The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1918-12-28
TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
INFORM ALTON
BUREA
FREDERIC J. HASKIN, Director.
Washington. D. C.
LABOR STANDARDS.
D. c

out the war the government used its
influence to insure certain standards
of comfort and safety for the work
men in the factories which executed
war contracts. Factory owners in
general co-operated enthusiastically.
for these higher standards promoted
efficiency. But now that war con-
| tracts are being cancelled, the power
of the government to suggest and ad-
wise in this matter is at end.
The whole matter of labor stand
ards now rests with the states. Will
those states which have few or no
labor standards create, new ones. and
will the states that have admirable
labor standards enforce them? These
are questions now being debated by
those interested in the success of
American industry, in the smooth pro-
gress of reconstruction, and in the
resolutions passed by the recent an
nual conference of governors. which
have not yet been made public.
The department of labor at Wash
ington emphasizes particu arly> the
great danger involved in abrogating
the labor standards for women in in
dustry advocated by the government
during the war. Many people are
voicing the opinion that now that the
war is over the women will pour out
of industry as rapidly as they poured
in. The authors of this opinion usu-
ally dispose of the future of these
turning soldiers with whom they live
happy ever after in the shelter of their
homes. The fact that women have
always been employed in American
factories, and that there were women's
trade unions as far back as the middle
of the nineteenth century, does not
seem to have gained the attention
that it should. There is nothing new
women have always worked" says
Miss Mary Anderson, assistant di-
rector of the women in industry serv-
| ice of the labor department. I'm 1910
there were eight million of them in
gainful occupations. Those who have
gone into war industries are. for the
most part, women who have worked
before. They have been garment
workers or mattresses or workers in
other occupations to which they must
go back"
Before the war the problems con-
nected with women in industry were
| just as complicated, if not more SO,
| than they are now. Many cases eX-
! listed where women were doing work
| that only men had done before. They
| were almost as much investigated.
| Reports were turned out on the status
| of women working in certain Occupa-
lions, some of which revealed the ex-
fstence of shocking conditions, but
somehow these reports failed to OBJ
tain results. The public was not in
| terested.
With the entrance of the United
| States into the war, many more wom-
en- poured into industry. The woman
factory worker became popular fig
ure. She was helping to win the war.
People Immediately became excited as
to her welfare: employers began writ
| ing articles about the efficiency of
their women employees; physicians be-
| gan issuing warnings concerning her
L.
/ ing her uniforms, and whole staff
| of photographers was kept busy TAX
ing pictures of women engaged in
/ various interesting factory processes.
Women who did not work in factories
suddenly became interested in those
who did, and were indefatigable in
working for their welfare.
Out of all this popular enthusiasm
for the woman war worker certain
| splendid reforms in the conditions of
women in industry were brought
about. In the first place, the public
was converted~to the idea that women
should receive as much pay as men
for the same amount of work. This
was a tremendous victory, for up to
the outbreak of the war the general
opinion had been that under no con-
ceivable circumstances should a wom-
an be paid as much as a man.
The second victory was the cleaning
up of hundreds of dilapidated factor
les; the installation of comfort facili-
ties, and, in some, the establishment
of rest rooms and cafeterias.
In some states having fairly good
laws concerning the employment of
men at night and in various danger
Gus occupations. an attempt was made
to abrogate these laws for the period
of the war. Men were leaving in
huge numbers for the front, and the
factories had to have some sort of
labor to keep the wheels moving. But
this attempt was blocked by delega-
tons of women appointed by their
, clubs to look after the welfare of
women in factories, who estab lished
, powerful lobbies at the state capitals
. and managed to defeat the necessary
legislation whenever it came up. Only
} few states managed to get by with
the abrogation of their pre-war labor
, laws.
When the United States government
entered the war it made every effort
: to encourage the reforms that had
> already been instituted in many fac
tories bul1ied by public opinion. 1t
appointed a division of well-known
: women labor experts, Sknown as the
2 women in industry service, with Miss
Mary Van Leeck of the Russell Sage
foundation as director, and Miss Mary
| Anderson, trade union expert and
member of the Boot and Shoe Work
= ers' union, as assistant director. Thru
, this service, with the cooperation OF
the war and navy departments and
the war labor policies board. certain
labor standards were put into effect
f in many factories employing women
f on government contracts. Here are
some of them:
No woman should be permitted to
work more than eight hours in any
= one day or for more than forty eight
hours in any one week. The tint
when the work of the women en-
ployes should begin and WREN Il
d should end should be posted in a con.
spicuous place in each workroom, ant
a record kept of the overtime of each
woman worker. Half holidays on Sat
urdays are urged. but in any cast
| every woman must have one day Of