The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920, 1918-07-21
Greatest Demand for.
Them Is in Spin
ming, Knitting, Sew
ing and Conserving
of Food
By WILLIAM B. WILSON,
Secretary of Labor.

shows that aside from the making of
munitions the work for which women are
most needed in war industries is woman's
world old work-spinning, weaving,
knitting, sewing and conserving of food.
OF course they are called upon to do it
under modern industrial conditions, in
mills and factories equipped with power
driven ring frames, looms and knitting
or sewing machines. But woman's work
Is the same; only the tools have changed.
The war has given an added impor-
lance to her Dncient task and emphasizes
the responsibility of the Department Of
Labor to see to it that her efficiency does
not fail in this the nations emergency
through lack of effective attention to the
conditions which surround her labor.
In the mills and the factories upon
which the Government has to count for
its munitions and materials Of war, which
have to furnish the Allies in large part
with like supplies, and upon which the
civilian population has to depend for its
daily needs there are about million and
a half woman wage workers. This num-
Der is constantly increasing. But not
withstanding the Importance Of these
women wage workers in winning the war,
there is grave danger to industry, to Ia
Dor and to society unless at the very out
set discriminating control over the mo-
bilization of woman labor in war indus
tries is exercised.
New Industries Upset Market,
The decentralization of the labor market
due to the transformation of so large
proportion of the country's industries
into manufactures of munitions, imple
ments and materials Of war, added to the
vast requirements of shipyards and can
tonments, was accentuated by the with
drawal from industry of hundreds of
thousands of men affected by the draft.
The dangers to labor and to life, as well
as to military success, lay in the over
straining of the regular workers and in
an unintclhgent draft of industrial re-
cr,nts.
Highly essential as a measure of pre-
paredness is a knowledge of the place
women occupy and the conditions under
which they are employed in the industries
most intimately connected with war con-
tracts No less important is knowledge
of the woman labor supply.
1t was urgently necessary at the very
beginning of the war to develop system
of so asserting and collecting the data
involving both man and woman labor on
war contracts as to present a clear chart
of the location and character of the war
industries and the present and prospect
i've need for women labor therein. This was
the Immediately necessary preliminary
to supplying the woman labor necessary
to tie despatch Of war orders under rea-
sonable working conditions, and serves to
guard against evils which viii be difficult
TO eradicate if they arc allowed to grow
until the pressure of war emergencies
makes every effort at correction appear
in the light Of obstructive tactlcs.
Little Known of Women's Share.
So little, however, is known about
woman's working conditions in the stress
and strain Of war that the department has
been obliged to organize its activities with
a view of obtaining the most trustworthy
data in the least time. A great deal Of
attention has been given to this subject
by the Bureau Of Labor Statistics, which
has been gathering facts regarding war
experiences abroad, and the official re-
ports of special committees appointed by
foreign governments to study this new
phase of industry are deemed Of great
value. These foreign studies have been
made in the belief that in dealing with the
subject Of women in war industries the
United States might find help in the ex-
periences of the nations now nearly four
years at war. Studies are likewise being
made of child welfara.