The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1918-02-05
KOOPER HEADS STATES LABOR
 SERVICE DEPT. Hartford Man is Chosen Di- rector of Conn. Branch
 For Big Work. OFFICE OPENED
 IN STATE CAPITOL Will Assist in National Dis tribution of Men Among
 War Industries.

Hartford, Feb. 5-The Connecticut division of a national employment service whose eventual task it will be to distribute millions of workers an ong various war industries was es- tablished today in the State Capitol by the federal government and the Connecticut State Council of Defense. Upon the nomination of the state council, Leo A. Korper, treasurer of the Capitol City Lumber Co.,, of this city. was today appointed Federal Di- rector for Connecticut of the United States Employment Service, the United States Public Service Reserve and the United States War Exchange Service.
 MT. Korper has opened an office in the capitol and has appointed as as- sistant state director Allen B. Lin- coln of New Haven. In the near fu- ture' he will establish four or five la- bor employment offices in the chief cities of Connecticut, each of which will be in charge of a superintendent. The prime object of the Public Ser vice Reserve will be not to bring in- dividual employers and employees to- gether, but rather to enroll in a workingmen's reserve a force of men who shall have signified their willing ness to be transferred from whatever work they are engaged in to essential war industries. It has been estimated that by next August between 3,000,- 900 and 100000 workers will be needed in agriculture, shipbuilding, munitions making and other essential industries.
 The work of the United States En- nloyment Service, however. which will be done under the same adminis- tration, will be more along the lines of an employment bureau. It will en- deavor to learn the labor needs of em- ployers and the employment needs of workingmen and find work for the unemployed and employees for indus tries and companies which need more help.
 The establishment of this new em- ployment service under the United States Department of Labor was brought about through a realization that there is no real labor shortage in this country but that, while there exists a scarcity of workers in a few of the trades, the apparent general shortage is due to a lack of proper facilities for the distribution of labor. Many industries, especially munitions industries in this state, have been hampered by helter-skelter drifts of labor from one plant to another, which have in some cases put the most essential industries It a disadvantage and has created ,4 considerable body of labor temporarily out of employ ment while seeking transfer from one place to another. It is hoped that these and other faults in the present labor situation will be remedied and that important problems due to war conditions will be efficiently solved. One of these problems is the housing problem, which has resulted in cases where large numbers of workingmen have found positions open for them in isolated factories where there are not sufficient dwelling houses availa- l ble for themselves and their families Among the activities to be taken UT by the new labor service are the fol | lowing: Furnishing adequate anG l staple supplies of labor to war indus 1 tries: providing for immediate anG ] equitable adjustments of disputes safeguarding conditions of labor; safe. guarding conditions of living; gath ering labor facts and statistics essen. !! tial to proper distribution of labor etc.
 MT Korper, in explaining toda! that the chief function of the neV | service at the present time is to en
 roll all mobile labor that is ready t. be transferred when needed sai'
 that the most patriotic thing mai
 can do after being enrolled is to 'si
 tight and wait where he is until h
 is called for his new service"
 The movement has been endorse
 by the American Federation of Labo
 and it's president, Samuel Gompers
 who says.
 "There is no more fundamenta
 service in the interests of the wag
 earner than the organization of
 labor market at which unemploye
 tilers may exchange skill, experience
 and labor power with invested cap1
 tai, The country has long neede
 such a service, and the America
 Federation of Labor has been insist
 ing upon it's establishment. I sha watch the progress of the service 8
 now organized with the deepest inter est, and shall always be glad to rende a helping hand and word of counsel. Von Kuehlmann, Count Czernin an s General Ludendorff conferred on pc