The Birmingham age-herald., 1919-03-26
MEN, WOMEN
 AND THINGS

l ne SoiQ1er ana ms JoD. THIS iS
 question which looms large in the
 worlds thinking. It became acute in
 Europe quite awhile ago, and it is be- ! ginning to press for solution here in 1 America.
 , The soldier and his job. We have | had many different expressions con | cerning the matter from various kinds
 of people, but the big thing is, What are the soldiers thinking about it? It will pay to get line on his thoughts l If we hope to get tip on his actions when he gets into civilian clothes. The. soldier and his job. It is not | an academic problem to be settled in | the clcistered shade of the universities | but 1t Is the most practical kind of an affair which must be fought out in the white light of day in the farm, in the store in the mines and the man. | ufactories.
 | The soldier and his job. It Is bigger than any one trade, and there are no organizations projected on broad enough scale to handle it wisely with out the aid of the government. and ! this Is why Uncle Sam has pulled off l his coat and gone to work at 1t. know there is objection to what he is doing | in some quarters.
 The soldier and his job. Well, what are the national powers that be doing to bring order out of chaos In the greatest labor shift in the history Of
 the human race. which is going on at a scale to stagger the imagination and put to test the greatest industrial pow CTS of both the old and the new world, and prevent a disastrous stampede? The soldier and his job. Let's take our own part of it here in the United States and leave to England, France, | Italy, Belgium and our European all lies their portion of 1t to wrestle with, for the size of the labor readjustment ahead of us In America will test the strength of our democracy In this great republic and calls for statesman ship of the very highest order. The soldier and his job. Simply stated in it's limitation to the United States, it involves the immediate place. ment of almost 3,00o,0o0 who, during the period of the war, have been out of industrial harness. This number of men is limited to active and prepared soldiers who were trained and discip- lined in camps or engaged in actual warfare overseas. Their dislocation from the ordinary walks of life was ah- solute.
 The soldier and his job. We must take into considera tion the further mo- mentous fact that it's settlement de- bends on the absorption of at least 4,20O.0o0 individuals not ordinarily listed among the industrial workers, and then there in round numbers, say 15,0o0,oo0 toilers. outside of the army and navy forces. who have been en- gagged in war work. It Is enough to give us pause when we face the facts. The soldier and his job. In the face of criticism and opposition the fact re- mains that Uncle Sam himself has taken over the task and he is today the greatest labor agent in the world. He has about 1000 employment offices us- ing the services of some 25,000 persons, who are striving to discharge this huge task for the greatest possible 1f rIy and of the industries of America.
 
 The soldier and his job. A publicist who holds brief for the part the gov ernment is taking in the matter, says that while Uncle Sam may make mis- takes in his new job of employing agent his motives are above suspicion and he has the huge advantage of op- erating on wholesale scale with tue entire country as his field: He can shift men in masses as he did when the pressure for war workers in ship yards and intuition plants was most
 acute in the earlier stages of the great
 conflict"
 The soldier and his job. According ly those who favor the governments
 activity in the labor situation further claim that common labor-the biggest volume to be handled-is no longer at
 the mercy of interruptions and greedy agents. highly proficient in exploiting the laborer and plucking him of his wages before they are earned. They claim that while Uncle Sam is not ideally organized for the work into which he is plunged, yet with his than is being done by private concerns. The soldier and his job. I freely ad-
 init that the problem brings up ques- tions of such far-reaching import that can hardly state it without claiming the ability even to pose as judge be- tween those who claim that the gov ernment should keep it's hands off and let it remain in the hands of the indi- viduals. unions or corporations, I have tried to give an idea of the cleavage which intensifies the solution of the difficulties. It sometimes helps to
 know just what task faces us. The soldier and his job. Important as it is for us to know the attitude of the government towards the return ing soldier, and his job, and of the em- ployer and the soldier and his job, it is vastly more to the point to as.