Tulsa daily world. [volume] (Tulsa, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1905-1919, 1918-06-10
WORK OR FIGHT RULE
CREATES A PROBLEM
Men and Girls Must Replace Soldier
Timber, but Where are They
Is the Question.
FACING A LABOR SHORTAGE

a few more days and Tulsa res
! taurants. soda fountains and cafes
viii have reached their Marne
( There are Just a few days now until
acting under instructions from BRO
vost General, Crowder. all men OF
draft ago working in restaurants
soda fountains, cafes and similar oc.
cupations where women can be en-
ployed must engage in some occu-
patton necessary to the war. or be
inducted forthwith into the draft
army This order will deprive Tulsa
employees Of more than two hundred
men
Some viii replace their men OF
military age with women or men
above and below the draft limits
Some restaurants may be turned into
cafeterias while the proprietor OF
one Of the citys leading cafes, told
"A World reporter he would quit the
business because he found 1t almost
impossible to secure competent help
a a figure that would permit him Ia
continue to make aprofit.
Hotels are up against 1t, too. Sc
are tEeaters, which will lose ushers
and possibly their musicians, accord
ing to the Interpretation that Is
placed upon the work or fight
rule. Stores are also affected
through their clerks.
The problem is a serious one. Even
men are hard to get. employers say
and the men are for the most part
overworked. At least they are doing
more than they were year ago be-
fore the draft system got under way
How "Unessentiais" Feel.
Looking at 1t from the standpoint
of the restaurant keeper and the
"hasher," it is not n ladies jot
the boys are doing. They are willing
to concede that the work is not es.
sential TO winning the war. but they
are insistent that It is a mans work
and is n wear and tear on both mus.
cles and nerves.
Thus there Is a restaurant or
Third street where one waiter looks
after the place during the late hours
of the night and top of the morn
ing He calculated that he walks
a dozen or so miles a day and hardly
ever stops.
"A woman can't do IT," he de.
clared simply, when asked how ht
thought a girl would fit into his
Job.
1t will be n problem to get womer
for the mems jobs. In the last analy.
sis it is a problem of labor shortage
that is being faced. With a millior
men in France and as many more ir
training and extra thousands in gov
ernment service in the new war de.
partments, and the demand for labor
In every industry greater than 1t has
ever been, the "unessential indus
tries and commercial undertaking.
are simply going TO be up against
IT,"
No Relief I'm Sight.
The problem locally will become
more acute when the next contingent
leaves for camp sometime after June
"a. This will take between five hun
dred and six hundred men from
Tulsa. Some OF these are in un
essential work. Most of them are
not.
everywhere buhlIltSH 10 III
with fewer men than a year ago.
Men in all of these occupations
according to employers, are working
longer hours and doing much over
time work.
1--WE are paying them for it," sa.
proprietors. but It's trying on th'
men trying on us. and what face
us now is that within a month th'
men able to do such heavy overtime
will be gone"
Older men or women will not b.
accustomed nor able to work as lonl
hours. though they may be Just n
willing. Commossense tells us the!
will not work as fast. However, thi
fact will really necessitate an In
crease in number of help rather thar
decrease. But statistics show thi
added number of help will not b.
available,
The answer seems to be old mel
and girls, but from all observations
all the old men and girls that wan
to work can do 1t now. II is jus
war condition and must be me
somehow, even to the point wheI
every restaurant becomes a cafeterii
and you sizz out your own coke ant
find your own seat at the movie. O
perhaps 1t could me made a ma
tional wartime Lent Confound tn