The Chattanooga news. [volume] (Chattanooga, Tenn.) 1891-1939, 1919-09-01
Government Aid in Getting a Start
BY FREDERIC J. HAskIN

Junior sections have been established
already in Washington. Boston, New
York, Philadelphia. Chicago, Pitts
burgh, Providence and Cleveland, and
a state bureau in Indiana. In each OF
these a man. usually an associate SUI
perintendent of schools, is placed In
charge. He has several assistants, one
of whom Is usually a business man
THIS bureau tak-s III hand each hoy
or girl leaving school, studies his record,
his needs and his abilities, and helps
him to find a job. If the youngster
needs more schooling. an effort is made
to persuade hii" or enable him to stay
in school. And interest in him does
not end when he has been landed in a
job. Follow up work is a regular part
of the bureaus duties, so that the in
dividual is not abandoned until he has
reau. At 4:30 when the bureau closes.
This work will not only help boys
and girls to find jobs, and employers
to find labor, but it will help the edu-
Gators to find out what Is the matter
with education.
Aided Organizations.
Mrs. Reed has personally aided in
the organization of eacn of these bu-
reaus. She ia still spending her days
working in the Washington local bn-
reau. At 40, when the bureau closes
she calls in new corps OF stenograph-
ers and begins her work as head of the
national Organization. All of this sho
does for salary which is n fraction OF
standing offers she has received from
business concerns. She says that she
has earned good money In the past,
tfat her needs are few, ana that she
Is Wilt; 4 to make the fnanciaI sacri .
f1cs for the sake OF being at the head
OF a national undertaking. She is a
'nlddle-aged woman with gray hair, a
clear eye, and long resoIute Jaw. She
Is agreeaOly free of the sentimentality
which gums up the efforts of so many
iady,uplifters. She has worked as a
teacher and efficiency expert in many
dl1terent parts of the United States.
When number of minimum wage laws
were passed In western states Mrs
keed acted as consulting EXPERT in
helplng manufacturers to adjust their
businesses to increased salary scales
-her method was to eliminate all en-
ployes who could not be made efficient
enough TO earn the higher wage. These
lnefficientS wee located in en- 81 or Jobs.
Watched Her Work.
MRS. Reeds work is being watched
with special interest here, because IL
looks as though she might help to save
the employment service from the preiu-
dlces which have arisen against it, II
IS generally acknowledged fact that
the employment service did most use
1ul work during the war, both for la
Dor and for employers 1t demon
strated that national agency of that
klhd can perform an important func-
ton. 1t is also we'll known that OF
late the employment service has gotten
IN had with the employers. They have
charged in substance that 1t is a tool
Of the unions and that parlor boil
shevists have found access to its staff.
WhHthpr fhpca n1
not, they have tended to weaken the
confidnce of employers in the employ
ment service, and II Is vital to tnc sue
cess OF such an organization that it
should have the confidence of both cap
ital and labor.
AS result of the opposition it stirred
up, the employment service n1nIost went
out of existence. 1t was saved from
obliv1on by an appropriation of $780,
OOO which was much less than it
needed. Part Of this money Is being
USED In organizing the junior section
ana 1t seems probable th.,t this par-
tfcular effort will meet with the ap-
prevail of employers as we'll as of labor.
Mrs. Reed has no heavy baggage of
theory. She does not aim TO change the
soclai order. She l5ncves that to be
efIectIve her work must take into ac-
count the employers point of view as
much as that of the laborer. She be-
li7ves that It part of our labor supply
is Being wasted at the source through
clumsy handling of school children:
that this waste falls upon employer.
worker and the public alike: and that
it can be eliminated.
The Junior section has many appl-
cations for local bureaus, but it can
not organize any more of them with
the funds on hand, unless the city Is
willing to pay all expenses. The con-
tnuance of the work is dependent upon
special appropriation from congress
next year.
Subject OF tomorrow's letter, Five
Thousand ives Saved