Norwich bulletin., 1917-07-23

ford, director of the Council of Ma
 tlonal Defense at Washington. D. c
 The letter was written in reply to a letter received from Mir Clifford ask ing for further information as to con ditions in Connecticut pertinent to tho
 priority board discussion. Mir. Gif- ford's letter followed the receipt of a resolution adopted by the state de- fense council strongly urging the es-
 tablishment of a national priority
 board.
 The letter of the council explaining
 more fully it's views .on the need ei q priority board is, in part, as follows: l. Priority Board. The Connecticut council is not, of course, concerned
 with the particular form of name oi
 such board. but is very deeply con
 cerned in the substance of It's duties
 and extent of its powers.~ The resolu-
 tions which the council sent to you
 on June 15 imply very clearly the sort
 of board which seems in this council
 necessary. Our primary object in ad-
 vocating such a board, is to secure
 final authoritative information on tho
 kinds and quantities of production
 which the federal government will
 want of Connecticut. This for the
 purpose of aiding the council to ad-
 just the labor and plant capacities of
 the state to that production.
 To do this a priority board must
 have wide duties. and great powers.
 Nothing else will meet the situation, as we see it here.
 z SnIItlnR or lnduStTN. We are glad to answer, so far as we can. your request for further information on 'ths large shifting of industry here. tho very great and difficult readiustmeut of labor and manufacturing and their inter relations" (using the language of our resolution) which will be required
 to enable Connecticut to approach Ita maximum of military supplies. You ask also for some further specihca- tions thereon. and where we antici- pate the shifting" and whether suck changes have already taken place. AL so. in more detail. what would he neC- essary in re-adjusting labor, and wha; positions" labor would have 10 sur render.
 To answer these questions fully re. quires exactly the information that wt are hoping to get through the estab- lishpent of such a priority board. W. cannot answer them In any complete. ness until we know what production is wanted of Connecticut.
 Tn general terms. however the cast is obvious. There are now employed in Connecticut, in industries directly connected with the needs of the mili- tary establishment. between 100 900 and 15O,0 employees. An increase o' 50 per cent. of such production. woule crease in labor therein or o,o00 tc 75,000 more hanws. A doubling of production (and this is quite conceiv- ably what the government will de- J, more. Much of this labor win have to be highly skilled. This Is particu- larly true in Connecticut's industries whic hare mainly in metal products We cannot expect to get these addi- tional hands in any large proportion from outside the state. Most of them will come from other factories not making munitions, and from farms. Many will be women, entering indus try for the first time. provided we have time to arrange for this. But the total shift will be enormous. and our industries will be sravely dislocated. If we can foresee these changes de- fnitely by industries and localities some time in advance, we can break that shock considerably. IT we can not foresee them, the situation will be chaotic; one manufacturer bidding a gainst another for hands. enormous loss in hiring and firing" of untraiued new hands. and almost certain in- crease of labor disturbaices.
 In other words, you cannot take state like Connecticut and double selected half of it's pro duction in short order. without mak ing enormous labor changes This must be perfectly obvious
 Where these changes will come, what they will be. we cannot tell now. be- cause we do not know. as we have re- iterated what the government wants.
 There is, further, the demand that will shortly come from the farms for laDOf TO CultlNdte ana harvest Lue au- food crops that they have been urged to prepare for. This Is by no means important a s the manufac- turing side. but still it has consid- erable influence, especially because the increased demand from the munitions plants for hands threatens to drain tho farms of even the scant labor that they now have.
 3. As to the concessions that may be a sleed of labor, they are also fairly Oh 1sk union me nto work with non -Uptor men; to work on TOn-unIon jobs: tc set aside union rules as to hours Of abOr in emergency cases: and broadly speaking. patrioticaHy 10 refrain from raising during the period of the war questions which otherwise would bt very proper a s between themselves 1nC cturers as to wages. piecework standards of computing pay. etc. r nav also be necessary to mOlify cer- ain legal requirements as to hours Ot abor in the case of women. in order
 omeet the imperative requirement.: If new conditions in certain industries This does not necessarily mean Sny Owering of the standards of health md welfare. But when an industry las been carried on for generations. under a one shift system, and then under forced pressure. has o go on to either a two shift or three hift system, laws which were entirely ensible for a one shift system are lttefiN lnappllcable 10 TWO or three ilift. and sometimes bring about ex- ctly the opposite of the results in- ended by the law.
 We trust that we have answered our questions with some degree Of atisfaction to you. If we knew what he government wanted. We could an- wer these questions very much more We must answer these uestions for our own benefit, if our ounciI is to accomplish anything Ike 1hat it hopes to in Connecticut. It is or that reason that we have urged riority board.