New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-12-15
The Method Employed

The method employed has been the
collection of facts relating to business
conditions directly from business es-
Adjustments, showing especially the
effect of war orders on these con-
ditions; also, those facts concerning
the working conditions which might
explain the status of the labor supply
and the necessity and relative i'm
portance of the calls for labor.
The departments investigation has
been in progress for the past two
months. The views of both organized
labor and employers have been col
lected and facts relating both to taking
on and laying off of labor. Whether
the call for additional labor is due TO
increased business or to the employers
fear that labor may be even scarcer
and that he must employ too many
laborers to get enough" will be de-
termined by the departments inyes-
tigators. Conditions in the war-order
firms furnish interesting statistics
which are embodied in the prelimi-
nary report of the survey.
The war orders firms scheduled IN
the twenty-nine cities employ l6S,44o
people. Twen.y-three thousand and
fcrty-eight additional workers, or
number which is less than Ia per cent
of the existing labor force in these IN
dustries. are definitely necessary. Ihlr,
teen thousand three hundred ana
twenty-three workers are requested oy
one firm which is pushing to RAPID
completion a new plant covering .oFy
acres.
Schedules also show that Of the calls
for extra employees l,40O of the 23'VOV
were obviously not warranted, or at
least of doubtful validity because OF
business conditions or because ot the
existence of labor disputes. About one
fourth of the 500 firms, l2S, are rep
resented in these calls, and, measured
by the number Of their employees, the
call for additional help is equal 10
about a third of the force already on
the rolls of the establishments.
The indu tries making the largest
calls for labor are, in the order named
acceptance and sea planes tine call trJH'
which constitutes 81 per cent OF al the
labor asked b. the 1913 tirms); ordnance
and ammunition; iron and steel cast
iugs and forglngs; mach .nery' seieh-
tifc instruments and optical supp"e
knit Goods; electrical apparatus ana
supplies; chemicals; and trucks ma
motor vehicles. To date no industry
scheduled has called for as many as
500 workers and many are asking LOT
smaller numbers.
Women in Mems Places
As vet there are comparatively few
women-only about 300-called Cor on
he schedules 70 take the places Of men.
These ere confined practically 70 the
Rochester in trument and tool making
firms. Even 'here the call is for men
OF women" The wages offered women
cannot be compared with those onercd
men, except by test, AZ men are Nal9
on time basis and women are ohereu
piece rates.
One Elmira firm, although il does not
appear in the schedule as calling ior
women to take mems places, actually
has substituted 400 women, and by ad-
vertising cards has announced Its IN
tention of substituting l,l0O more very
soon. This firms action has called
forth a vigorous protest from organized
labor in Elmira. because of lower wages
reported to be paid to the women.
AT IS stage of the survey It ap-
pears hat there is more unrest IN
establishments working on direct war
orders than in plants otherwise en-
Gagged. owing to the conviction OF or
ganized labor that the direct war order
firms are taking excess profits.
A remarkable feet revealed by the
schedules is that those firms which are
calling for extra employees and those
which are either not failing on extras
or "layirg off" workers are frequently
within the same industry, the exeep-
tions being a few cases where a firm
has completed large orders and is wait
ing or making adjustments for new or
ders. The condit ons shown in carpet
factories are especially singular. Weav-
ers are being laid off in carpet factories
because the war has caused a sharp de-
crease in the purchase of floor cover
iugs. Yet the woollcn and cotton duck
factories are calling for weavers be-
cause the war orders and civilian needs
have increased their business. Fac
tories making gears and other ma
chinery for pleasure automobiles are
laying off help, while the makers OF
trucks and other service machines are
calling for more labor.
Other industries suffering heavy
losses IN commercial business which has
resulted in freeing large part Of the
working force for war work are the fine
kid gloves, the fancy sweater, the broom
and brush. the typewriter and the high
Grade woodwork industries.