The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1918-02-05
DISTRIBUTION OF LABOR SUPPLY OF
 COUNTRY PROBLEM
No Shortage, Butte Adequate Means of Apportioning
 Labor is Lacking.

New York. Feb. 5-That the pres ent chaos in the labor market is due not to so-called labor shortage but to the lack of an adequate system for distributing the available labor sup ply to meet the need of rapid and sustained production of war mater ials, is the declaration made in the third Special Bulletin on Labor Laws in War Time" just issued by the American Association for Labor Leg islation.
 "In some industries there is a dearth of labor; in others an over-supply," the bulletin states. "The war work of the government is being seriously hampered because a comprehensive system of labor distribution has been lacking in this country"
 President Wilson's reorganization of all labor placing activities of the gov ernment into a single bureau under the Secretary of Labor is termed liar reaching emergency action which points the way to the legislation that is necessary to put such service on an adequate permanent basis" and pass age of the Robinson Heating bill, now before Congress, is urged to extend and unify all labor exchange work of the government and provide ''the ma- chinery and funds not only to mobilize our labor population for war strength, but also to make possible the re-ab- sorption of the fighting men back into industry with intelligent voca- tional guidance and without coufus- ion, as well as insuring the continued stabilization Of the labor supply to meet the growing industrial require ments of the future.'
 In such a unified federal employ ment service, according to the asso- citation. lies also the necessary first step in solving the ever-recurring problem of unemployment:
 Maternity insurance, such as our allies have adopted for the protec- tion of working mothers and their babies against avoidable suffering and impaired strength, is declared to be a need accentuated by the entrance of a large army of women into both heavy and light occupations to re- place men serving in the fighting forces.
 Many occupations hitherto regard ed in this country as exclusively men'S 8 work" the bulletin states, have been thrown open to women workers by many employers in this emergency. They are in railroad office, shop, and track work, in munitions factories, in elevator and messenger service, in farming, in street car operations. in manufacturing establishments filling government contracts. Thousands, thus engaged, will become mothers. All are potential mothers. The pro- hibition of the employment of women immediately before or after child- birth, now being urged by the Com- nittee on Women in Industry of tho Council of National Defense to protect our human resources, will not serve it's full purpose unless accompanied by maternity benefits to tide over the loss of earnings at the time when most needed"
 The orders of the Chief of Ordnance and the Quartermaster- General call ing for the observance of protective standards for labor in war industries are commended in the bulletin as "among the most enlightened official human documents ever issued by any government either in war or in peace," and the Soldiers and Sailors Insurance Act as lone of the most significant of all measures of social in- surance."