The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1918-12-17

/ mot all, however, have been true
ITO it. There have been profiteers
and shirkers; there have been auto
cratic employers, and reckless work
men, whose principal thought was
to get as much money as possible
for little work.
There have been industrial dis
turbances that have meant the loss
of previous days, and Of precious
lives in France. There have been
some factory owners who have pr
sistntly refused to recognize fully
any right Of their own, sometimes
forgetting even the right of the ma
tion. Such men have declined to
consider the welfare Of their work
men or to conform in any way to the
demands 0f the new time.
Workmen, too, In some localities,
forgot the war needs and gave little
thought in some instances of render
ing fair service. Moreover, profit
eering among storekeepers and land
lords often led to industrial trouble.
"Rent-hogs" were perhaps condem-
ned more than any other class for
taking advantage of the nation in
its hour Of need, 80 = eye lt
All these difficulties have had to
be ironed out. Not everything runs
smoothly even yet, at all times. But
the department of labor has found
that when workmen and industrial
managers are brought together to-
discuss war production problems,
both are disposed to be reasonable.
and that reasonable men can almost
always agree on some definite plan
of action. The business men have
been brought to realize what the
workmen of America are actually
accomplishing, and to understand
that In a good many cases of dis
agreement the workman Is absolutely
in the right. That discovery by the
employers of America has in itself
been Of vital Importance in the war.
program. n.
War imperiling the very existence
Of the state, has rallied the work
man to liberty's defense. It has de-
.veloped spontaneously a spirit of
rivalry that has led to thouands of
friendly competitions in mines in
shipyards and in munitions works.
It has been productive of the al
most fnnumerable displays of the
highest patriotism that have been
manifested in the daily toll of the
American laborer.
One form Of competition this de-
veloped, some experts believe, Is
harmful-the competition that leads
to attempted new records in work
manship. They say that a man who
consciously speeds up his work at
excessive rate, keeping his energies
at top pitch for one full working day,
can do tremendous amount of work
in that day, but tuses -up nervous
energy far too rapidly. The cham
pion workman in some special line,
thev say, is exhausted the day after
and may not for week or more re-
gain h, his ordinary precision and
However, new forms of competi-
tion that are not harmful have
grown up, based on the teamwork
idea. The South Boston quarter
master terminal (army supply base)
construction was productive of many
instances of the kind.
4 Concrete pouring gangs strove to
better the records made by other
gangs, not for day, but for the
length of the job. The gang that
poured the greatest quantity of con-
crete and got its share Of the work
finished first was envied for its sup
erior skill and aptitude and never
had to be pitied for its utter exhaus-
tion after some particularly stirring
feat. The men merely did what they
could without injuring themselves
the work was done as rapidly as
possible without and strain. EE5
Organization and well-directed ef-
fort have had much to do with the
success of America in the war. The
Pacific coast shipyards have shown
themselves leaders in the race to
build ships. There was no feverish
strain to turn out ships on a certain
day; the object was to turn out ships
as often as possible, no matter when
they were launched. tt
Pacific coast shipbuilding has been
one of the bright spots of the war.
The Atlantic coast yards have made
splendid records, but they have not
D00u dUlC W hOOp uP WIN IALCL SO''-
petitors at the other side of the con-
tinent.
= The "Tuckahoe" was long known
as the speed ship" Of the American
merchant marine. Not only was 1t
built in an almost unprecedented
time, but it kept making records. 1t
had barely left one port, apparently,
when 1t had reached the next; and
It stayed astonishingly short times
in port, SO quickly did the crew get
it's cargoes unloaded. J5
Workmen and employers have in
many places shown the finest spirit
Of cooperation. In one big Pacific
coast yard, company officials went
to work with the men to help build
q destroyer that was sorely needed.
In Bridgeport. all the workmen at
one shipyard voluntarily gave three
hours work on holiday to fit a
new vessel for prompt service. In
stances of that kind could be multi
piled almost without limit-there
were, for example, the miners Of the
southern coal fields who gave up
their Labor day plans, those of Gen.
trail Pennsylvania who gave up Sun
days to make up time lost thru in
fiuenza epidemic, and the retired
miners, who shouldered picks again
and went into the mines to do their
ohoro fo thu xuorIx 80