New Britain herald., 1918-07-10
MOBILIZE INDUSTRY
 ID HELP WIN WAR
Speaker at Hartford Says COnneC'
 tiCut Must Hasten Work

Today at & meeting at Hartfordt called by the Connecticut State Coun@ ci of Defense. to mobilize the girls ol tho state for the seIf-dcvelopmenta and General Secretary of the National League of Woman Workers. was one of the speakers on Recreation.
 For fifteen years Miss Hamilton haa been organizing wage earning women into evening recreauonal clubs on self supporting, self governing and non~ sectarian lines. Such olubs, employers are beginning to realize serve to stabilize workers by making theit leisure hours more attractive.
 Mobilized Industry Needed.
 Miss Hamilton said in part: In dustria mobilization has been talked about a. lot. When we really see that 1t Is as necessary to the winning of this war as is military mobilizationr we will direct our energies toward the common place activities of the indus trial situation with that supreme ef~ fort they now demand. And we must hurry. COnneCtj'ut, one of the cen ters of war industries, must hurry. She must make her industrial soldiers feel that the citizens of the state arg back of them, as they are back of the soldiers, in khaki; that the just requirements of the industrial soldiers as to quarters, conditions of work, conditions of play, are being as fairly met as the requirements of fighting soldiers Then. and only then, will We get the same unWaVering service from the industrial army.
 England found that she could not stabilize her expanded industries until the housing problem was handled Then she found it was equally vital to make adequate provision for leisure time opportunities, if she was to sus- tain the moral tone necessary for steady work. Workers uprooted from homes, lonely and bored in towns of few decent amusementS, proved to be poor workers no matter what they were paid, som metimes poorer the more they were paid
 These are Connecticut's problems today The committee on health and recreation of the Council of Defense is equally interested in them both Even when workers have decent beds in decent roOms they are not necessarily, going to live decent lives unless they have decent outlets for their energies after work hours. Such outlets have been found imperative for the .uen in the camps and the men at the front. They are just AS imperative for the men and the girls behind the machines. And the towns which have doubled their industrial population the towns where industries are being established for the first time do not provide such wholesome recreationaF outlets unless they take thought and make sacrifices to do SO This Is war work that needs support as much as sending comfort kits to soldiers
 roper Recreation Necessary.
 Recreation of the right kind on any adequate scale, put into effect without eXtraVag gance. means trained leadership in organiza ton. And this is what the state should offer to the community. Often the locality that has the greatest need has the least knowledge of how to meet that need. Left to itself, it will waste money and mul'h valuable time. As wa~ emergency program, we need some statewide recreation organizers. ex- perienCcd to analyze each situation and suggest the right form of recrea- IlOn, TOT Wldely varying needs.
 "This could very properly be done under the committee on health and recreation of the State Council of De- fense. Such 8, recreation secretary Cor secretariesl should be an impar- tial person, recognizing the value of the various widely different forms of recreation a"G able 10 make the ad- vance plans for whichever IS re- quired by a particular locality. The one stipulation, in every case. should be that the recreation provided be widely inclusive, having no bar of race Or religion but aiming to offer the most American sort Of recreation to the whole community.
 This Is why the National Leaguo of Women Workers which has a number of strong. non-se> tsrian cluhs among the workers of this state. Is so virtually interested in the situation. It would like to do it's utmost to aid an effective pooling of the recreational resources of the state and the devef opment of such wholesome. educative form of recreation. as shall make more intelligent, self-directins citizens of our workers, and prepare them to forward the purposes for which IA m erica Is fighting"