White Bluffs spokesman. [volume] (White Bluffs, Wash.) 1907-1938, 1925-01-09
DISTRIBUTION OF FARM HELP BIG LABOR
PROBLEM, SAYS SAGE FOUNDATION REPORT


NEW YORK.-Because Of its asso
citation exclusively with the Depart
ment of Labor, without participation
|by other federal departments, the
United States Employment Service
has been marked in the minds OF
employers as partisan agency, and
Ithis-irrespective of whether the
criticism is justified-renders effect
i've development Of the employment
service, as at present organized, well
nigh impossible. This is one of the
conclusions drawn in an exhaustive
report on public Employment Offices
Their Purpose, Structure and Meth
ods," which has just been issued by
the Russell Sage Foundation as the
result of an investigation started in
1919.
"a public employment service is
designed to serve both employers and
workers." says the report, "but until
recently it has been accepted as of
more vital need to workers than to
Employers, inasmuch as unemploy-
ment is far more devastating to work
ers than shortage Of labor to employ
ers. Experience has indicated, how
ever, that an employment service
whose dominant objective is service
to workers will play comparatively
insignificant role in the world of
labor. Without the wholehearted sup
port of employers, the service cannot
fulfill its purpose.
'The control of the United States
Employment Service by the Depart
ment of Labor has given rise to a
storm Of protest from employers
generally. The charge is that the de-
partment is organically partisan.
Whether the service has or has not
been administered impartially Is
more or less beside the point. Its as
ISOLATION with the Department of
Labor, and through the secretary Of
the department with organized labor,
has been enough to mark it in the
mind Of employers as a partisan
agency. This in itself is sufficient to
render it's effective development in
that department in the immediate fu-
ture well nigh impossible"
To remedy this situation, the Foun-
dation's report recommends the estab-
lishment of a nationwide system Of
public employment offices, in which
the federal, state and local govern
ments would cooperate, and which
would be administered under a board
made up of the Secretary Of Labor,
the Secretary of Commerce and the
Secretary of Agriculture, with the as
sistance Of national advisory council
and local committees representing
employers and employees. Such an ad-
ministration, the report says, fought
to insure beyond the possibility of a
doubt a genuinely nonpartisan employ
ment service"
The orderly recruiting and distribu-
ton of farm labor is one Of the big
gest problems confronting public en-
ployment offices. 1t NUT be admitted,
however, Luat III SplI0 VI IAe 1APo1e-
ance of this need, public employment
offices have thus far largely failed to
function in this field. With few ex-
ceptions, and not until the labor
shortage created by the war had
brought this situation forcibly before
the country, were the farmers inter-
ests served in more than limited areas
adjoining industrial centers. The sue
cess obtained under war time con-
ditions, however, has been seriously
endangered by the Gripping Of the fed
eral service.
After discussing the numerous criti-
cisms directed against the existing
United States Employment Service,
the report says: "Any judgment Of the
performance Of this service must take
into consideration the fact that it was
first and foremost war emergency
organization, projected at the eleventh
hour and shot up in reckless speed.
Notwithstanding the gigantic handi-
caps which the service encountered,
it has not been without its positive