New Britain herald., 1918-12-13
INDUSTRIES BOARD
 HAS MUCH ID DO
Will Play Prominent Part During
 Reconstruction Period


 task of internal reconstruction after the war, the War Industries Board seems certain to continue in existence and play large part in the trans formation of war manufacturing back to peace time production. This is one feature of the governments program for easing the nations business from the pitch of war to the pursuits of peace without convulsing it in the process. In a sense, the program is tentative. because it's formulation has just begun. Nevertheless the planning for peace is giving all government agencies in Washington these days material for as systematic thought as the prosecution of war.
 Industrial reconstruction, next to demobiization of the army, is pro-
 bab1y the most important phase of these plans. How to stop the manu- fracture of shells, of guns, of army and navy supplies. without stopping the industrial wheels which made them, and to furnish new work for these wheels, Is a problem which agencies of the War Industries Board will be called on to solve. This means that the hundreds of industrial and com mercial leaders who have been called to Washington will have to continue their services for essential peace work or substitutes for them to be found. Manufacturing plants which now look to the War Industries Board for assistance in obtaining materials and which in turn comply with the force- full suggestions of the Board, even- tually will call on some government 1 agency to guide them during the pro- | cess of facing about toward peace
 production. The War Industries Board l is the only agency equipped with the
 machinery and supplied with the in formation to give this guidance. For 1 that reason, the officials in closest touch with currents of ideas within l the government insist that the War l Industries Board will continue in existence indefinitely after the war re- 1 gardless of when the war ends. 1 Officials intimate that means will be 1 found of continuing the current plans l for eliminating strikes, of giving la l bor greater voice in the management
 of industrial plants, and of extending
 both labor and trade federations to 1 promote collective bargaining. They suggest that the government through the War Finance Corporation, may aid in the conversion of industries from war to peace footing, reversing
 the existing priority of war enter
 prises. Railroad transportation, in dustrial production and ocean ship
 ping must be co-ordinated and super
 vised for a, few years after peace
 comes as they have been during the
 war. in the opinion of government leaders. Employment agencies, uni- versit1es and schools, churches and other social organizations must CO.,
 operate to facilitate the placing of
 returned soldiers in the occupations where they are best fitted and most needed
 To do all this it is the belief in many continue to function for an 1ndeh-
 most gowernment agencies which
 have sprung up during the war must continue to function for an 1ndef1n- mite time afterw,1rd. These include the War Industries Board, shipping
 Board; War Trade Board. Food and | Fuel Administrations, War Labor
 Board and the War Labor Policies Board, mum erous divisions of the | Council of National Defense, War Fi- 1 nance Corporation, and many other connected agencies. The Railroad 1 Administration has 21 months to live l after peace is signed, unless future 1 legislation should change existing
 plans for restoration of railroads to l private control. The Red Cross, Young 1 Mems Christian Association. War
 Camp Community Service, and sirni-
 lar institutions will have big work to 1 perform In conjunction with the gov ment long after the war IS over. l Tn realization that the question of ! how to accomplish all these compll7
 cated matters will be as big questlqn