The Connecticut labor news., 1924-12-27


 Washington, D. C., Dec Present methods ot getting workers and jobs together are inadequate to the needs both of industry and of the workers, the Russell Sage Foundation declares in a lengthy report on public and private em- ployment agencies.
 The report recommends the estab- ishrnent ot a nationwide employment service to be operated jointly by the federal, State, and local governments, and cities the following maJor reasons TOT the need of sueh service:
 CD All of the existing employment agencies combined meet only part of the need, and they leave the employment tions of the country and some important industries entirely undeveloped.
 @ In order to reduce unemploy- ment, and at the same time give em- curing labor, there is need, among other things, of an employment system na- tional in scope. None of the existing non-governmental agencies offer suffi- cient promise of development along these lines; nor is there at present any means of coordinating or correlating the activities of the existing agencies.
 (3) It is necessary, particularly dur of %rily 0fl, controversies between employer and em- ploye, to have absolute impartiality and ihis can not be secured through the ex- isting agencies; methods of attaining impartiality through combined Fed eral-State-local system of public em- ployment offices are pointed out in the report.
 'The orderly recruiting and distribu- ton of farm labor is one of the biggest problems confronting public employment of6ces," says the report, adding: "It must be admitted, however, that in spite of the importance of this need, public employment offices have thus far largely failed to function in this field. With few exceptions, and not until the labor shortage created by the war had brought this situation forcibly before the coun- try, were the farmers interests served in more than limited areas adjoining in dustrial centers. The success obtained under wartime conditions, however, has been seriously endangered by the crip- bling of the Federal service"
 Aftr discussing the numerous criti- cisns directed against the existing United States Employment Service, the report says: Any judgment of the per- formance of this service must take into consideration the fact that it was first and foremost war emergency organl- zation, projected at the eleventh hour and shot up in reckless speed. Notwith- standing the gigantic handicaps which ihe service encountered, 1t has not been without its positive contributions. In the first place, it has given to the people of the country an insight into, the pos abilities not only of local employment offices, but also of a nationwide ser vice"
 A summary of important points in the report says:
 Race prejudice is limiting very much the occupations open to Negroes; until recently almost the only lines of work to which Negroes were admitted have been farm and plantation labor, personal service, and common labor. This range of employment should and can be great ly increased through intelligent and per- sistent educational work among employ CTS as to the suitability of Negroes for certain other kinds of work, together with discriminating placement of Negro applicants.
 There are in the United States, ac- cording to the best available estimates, from two to three million migatory workers, mostly unskilled, and frequent ly shifting from one type of work to another. These men, comprising the la bor reserves of the lumber, railroad, construction, and agricultural industries present special and difficult problem Private fee-charging employment agen- cies have found in the migratory work CT an easy prey for exploitation. A more intelligent distribution of migra- tory workers, according to the needs at different times of the various sections of the country or of the industries, such as could be effected by an efficient national public employment service, would be of great benefit to this large group of workers, to industry, to the nation gen orally, and to the particular communi- ties i'll which migratory workers congre- gate in large numbers.
 The casual workers-longshorem odd-job and handymen, unskilled build ing laborers, and women dayworkers-
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