The Waterbury Democrat., 1942-07-22

worry about. The Morale Division of the War Department in Wash ington practically hasn't been heard of since.
 Artificial stimulants for the morale of labor, however, are still being cococted in profusion. Army has a big section of officers under Colonel A. Robert Ginsburgh, head of public relations in the Services of Supply, which does missionary work to maintain morale. Officers are sent to war production centers to make speeches at lunch hour and shift change periods. They say it does good, and that production curves shoot right up after these pep meet ings.
 Navy has been more conservative about this morale business, but is overhauling its labor relations or ganization under Admiral Wood ward and labor reporter from Col onel Knox's Chciago Daily News.
 Maritime Commission is worrying about the morale of the shipyards workers, with Mark ODea, former New York advertising agency ex- ecutiVe, in charge.
 LABOR
 BEING BABIED
 War Production Board has its big war production drive on, in which more than 1000 plants are partici- pating and labor and management are sitting down together to pro- duce slogans and ways to increase production.
 The War Manpower Commis- sion under Paul McNutt has as yet done nothing about labor morale, as 1t has as yet done noth- ing about most things, and the Labor Production Division of the War Production Board under Wen dell Lund Is seldom heard from on anything.
 But there is an apparent inch- nation to baby labor for fear 1t won't support the war effort. The unuttered question behind all the long -drawn-out negotiations over the Little Steel labor cases was fear that if the union requests for $1-a-day increase and the closed shop were not handled right, 1t would be bad for labor's morale.
 Maintaining labor's morale has become kind of obsession. It has gone so far that some of the inspired or misguided experts are trying to frame laboring mans ten commandments to be known as the War Workers Victory Code" No one has reduced this to writing. but the code was to in- clude pledges which would prac- tically commit Workmen to take a pay cut and work overtime free. Labor leaders laughed and sug- gested code for manufacturers, asking them to give up golf and all profits.
 There is some evidence that all this worrying over labor's morale is beginning to annoy labor. MORALE
 MOUNTS
 There was genuine improve ment in labor morale right after Pearl Harbor, just as there was in Army morale. The Maritime Con- mission people have found that a talk" by some gold-striper leaves the Workmen cold, but a few stum- bling remarks from a seaman who has been on ship that was built in a given yard, shelled and maybe torpedoed but still brought inc port, do wonders. The Lunch Time Follies," few minutes of good, professional entertainment and re- taxation inaugurated at Todd ship yards in Brooklyn, has been an in- stant hit and morale builder. At Bethlehem Fairfield shipylards the workmen asked management to fire one man who wouldn't buy war bonds.
 Labor, in other words, shouldn't have to be coddled at this stage )f the war. In the words of a spokesman for the A. P. of L., the high pressure propagandists can confine themselves to something like this:
 Boys, you're doing a swell job. Keep up the good work"
 A pat on the back will do more to build morale than all the slo- gans and codes in the copybook.