war in Europe the industrial
world was completely disrupted. Factories sus-
pended their production, hundreds of people were
thrown out OF work and thousands were starving.
Then the industries began to rally, as the war be-
gan to create its extraordinary demand for pro-
duction and finally the war boom set in The
need for labor was again normal-even above nor
mal--but it was impossible to get it. The ma
jority Of the men had enlisted, so the women and
the children had to step into the factory har-
ness. 1t is estimated that there are now 100000
women working in the imunition factories of
France and approximately the Same number in
those OF Great Britain.
But even this was not enough. The machin-
cry had to be kept going night and day to supply
sufficient military equipment and the manufac-
emptions in the labor laws. The minimum age
limit for the employment of children was low
cred in both countries, the regulations concerning
overtime became extremely lax and the number
Of hours constituting a legal working day de-
pended largely upon the Judgment Of the manu-
facturer. @S5.. tsssg
After these conditions had gone on for about
year the government authorities began to be
worried. They were not obtaining the expected
production In spite of the employment Of all
the working population, including men, women
and children, on tweve-hour shifts, the results
1t was then that the industrial commissions
were organized and put to work, What they dis
covered led the government authorities to REIN
force every regulation concerning the minimum
age law the eight-hour day and some new and
very stringent laws in regard to overtime en-
ployment Perhaps the most remarkable results
obtained were those of the British fatigue COM
mission, which conducted an extensive inquiry into
the principal causes OF fatigue, 1n...a
As result the commission reported the fol-
lowing facts: First, that fatigue accumulates
during the day and under normal conditions is
dissipated at night. That is, person, under or
binary circumstances is able to entirely recover
from fatigue accumulated during the day by one
nights rest, However, by the end of a week his
abilityto recover is lessened while his ability to
acquire fatigue is increased, so that one nights
rest is not sufficient Hence the necessity of a
complete rest on Sunday and on Saturday after
noon when possible.
Second, that more work may be accomplished
in short hours than in long hours In other
words, person who works eight hours day is
able to accomplish more than person who
works ten hours day and FIVE times as much as
| person working twelve hours day. This is
because their recovery from fatigue is much
greater, owing to the longer period OF rest, and
they are therefore able to exert greater effort
The commission made the absolute recommended
ton that overtime be abolished from the factories
altogether. In its experiments conducted in con-
| nection with this feature it was found that not
only was the output no greater on account of
extra hours, but in most cases it was actually
less than that produced in normal hours On
some cases where the operation of machinery is
| almost the sole process connected with the out
| put" says the commission, overtime may be JUS
| tilted, but even here results showed that more
| could be produced with second shift" t''
The commission also discovered that home
| conditions, the health of the worker and the
amount of food consumed all had their effect upon
his accumulation Of fatigue, but the main factor
in combating fatigue was rest Concerning this,
it says; Under ordinary circumstances labor is
performed in tasks of definite length, separated
by intervals of rest, Under ideal conditions rest
intervals would be sufficiently often and suff-
GENTLY prolonged to insure that perfect re-
covery should be attained after the performance
| OF every task"