The Evening Missourian. [volume] (Columbia, Mo.) 1917-1920, 1918-07-19
THE WAR LABOR BOARD

created by the President, are these:
no strikes or lock-outs during the war
both employers and employees have
the right to organize; employers
should not discharge workers for
membership in unions; workers should
not coerce others to join unions; wom-
en- shall receive equal pay with men
doing the same work; the basic eight
hour day is agreed upon in all cases
in which the existing law requires it;
wages are based with due regard to
standards of living and conditions Of
labor.
For years men have been working
for one or another of these policies.
They were called reforms Now they
are seen to be necessary by the powers
that be for the efficiency of our work
and the production of the maximum
which we desire to produce of all the
weapons of war. For shipbuilding,
for munitions making, for manufac-
ture of any sort of war material, eff
flciency is absolutely essential.
Efficiency in production can only be
gained by efficiency in regard for the
workers. True efficiency regards the
laborer, the worker, not as a cog in a
machine, to be cast on the scrap-heap
when he ceases to function properly
In the manufacturers scheme of things
The worker is the living force which
energies into production all the COM
plicated mass of machinery for that
same production. Without the work
er, the mass would be useless.
Recognizing this fundamental fact,
which entirely changes the situation,
the War Labor Board has adopted the
policies outlined above. They repre-
sent the results of the thinking of men
who have considered the laborer not
as a slave to be driven, nor as a cog
In the wheel, nor yet as a veiled
threatener, but as a human being, a
man. Even'as these men on the Labor
Board are human beings, so they give
to the worker the consideration that
they themselves would wish as human
beings.
A few of the manufacturers whose
thinking is at fault, who cannot as yet
understand the point of view Of these
progressive thinkers, have not yet
fully acceded to the policies of the
board. Under these policies, the en-
ployer has as fair a chance as the
worker, and it is hard sometimes for
those who are not in the position of
employer to realize just why some of
them do not see what is so clear to
most people. 1t is not clear to them
because all their ideas for years have
been of an entirely different cast, with
little or no consideration for the work.
er, and in month or two it is impossi-
BILE to change the habits of thought of ,
years.
The War Labor Board is right in {
its policies. 1t considers both the en-
ployer and employe. 1t considers the !
women worker too, who is a problem :
not easily solved now. 1t recommends :,
equal pay to women with men. That !
is just. One cannot imagine this rec I
commended under the old regime in in a
dustry. It was not. 1t considers the @
standard and conditions of living in q
the matter Of wages. Many worker '
has had to meet the increased cost of
living with approximately the same :
salary he made before the cost of nee :
essaries began to increase.
Much has been written on all the y
separate policies of the War Labor o
Board. Little can be added except t
this: in its attitude toward both the t
and the employe, both wom- v
en- and men, perhaps it comes little .
nearer the Rule of Life which is
taught as the Golden Rule to little
children. Perhaps the world is at last h
waking up to the fact that the do-as- g
by theory is more o
practical than all the other multitude
nous theories of life. S