Evening star., 1917-11-06
LABOR Of AMERICA
TO Be Modified
Government Taking Steps to
Supply Essential Industries
With Workers.
DRAFT NOT CONTEMPLATED

| The government is taking three i'm
portant steps to mobilize skilled and
unskilled labor for the industries es-
isential to a successful prosecution of
! the war.
! This activity is going on quietly,
| some of it yet in forma tive period,
| though in peace time it would attract
as wide attention as some of the other
innovations of war time, such as price
fixing and control Of distribution.
Before outlining these efforts it is
necessary to avoid two general miscon-
ceptions. Conscription of labor. in the
sense of drafting men for Industrial
work just as soldiers are drafted for
the trenches. is not contemplated. No
high official of the government has been
found who seriously advocates such
step.
"Slackers'' Not Numerous.
Neither is the government going to
accomplish a the practical results OF such
a conscription on the theory that any
considerable proportion of the labor
ing men of the country are now ciassea
as slack Occa sionaily war prep
arations have been hindered by strikes.
walkoutS and miSunderstandings But
call for national service Loyalty, and
the best proof of this is that the m
dustrial machinery of the country has
attained a scale Of production hitherto
unheard of. This country is now pro-
ducing scale of magnitude that lar
exceeds any previous records
With these facts in mind, the steps
about to be undertaken by the country 10
employ it's labor more efficiently and TO
increase further the output of shipyaTds.
factories mines and all other Industries
are summed up by one government o1ncial
as follows:
| The Department of Labor is about to
undertake a survey of the labor neeos OF
employers. and of the labor available fcr
! those needs. All statements about labor
| shortage now are pure speculation. Ihere
| is absolutely no basis on which to make
| any general approximation of this snort
| are except by pure guesswork mere
| fore. the Department of Labor is going 10
| seek to determine the extent of this short
| age.
Plan to Shift Workers.
! Secondly. machinery is being built up.
/ through the expansion of the United states
employment service and the United states
public service reserve, by which workers
gradually will be shifted from employ
ments less needful in war times to those
| industries which are regarded as essential.
| Thirdly, the Classification of the men yet
| to be called to the colorS under the draft
law is being made along lines which not
only leave those workers VINO are neeueQ
/! in the industries at home, but which make
| it to their advantage to engage in work
approved by the government
i The net result Of these three efforts will
amount TO a drafting of labor for war
| time work. without any of the odium.
discomfort and practical difficulties en-
tailed by actual conscription Incidental
ly. labor leaders and government officials
were strongly advised by members of the
British labor mission which came to this
country not to seek to conscript labor. The
Englishnlen stated that efforts toward
such conscrption. undertaken on linn
tied scale in Great Britain. had shown
themselves futile.
Ways in which these three steps will
be taken are simple. The ascertainment
of the labor needs of industries and the
supply available will be made through
the government inspectors on United
States contract work. Every govern
ment department. bureau or agency
either has been will be asked to have
inspectors on this contract work report
to the Department of Labor exactly
how many men already are employed
on this contract work and how many
more are needed. Such statements al
ready have been made by employers
but these statements are discounted by
the natural tendency of employers to
exaggerate the number of men avail
able before they get contracts and to
minimize the number they can get aft
erward.