The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1917-12-11
URGES THAT US. ADOPT ENCLAND'S
 LABOR METHODS

.. In the prosecution of the war the United States has been benef1tting from the experience of her allies notably Great Britain. and with re- spect to the labor problem it has been urged that this country follow some of the measures taken by Eng land. Summarizing how the stability of labor is maintained in Great Brit ain, the Stock Exchange firm of w. J. Wollman 6 Co. says:
 Under the Munitions of War act strikes are illegal. The employe or employer responsible for a cession of work lays himself open to serious penalty. The shifting of labor from establishment to establishment has been regulated by 8 system of H. censes. Competition for labor by large part by the Defense of the Realm act, which prohibits both en- ticement of labor and the use of labor in an uneconomic way, such as hold ing labor for future contracts or using a skilled man on a machine which less skilled man could oper- ate.
 "No official regulations exist in England as to hours of labor, except limitation on the time given to work per week by female labor. The mat ter is dealt with by means of agree ment between the unions and the em- ployers federations. The normal hours actually worked in England amount in the metal trades to about 54 to 56 per week for men, and 52 to 54 for women.
 "A Committee on Production meets every four months and considers claims for wage advances and general conditions in munition work. A bonus is then determined upon to meet with as much exactness as possi. ble the increased cost of living. The government requires that all people engaged on munit1on work shall be paid an agreed rate. which is fixed in the last analysis by the govern ment. Other industries regulate their own wage matters. but prac- tically along the same lines. There is no parallel in England to the practice here, where a carpenter engaged on cantonment work frequently gets more than double the regular union wages"
 Regarding the division of essential and nonessential industries, the Woll- man firm makes this observation.
 Broadly speaking, any industry necessary for the successful opera ton of the army and navy is essential In many cases plant Is doing partly essential and partly ~nonessential work. In such a case only that part l of the plant doing essential work is considered to be an essential indus try; but where it is difficult to draw a line of division the entire plant comes practically under the control of the Ministry of Munitions. The ministry has endeavored to keep alive all the industries 1t could, pro. vided they did not interfere with war work
 '@To insure continuity of supplies and enlargement of output for the winning of the war, labor in Eng land is holding steadily to it's tasks. This is the result both of patriotism
 and of war legislation. These things are. necessary in this country. The
 l1IdlLCA ID AAAuSLTdlSO III LIl0 COdI Ill.,
 dustry here. The much higher pay which the miners are receiving has
 resulted in increased difficulties of production for a man will frequently stop work for the remainder of the week after three or four days labor have brought him the wage which normally required week to earn.
 ''So long as the miner Is working on daily basis, this trouble Is likely to continue. The working basis should be extended to week, and a system of contracts should be de- vised so that labor will pledge itself to its task at least for several months at time. In this way definite pro- duction over such a period could be | relied upon.
 Such a plan could be formulated without negiscting the fact that min- | ing work is both hazardous and ex- hausting indeed. this condition has l already been taken into consideration; l working hours are so adjusted as to take into account the health of the | miners. On weekly working basis there need be no interference with such arrangements. Nor would con- tracts for service have to be too long to disturb the rights of the wage earners. What Is essential Is the coal production be not impeded."