The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1917-04-03
WILL MOBILIZE
 ! WOMAN POWER IN CASE OF WAR
Plan Placed in Operation by League for Women's N Service

The fisrt comprehensive plan for
 mobilizing the woman power or. the Limited States for service in case of war has been officially approved by the federal government and placed In hctual operation, with the opening in Washington of the bureau of regula- Ition and information of the National League for Women's Service. All ac- \tiyities of the bureau concerning the welfare of wage earning women are subject to the approval of the secre- [tary of labor, who is to name rep Iresentative on the bureaus board or directors.
 The bureau of registration and in- &formation has put down to the fed- Ierad department, of labor concrete proposition for assisting in the mo- bilization of wage earning women IThe appropriation by congress of ap- |proximately $1,0O0, ,O00.000 for pre- )paredness means that the industries which furnish battleships, airsh1ps, munitions and other supplies of war, must be accelerated to meet the de- fmands. But if all the factories and mills are to deliver within reasonable 3time the war orders they accept, they Twill require not only additional raw 3material and manufactured supplies, but they will need aditional l- labor. 5Many of these mills and factories, iparticularly those concerned with the manufacture of textile, clothing, shoes, food and munitions, require a great many women.
 Here is where the bureau of regis ttration and informf on will assist the department of labor. It will not (ftself take a general census of wage earning or leisure women, nor even attempt to keep a nationwide reg listration of women available for spe- cific occupations-an undertaking which can be done satisfactorily, and which the women are seeking to nave ldone only by state agencies that art equipped with the necessary tabula- ting devices and statistical computing machines. But the bureau of regis tration and information has undertak- en to assist the federal department or labor in it's efforts to provide the fac- tories and mills engaged upon gov ernment orders with an adequate sup ply of women trained in the required , occupations. This service is to be rem dered through the supporting organ :, izations.
 ] The members of such supporting organizations will serve the country in the capacity for which they are best fitted by experience and environ ment. Though they may not be able to serve as weavers, spinners, or stlt- chers, etc., they will conserve the in terest of the country as effectively py seeing to it that the women and girls who have had training in these and other occupations and are therefore eDle to go to the Industrial front" can do so with a minimum Of sacrifice for themselves and their families. In other words, when these trained women married and unmar- ried, are asked because Nof the train ing to go to the front lines of industry, for al few weeks or months, the Wo- men who are not trained to meet the
 industrial demands, and who must therefore remain behind the lines, will care for the children and the other
 dependents of the women who have
 gone at the call of tha country into the mills and factories. This will be
 accomplished by day nurseries amply equipped; by industrial canteens
 where meals can be served to the
 men and other members of the fani-
 lies who would be otherwise unpro- vfded for because of the absence from home of the women who were called
 on for emergency service in industry.
 When the war cloud first appeared
 on the horizon of our national life a
 veritable hurricane of pledges of ser :. vice." "offers of assistance" requests
 for official recognition" to do any
 thing and everything within imaglna-
 ton, blew into the several department at Washington from women's organ , izations all over the country. The
 men charged with official respons1- L bilities in Washington did not have time to figure out for themselves just
 to what extent and how these organi-
 zations could render effective assis-
 tance in the business of getting the
 nation ready to meet emergencies. Ii
 became plain, therefore, that if the : women were going to t-ke any prac-
 tical part in the work of preparation
 for defense, it was not going to be
 sufficient to "offer the services of or
 ganizations."
 Acting on this conviction, all , available information was collected
 concerning the governments plans for
 mobilizing labor, for guarding against
 food shortages, wastes and manipu-
 lations, and the resulting evils. At the
 same time stock was quickly but
 quietly taken of the various women's
 organizations which could and would
 unite to supplement the government's
 work in such places and manner as
 the study replaces and manner as the
 study revealed to be necessary either
 because of the congestion of demands
 because of, the conjestion of demands
 ASK YOUR FRIEND.