Arizona republican., 1917-12-31
LABOR EXCHANGES ARE URGED AS
 WAR NECESSITY

PHILADELPHIA, Dec. BOA com- | prehensive system of public labor eX- changes, centering in the federal gov ernment, as a pressing var necessity, was urged by the American Associa- tion for Labor Legislation, meeting jointly with the American Economic association and the American Farm Management association at the Uni versity of Pennsylvania ampitheater.
 Effective mobilization of the labor supply to Aleet wars demands upon factory and farm was urged by Henry R. Seager, secretary of the United States shipbuilding labor adjustment board; Professor NJ. E. Hammond. of Ohio State university, and E. V. WD- cox, of the United States department of agriculture.
 Quite as important as mobilizing the actual army is mobilizing the in- dustrial arIAy needed for the produc- tion of the food, munitions, aeroplanes, and ships, we must have to win the war, declared Professor Seager. For the one we have resorted to the draft; TOT the other we must rely upon the appeal of wages fairly adjusted to higher living costs, of decent and safe working conditions, and of patriotism. To these the hundreds of thousands of workers needed will respond, provided machinery is created to connect them with the war industries. This calls for an efficient coordination of federal state and municipal public employ ment bureaus
 Essential features of such a plan, according to Professor Seager, are the expansion of the federal employment T as to be the official employment agent of our war industries; hearty CO., operation on the part of the state and municipal employment bureaus with the federal system unified and strength ened by a federal grant in aid of these bureaus; and the establishment of in- terstate clearing houses to. draw to- gether wherever needed all of the labor resources of the country.
 Through such a system, and only | through such a system,' he said, "can | it be determined whether we have plenty of workers for the war indus tries as is claimed by labor leaders or whether wholesale dilution of labor through the employment of unskillet men or women and of children, in place l of skilled craftsmen, as claimed by 1 some employers, will be necessary. How England grappled with tn, problem of the distribution of labo when war broke out, and the "chie means by which this problem hal found a solution" was discussed b, Professor Hammond. When the wa Is over and review of the means by which victory was secured is possi ble,' he said in his address on lesson from English war experience in tn employment of labor, T venture to sa, that there is no piece of pre-war ad ministrative machinery for whicl Great Britain will be more gratefu than for her system of labor ex changes"
 Although fortified with an efficien employment service system at the out set, England was nevertheless con fronted on every hand with problem
 of labor mobilization similar to thos
 now disturbing the United States. ac
 cording to Professor Hammond, in
 cluding women's advent into men occupations" the entrance of skille workmen into the fighting forces-an the necessity of withdrawing the,
 later to assist in the output of muni
 tlons-the maintenance of protectiy standards in the interest, both of hu
 man conservation and of maximum an
 sustained output, trade agreement
 between the government and the labe . unions, and the announcement of vo untary service on the part of the 1T
 dustrial army rather than the adoptio , Of measures of compulsion.
 It is obvious" concluded Professt
 Hammond, in summarizing England
 war emergency measures for industri strength. that everything which tent : to conserve our industrial efficiency
 as important as a means to the end. the winning of the war-as that whit
 promotes military efficiency" , If farmers are to secure necessa-
 help in planting and harvesting SC, f sons to insure feeding the world according to MT. Wilcox, efforts mu
 be promptly directed toward effecti
 labor placement so that the full ma = power of the nation may be availat C Tor both manufacturing and agricu [, ture.
 r Further appeal was made for 5 nationwide employment service - the discussion by Charles B. Barn,
 director of the New York state bure, v of employment; Rex E. Willard, of t ? United States department of agricr fl ture; Morris l.. Ernst, manager of f = New York state clearing house f
 employment offices, and Frank AT or the New Jersey Agriculture collef
 n