New Britain herald. [microfilm reel] (New Britain, Conn.) 1890-1976, 1918-04-17

able wear and waStage of the fight
er's life But the necessity Of sup
plying the actual needs of the civ
ilian population is inescapable and
! renders it essential that a part of the
| army Of trained labor be detailed to
the work of "home Defense
Because of these facts the people
are urged and prodded to dispense
with luXuries, to save, and to sacri-
flee. The facts furnish compelling
! argument in the thrift campaign.
They do more than this-they lay
pare to the dullest eye that in this
time, when every man drafted or en-
listed not only counts as the equiVa~
lent Of three to six normal consum-
ers, but counts one out of the ranks
| of producers. Factory and mill
trained women become such an as
set in the winning of the war as to
demand the DEVELOPMENT of a
t1onel policy of modelling, recruit
| ing, and conserving their forces. The
, facts lay bare the folly of trusting to
| the peace-time method of labor dis
, tribution and wornan-labor suhstitu-
/ ton when the draft and Billion dollar
! demands of the war upon industry
| have rocked and rolled the last YES
! tige of pea ce-time conditions out Of
| the labor market. IF in peace times
the textile mills of Rhode Island get
the labor away from the textile mills
Of Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania
mills lure it away from both, the
! penalty paid Is lost time and an in
| road on the sustained earning power
| of the wageworker and an increased
| price to the consumer. But when
| there is a war to win and a, nation to
sustain and allies to provision, all at
| nd hy-f
tries, calamity impends unless there
| is an assured and not a probable.
| a stable and not a shifting, supply
| of the requisite labor. Whether the
Nation will have It depends upon
whether a national wartime policy of
| labor mobilization and woman-labor
substitution is developed.
Only by the development of such a
policy can there be any assurance
that men not qualified for military
service and engaged in nonessential
Industries and the hundreds Of thou
sands of mill and factory trained wo-
men are engaged under efficiency
producing conditions on work for
which they are best fitted. Only by
developing a national labor policy Of
labor distribution can there be any
guaranty that labor recruiting and
training among wageIess women are
done in response to an accurately
measured need for increasing the |
number of women in long-esta bl1shed
occupations or for forming new divi- |
sions Of the industrial army to take |
over sectors Of the industrial line now
held by men who will be needed for |
military service or for industrial ser
vice that can not or should not be
performed by women except as last
resort.
AS the war progresses. filling up the |
depleted ranks Of men in the basic
industries will mean readjustments Of |
labor forces in other war industries |
whose requirements are such that |
woman labor is available for neces- |
sary substitutions. IF these substitu |
tons and dilutions are to proceed |
wisely they must proceed in response |
to the Nations needs in the war and |
with minimum hurt to the Nations |
welfare in peace.
But to put a national labor policy |
into effect requires an able, agile, and |
highly organized Federal agency; for |
this agency must in addition to rem |
dering Immediately and widelyS avail |
able information concerning the effect |
of the draft and war orders on war
and other essential industries, find |
available supplies of labor, provide |
for transportation and housing, Sc |
cure the cooperation of employees |
and employers in developing reason |
able standards Of war work, and |
make labor substitution and di1ution |
experiments in consultation with tho |
manufacturers and workers con- |
cerned 1t must recruit and train or |
secure the requisite training of won- |
en- as the draft outstrips the supply of |
men disqualified for military service |
and as the experiments in labor sub |
stitution warrant.
These and scores of other equally |
important things national war-win- |
ming labor agency must do. To build |
up such an agency requires money; |
and while we voted billions for the |
mobilization of the Nations fighting |
forces, and billions more for mar |
shaling the material resources for |
their equipment, not an additional |
dollar was given for the mobilization |
Of the requisite man and woman Ia
Dor for war industries until nearly
six months after the entrance of this |
country into the war Then the De-
partment of Labor received an addi-
ton of a million dollars wherewith |
to discharge its war responsibilities. |
With this money the Secretary OF
Labor has enlarged his departments
employme nt service TO wartime d.
mansions. But the comprehensive
wartime labor policy which he has
developed can become effective only
as Congress supplies the needed
funds.
We have not been njggardly in sup |
plying the money needs Of the war. |
The million given to the Department
Of labor ONLY measures the extent to |
which the Nation has awakened TO !