The public ledger. [volume] (Maysville, Ky.) 1913-1968, 1918-08-01
THE U. S. PUBLIC
SERVICE RESERVE
FURNISHING men
The United States Public Service Re-
serve Is the Recruiting Arm of the
United States Employment
Service.

The United States Public Service
Reserve is the recruiting arm of the
United States Employment Service.
In peace times the great network of
United States Employment Service
Offices thrown out across the country
would probably be sufficient to sup
ply the nations industries with their
required labor.
In war times in few places we
have SURPRISES of labor, and the task
becomes principally that of seeking
out the workers of the proper skill
and training for the waiting jobs.
The Public Service Reserve supple
ments the employment Offices with
10000 agents who reach down into the
smallest village and hamlet, to tap po-
tential supplies of wage earners
These agents, acting under direction
of a federal state director, seek out
workers in less essential occupations,
, and through the employment offices,
: distribute them at the points where
theye are most vitality needed to bring
, about maximum production.
The county director of the Public
Service Reserve, who has immediate
charge of the reserve enrolment
agents in that county, in many cases
/ carvac nc rapracantativo nf tho ITnitn1
States Employment Service in the ca
| pacity of chairman of the Community
Labor Board. The board. consisting
Of the chairman and a representative
of the employers and a representative
Ct the workers in each industrial COM
munity, has general jurisdiction over
the recruiting and distribution of la
Dor in its locality. The question will
| often arise, where n number of skill
| requests are filed by various plants
| for more than the number recruited.
TO what plant or plants should these
workers be assigned in order. to bring
I about the greatest good in the prose-
! cution of the war? In distributing
labor under this community plan the
present needs of an establishment en-
Gaged in war work are considered as
we'll as the priority of the industry
The 10000 agents who search out
men of specified types in every part
of the nation are volunteer workers,
although supervised by paid govern
mcnt organizers who keep in close
touch with them and who speed up
| their activities. Their functions are
| generally to furnish directly to the
army, navy, and other governmental
! departments, men of specified train
| ing; to recruit skilled and unskilled
labor generally for war industries; in
the districts where there are no en-
ployment offices, both to recruit and
distribute labor under the direction
of the Community Labor Boards; to
register in specified trades in which
there will be demand, the men in
less essential occupations, so that
they may be readily available when
needed by the industries engaged in
manufacturing war materials; to as
sist in transferring men who are
working in non-essential occupations
to those industries which are essen
tial, with the least loss of time and
expense; to prevent ruinous competi-
tive recruiting among the war indus
tries, by reporting to the proper au-
thorities any wrongful methods en-
ployed in that respect, such as ac-
tivities of private labor scouts; to re-
port to Washington the condition of
the supply of labor in any given COM
munity, and to furnish information as
to wages, hours, and housing condi-
| lions.