The Brookings register. [volume] (Brookings, Brookings County, S.D.) 1903-1971, 1918-08-01
EMPLOYMENT FOR
LABOR ORGANIZED
THE UNITED STATES EMPLOY.
MENT SERVICE REACHES ALL
PARTS OF LAND
WITH UNIFORM METHOD Of OPERATION
Depends On Its Success On Publicity
Brought About BY Generous Az.
vertising BY Merchants

From a subsection of a bureau of
a government department, with a
staff of only a few persons, to a great
national machine covering the coun-
try with branches and agents num-
bered by tens of thousands and
charged with the mobilization of
Americas man powerful accomplish
ed in six months.
This e%pitomizes the story Of the
United States Employment Service OF
the Department of Labor-a story that
will go down in history as one of the
country's greatest achievements Of
the war.
The United States Employment Ser
vice as now constituted is old in name
only. the present service really dates
from January, 1918.
The previous nine months had
taught the necessity of a national mo-
bilization Of labor for war production
the Capitalization in a government
agency Of all war labor finding and
placing. Independent and u~nregulated
labor recruiting by the growing war
industries had demoralized the labor
market.
Then came the first of the year and
with it a new order of things. When
in January the Secretary Of Labor
was made Labor Administrator and,
with his advisory council, framed the
national war labor program. the first
step was the creation of labor recruit
ing and distributing machinery. The
United States Employment Service
was chosen as the machine base and
Secretary Wilson directed it's epara
ton from the Bureau of immigration,
and it's complete reorganization and
expansion as the wal labor mobilizing
agency of the government.
And when in June all the produc-
ton departments and boards Of the
government, through the medium of
the War Labor Policies Board, agreed
upon the Capitalization of war labor
finding and placing in the employment
service, beginning with common labor
on Aug. l. and the policy was ap-
proved by the President, the six
months record card of the employ
ment service showed this:
. The welding into a single national
system of all federal, state, municipal
and other public employment Offices,
and the establishment of several hum
dred new Offices.
An increase Of placements from
about 10000 a month to 1000 a
month.
The creation of a labor recruiting
system, known as the Public Service
Reserve, with agents in virtually every
county and township, and with 300, 900
skilled men registered for service.
A system of labor clearances, enab-
ling the sending of labor from one
section to another-from ten to 5000
miles-as quickly as possible and in
a name equitable to the states.
A GENERALIZATION of administration
in the main Office of the service at
Washington and a decentralization of
execution with the state as the unit.
The country divided into thirteen
employment districts, each in charge
of a superintendent; the employment
service system in each state in charge
of a state director.
There are today more than 500
branches of the employment service
actively functioning-six times as
many as existed a half-year ago. Sew
eral hundred more will be established.
Connected with these Offices are ex-
aminers, trained men who can judge
the fitness of a worker for a particu-
lar job. THE right man in the right
job is the services cardinal prime,
pie.
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