Evening star., 1918-06-02

Il 4 a
JUDGE JOHN B. DENsMORE,
Commander-in-chief of the nations
war workers.
hired man, as he saw when he re-
ahead for himself. 4 realized all at
once" he remarked to the writer,
that from eighteen. say, to thirty
five the man working for wages
makes a gradual ascent to the high
est point of his earnings in money
"At thirty-fve. ordinarily, his de-
scent begins almost imperceptibly,
and at fifty he is in the valley among
the shadows, with no chance ever
again of gaining the uplands. where
once he stood shoulder to shoulder
with the best of his class.
"About that time" Judge Densmore
continued Che is judge, or was one
when he was thirty. Il read that
certain large corporations, railroads
notably. were drawing a sharp age
line among the applicants who asked
them for work. Men were old, they
said, at forty, and often rheumatic
and obstinate The Army teaches one
to take care of himself; to clean and
oil his rifle. SO that it will shoot with
out fail and carry straight. l was
only twenty-five. but I had been
working for eight years. 1t occurred
to me that I could best serve myself
! by being my own master.
$50 1 studied law. Lawyers at
sixty and more, / knew, were not re-
garded as being old men. They might
be rheumatic, but the large fees were
paid to them and the young men took
what was left
at Indianapolis. l obtained a clerk
ship in the business Office. and was
promoted at intervals during the five
years of my service in that connection.
In the meantime 1 graduated at the
Indiana Law College.
more than 100000 acres of land
once belonging to the Indians. were to
be opened to settlers in Montana.
Documents. ! saw. would have to be
written, and litigation, of course, was
bound to happen in any new and
striving community. 1 was the first
lawyer to arrive at Poison, which is
situated on Flathead lake, one of the
. largest bodies of fresh water on the
continent. The main chain Of the
Rocky mountains is five miles dis
tant- didn't know much, but the
settlers thought / was competent and
when they asked me questions would
into my law books.
Well. I prospered professionally
ana in other respects. Poison elected
me the first judge of its municipal
court. and hye years ago President
Wilson appointed me solicitor for the
Department of Labor"
When war on Germany was declared
In the spring Of 1917 Congress began
and contracts of all kinds were made
very hurriedly. 1t is said that one
thifd or the war contracts were placed
In one state. that two-th,rds of them
seven-eighths of them were allotted
to eight states. More than half of the
ammunition fer the Army and Navy,
according to reports. is being manu-
factured in one state.
This concentration of business
caused trouble to the railroads and
brought on labor difficulties. The
United States employment service. or
4anized some ten years ago. was re-
organized last January as. quoting
Secretary Wilson's language, 1.-The ma
tion's war-labor mobilizing and dis
tributing machine" Judge Densmore
at once became its director. His ex-
per!ences. as here related. 1t will be
noted, qualified him for the highly
important duty.
Some of the dollar-a-year men, as
they are called, offering their time
sent to serve under Judge Densmore
~ his assistants. They are wealthy,
but they are working long hours and
most enthusiastically.
These men," using the words Of a
ha&tle-scarred agitator. now that
they have studied the labor question
ana understand 1t. have the bug as
bad A. either Secretary Wilson or
Samuel Gompers."
~About 10000 employers are apply
ing to US for workers." Judge Densmors
told the writer. I'VE are placing from
100. 900 to 10000 men monthly. About
$50 men are daily being sent to the
shapyards along the Delaware river.
Many Of them are Italian laborers We
have branch offices in large cities and
at all OF the Industrial centers. where
We work in connection with state and
municipal authorities. The highest
classes of skilled men. as well as COM
mon laborers. are supplied free Of cost
70 employers.
There is no scarcity of labor in the
United States" Judge Densmore went
on to say, nor will there be. In my
opinion. until 1900. 900 more men are
taken into theArmy. But our labor ha 8
been poorly distributed. II there were
Q billion bushels of wheat In the coun-
try all piled in one spot 1t would not
mean that the American people would
hsve to 80 without bread.
'sThe wheat would be moved. That
- precisely what we are doing with
jabo4. When there is an oversupply OF
carpenters in one place we send the
Vurplusage to the region where they
tro wanted.
"a survey has been mads Of tho en-
fire nation. This survey Is being kept
kp - date. We know where the work.
trD are. and we draw from the reser-
So1rs Of labor as labor is required. We
5 IN not send ironworkers from Chicago
10 New York. II a supply can be OBJ
/ her 1armhands from the vicinity OF
bo0ton to Minnesota or North Dakota
stour distribution Of workers Is done
Z. scientifically - that is. economically.
Furthermore, our experts make their
selections most carefully. They seek
fhs men who will fit. II a request is