New-York tribune., 1919-02-04
Labor Expert
Assails i. S.
Job Bureaus
100000 Spent Extrava-
gautly in a Year, De-
clares Morris e. Ernst
New Laws Are Demanded
legislation to Regulate Sys-
tenn and Make 1t Eff
cient Termed Necessary

DNorc than ss,ooo.ooo will have been
sn.nt this year by the Federal En-
pIcvment Service without any lcgisla-
rive control. Furthermore. variois
statements issued from Washington
ssttiug forth the number o. soldiers
nlseed back in employment are no
doubt based unon the same sor. Of
rsudom guesswork evident IN the
monthly statements Of the Federal En-
ployn,ent Service
These were the statements made yes
tsrday to The Tribune by Morris L..
Ernst, recently resigned labor expert
of the United States Shipping Board
and chairman of the City Club COM
mittee which framed the legislation
under which the state public employ
msnt Offices are organized.
Mr. Ernst, who favors maintaining
the Federal Employment Service,
charges that reports of the present ad
ministration are inaccurate. ard that
the, entire system is in Condition of
unrest" because in many cases en-
plcyers do not know whether they are
respo bic to the state or Federal
government.
"The Federal Employment Service
has been operating under an emergency
appropriation of s5,500.o00." said MIR
Ernst, (which was entirely uncon-
trolled by any legislation establishing
policies under which it should be run.
Overspent s2,5oO,O00 in Year
Legislation setting forth definite
plan under which the Federal Employ
ment Service should be conducted was
introduced in Congress. but failed to
receive the necessary support on the
part OF the Labor Department. In ad-
dition to expending the S5,500,000, it
ment service is asking for deficiency
appropriation in excess of s2,500.000.
"Becausc Of the absence of any con-
troll over the expenditure of these
moneys. the service has failed to keep
accurate Uniform records in all parts
Of the country And the entire SER
vice is at present in condition of un-
rest. To criticise a situation: locally
does not by any means reflect upon
The representatives Of the Federal
government in the particular locality,
huf -
sons in Washington who are response
hle for the proper conduct Of tke en-
t.re service
charges Discrepancies in Reports
That the records are so kept that
any fgures Of the number Of soldiers
placed are the merest kind of guess
work Is apparent. Moreover. the sta
nstics kept and reported by the Bu-
feau OF Statistics of the United States
department of Labor on the face of
Them show that either there is an in
Nntion on the part Of some persons
connected with the compiling of those
statistics to mislcad the public, or
'aaf the method under which the sta
s's'les are compiled is so vague and
shaennltc that the figures reported
ss persons placed, if checked up by
'aaapendent Investigators. would show
c'nsiderable discrepancies.
IN the report of a recent month. No
'snoer, IN the State of New York. one
vlnee IN THIS city reported 153 persons
p,sced out Of 164 who registered. of
nnom only l42 were even reported as
rrsVlng been referred to employers.
'ae only way in which such a figure
souia possibly be arrived at honestly
you'd be by referring the same man
s'3 or seven jobs in the same month.
More Placed Than Registered
!. Another Office in this city during
af e same month shows n regi stration
1913 persons. Of whom 1857 were
referred Tor employment, but the aame
s'nce reports 1855 placements. The
.ply possible answer to this would be
va s'ss considerable number Of persons
s.efieh TO positions in the previous
IS sO,sh " were not reported as placed un-
"a -. me following month.
,s.. N passing II Is interesting to note
s' similar discrepancies in figures
nor evident in reports received in
siLansc''on with the registration and
s'zfsment OF women.
Urges An investigation
eemparison OF the method used by
sesse in reporting the work Of
sP'oyment Offices in New York State.
- u other states where the Offices
~ ~ pesn we'll run in the past, shows
placement record Of IS per cert
prsonS referred TO jobs is a yery
ss average. The State of New YorI.
Il we last yearly report published
~ me year ended juno 30, 1917
sss placements in the employment
~ per cent. 1 -