The Washington times., 1919-01-20

Washington employers and with those
elsewhere who offer positions.
The Government is still doing con-
siderable construction work at camps
and the local office has been sending
carpenters. plasterers and mechanics
to these points. Unskillcd labor is
yet in demand. with a scarcity In
Washington and this section. so
much SO that unskilled labor is being
brought from the North and else
where to fill the Governments de-
mands at various points. Very re-
Gently several hundred laborers were
sent to the Governments torpedo sta
tion at Alexandria, brought here
from outside. A large number were
brought frJm the North and sent to
Indian Head, where the Government
is doing much work and will continue
active for some time.
A Serious Factor.
A really serious factor in the situa
ton, as seen here. will be the presence
Of thousands of skilled men. One ef-
feet of the war was to quickly turn
common laborers into skilled work
men. The ranks of common labor
were drawn on heavily by the demand
for skilled men. In all sorts of indus.
tries and in the building trades there
was quick conversion of men from
ordinary labor to skilled or semi.
skilled positions. Their wages went
up with the change. They do not
want to go back to laboring work or
to lower wages. Yet work Is not open
to them.
There came to Washington at the
beginning of the war thousands o.
mechanics lured here by the immense
amount of Government construction
work and the good wages offered
The Government has slowed down on
this work. and it is decreasing fast
large percentage of men sent for
their families, who are now here
with them. This is just one phase
of the problem Washington is now
wrestling with.
The returning soldier comes back
a better man than when he went
away. He is broadened immensely
He may once have been frivolous or
thoughtless but he now has a sense
of responsibility to himself and 9TH
ers. He looks upward and forward
He. too. seek better place than he
left.
He feels that he is a better man.
Employers know that he is a better
man than he was. Many men in uni
form have declined to work at the
same salaries they were paid when
drafted, without realizing that wages
are standing about still.
Want Clerical Work.
Too many soldiers are seeking cleri-
cal positions. Not many Of these are
to be had. The wives of some Of
them came to Washington to accept
clerical positions and they want to
stay here. That is adding to the
total of unemployed.
Washington is a city Of attraction,
and there are five large camps near
here which are daily dismissins
soldiers. Great numbers Of the men
They are advised to return to their
former homes or to places where the
surplus Of men is not 50 large. Hun
dreds decline this advice, and many
so out and hunt employment.
The policy of the Bureau OF EN-
ployment for Men Returning from
Military Service is to give local men
whatever places are open. About
$4,000 District men were drafted into
the army. About 1,50O Of them have
returned to Washington and a large
proportion given back their old
places or put into new ones.
What to do with the others who
are coming back is causing the
earnest appeal to all employers of
labor to do their utmost to find work
for District soldiers.
The soldier who goes back to his
former position frequently. although
not always, displaces somebody else
"a boy or woman. AS the soldiers
come back in larger numbers the
displacement increases. The employ
er feels an obligation to be fair to
those who have helped him in the
stress of war times. His obligation
to the soldier is greatest. That is
another serious phase of the situa-
ton in Washington, although it eX-
lists elsewhere also. What's to be-
come of the human forces that stopped
the gap while the men were at the
front or in camp?