Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1918-11-03

] oue anu De assured OF perma-
i ment employment at that trade for
the rest Of his life whether the war
| end tomorrow or ten years hence.
The people Of this country do not
! seem to have awakened as yet to a
realization of the shortage OF man
have grown during successive lib
erty bond issues to. appreciate more
| and more the necessity of making
their money available for the gov
| eminent to pay the war expenses, so
must they learn the need for in
| creasing self-sacrifice and unaccus-
toned physical toll. The people must
learn to endure big deprivations in
order to help the labor situation.
Women in this country have taken
ously filled by men, but they have
| Yet to take advanced lessons in this
! regard from the women of England
and France-where the women are
practically doing all the work in
the munitions factories. some three
i gagged on this class of employment.
| The Labor Department officials feel
| that there is wide-open oppor-
tunity for women to do real pa
triotic service in industry in this
J country AS an example, it is point
/ ed out that the big insurance COM
F., panies are still retaining their man
solicitors. and are reluctant to re-
| lease them. whereas women could DO
! just as good job as solicitors, the
federal officials feel.
In order that women may be able
to volunteer for this patriotic in
! dustrial service under the best pos
sible conditions, a special bureau on
woman in industry has been estab-
(! lished in the Department of Labor
| in charge of Miss Mary Van kleet
to determine where women should
be substituted for men and to con-
slider the standards that must be
imposed in making the change.
While American labor has been do
| ing it's full duty in war work-a stiff
and stringent yagrancy law is needed
to make the labor Stacker work a
full forty-eight hours Il week. Just
as soon as Congress gets back to
work after the congressional cleo
tons such a law will be rushed
through. This is aimed at those who
cannot now be reached by the labor
authorities. 1t is to get" the nat
ural idler and the friendly neutrals.
Also the Austrians and the Russians
may now evade the work or fight
law. Milwaukee furnishes an eX-
ample of the evil that would be
cured by such vagrancy law-there
are many enemy aliens and friendly
neutrals who are unwilling now to
work more than three days a week,
and get enough to eat.
AMERICAN ldUoT hHOWS lndl II ID
now getting the highest wages it
ever received. The real friends of
labor are guarding against any dis
satisfaction and unrest that may oc-
cur if after the war there comes in
dustrial relaxation, and with the re-
turn of over 100000 men from Eu-
rope striving for place results in
lowering of wages. Labor is warned
now to appreciate that while they
are today getting more money than
ever before it is question each
must decide honestly with himself
whether he is able to purchase any
more of the necessities and comforts
of life than previously on smaller
wages. This assurance is given to
labor: If in the economic changes
that come the rates of wages are
lowered, care will be taken that the
much with his pay envelope, and that
ne and his family will be deprived
of none of the comforts under the
present standard of living through
competition of foreign labor.
Some Standa rdization of wages is
necessary, the far-seers believe. and
the War Labor Policies Board is now
considering this problem. II is prov
ing complicated and extremely diff
cult of solution. 1t is impossible to
put all industries on parity. The
board must give consideration to sec
tional lines also because the costs of
living vary. An honest effort is be-
ing made to reach a decision after
meeting of the minds of those who
know best the conditions that inf1u-
ence such a decision.
Government officials, leaders in BUSH
ness enterprises, labor leaders and
authorities on social conditions are
all considering an advance plan for
the period of rehabilitation and re-
construction. 1t is already agreed
that labor has nothing to fear in the
every one who desires Do do an honest
DAYS work and weeks work.
The Secretary of the Interior is urg-
ing plan for retaining waste
places of this country as farm homes
for the returning soldiers. All manu-
featuring industries are already plan
ming to engage the services of bright
young officers who have had executive
experience in the war field.
The coming of peace by no means
ends the industrial activity that has
outgrown the grooves in when II ran
two or three years ago. 1t will take
wears after the war for the world to
get back to a normal life. and then
there will he titanic work ahead to
keep labor occupied for the rest of the
lives of all those now living. Not
rebuilt. with the big bulk of sup
plies and workmen coming from the
United States. and by n war-depleted
population. but there is great deal
of restoration work to be done in this
country The railroad systems of the
United States will have to be rebuilt,
and they will be rebuilt to cover
efficiently the entire country, as the
war showed they have not been doing,
and they will be co-ordinated with the
waterways system. The railroads
have to be rebuilt because their rails
and rolling stock have not been Kept
up, through an effort to release all the
steel and other materials for more
imperative needs overseas. A sug-
gestion of this need came from the
railroad administration the other day
in an order that more care must be
exercised in the up-keep of rails and
rolling stock.
Labor in looking to the future finds
work enough ahead to last out the life
of the working man of today. The
child of the working man will also
have no fear of unemployment, and
| through trade schools and a new cur
riculum of industrial education will
| be fitted to take up more efficiently
| his job to keep the wheels of the
world turning.