The Waterbury Democrat., 1943-06-28

1 have it's effects on postwar He.
 Industry made mistake in their 20s," says MT. Appley. 'in not tel
 ling the country what it was doing The result was that it caught hell in the 30S."
 It is to avoid a repetition of this mistake that the suggestion is now made for taking the working force of the country into the condolences of industry and educating or sell ling manpower on the job that Am erican business is doing in reshap- ing American life and to a degree, remaking the world.
 At the outset, it should be made clear that this is no fanciful sug- gestion from a government brain- truster or world planner, nor is it disguised version of labor's oft repeated demand for large voice and participation in management. BACKGROUND ON APPLEY
 Lawrence A. Appley has "big business" written all over his open, friendly face, his easy manner, his confidence, his quiet efficien- cy. He was for Il years educational director for Socony Vacuum. He is now vice president of the American Management Association and " P. of Wick Chemical. He came to the War ManpoWer Commission in De- cember, and in the six months that he has been WMPC's executive di- rector or business manager, he has decentralized it, whipped it into far better shape as functioning field organization that has the confi- dence of industry, in place of a loose jointed thinking society which is- sued directives and then sat back to wait for miracles to happen.
 It is Appley's belief today that when the average worker. gets a job in a war plant, he is finger printed, number is hung on him, he is trained for specific job, and then pretty largely forgotten. He has no idea of what is happening in the in- dustrial war. The news of that war isn't as thrilling as the fighting war, though it may be just as important in the long run. When a crew on one operation in a shipyard reduc- es the time of it's job from IA days to four hours, that is industrial pro- greSs, and the problem is to make the crew realize the importance of what it has done.
 With many new workers now in the labor force, millions of whom have never had industrial jobs be- fore and have taken war jobs as only temporary thing, this indus trial morale building may not have much meaning. But it is one an- sWer to lot of manpoWer problems, a possible remedy for some of the evils of absenteeism, the newer problem of labor migration, the ob- taining of maximum manpower util- ization.
 LABOR AND MORALE
 Appley was at one time director of civilian personnel for the War De- partment, and he points to the con- stant campaign of morale building which the Army conducts as proof of the benefits of this type of work. The Army keeps hammering at its educational program, explaining the war. as one means of keeping the soldiers sold on what they're doing.
 It can't be done just by pep talks or rallies Strangely enough, 1t has been found that when a war hero is brought around to make a pep talk to a factory force, it sometimes makes the workman discontented, makes him feel that the soldiers job is more important than the work Of the man behind the man behind the gun. If good Workmen themselves could be recognized as the heroes, that would be part of the trick.
 Anything done in this direction must of course be done by industry itself, either on plant by plant or community basis. It isn't put for ward as an idea for a government publicity campaign that would cost lot of the taxpayers money.