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Show . SELECTIVE SERVICE FOR LABOR By Frederic J. Haskin. -f f WASHINGTON, D. C-. July. By the first of the month the long familiar "help wanted" advertisement will have disappeared disap-peared from the pages of the daily newspapers, news-papers, so far as its relation to labor In j war industries is concerned. This will be the result of President Wilson's recent order centralizing the recruiting and dls- ! tribuLion of workers in tne United States employment service. Hereafter no employer, em-ployer, engaged in war contracts, may seek his own help. As much help as he may have, without handicapping other war manufacturers, will be procured and I supplied to him by the government. This action has been made imperative' by a critical situation. The war indus-tries indus-tries of this country are now short about ! 40U.000 unskilled laborers. Almost as great a shortage exists in regard to skilled workmen. In one plant alone a plant working on the manufacture of heavy caliber guns there is a need for more than? LMH) machinists. There are three large contributing causes to this state of affairs. The working of the selective draft took large : numbers of workers, skilled and unskilled, t from the labor market and placed them j in the ranks of the national army. The almost complete cessation of immigration since he outbreak of the Kuropean war in 1914 also added materially to the shortance, since perhaps a third of our un- j skilled laborers have been recruited from 1 the foreign born. Following these losses, and partly as a result of them, came competitive com-petitive bidding for labor, or "labor poa&i ing," among the industries, resulting in ' the constant shifting of workmen from plant lo plant. This shifting has robbed many of the most essential war industries of men, and has produced in the workers work-ers a restlessness greatly detrimental to their efficiency. The government believes that, with the adoption of the centralization policy, the distribution of labor can be controlled and confusion and unrest eliminated. For the time being the policy in . Its entirety will apply only to the unskilled or "common" laborers, but sooner or later it will be extended to embrace all skilled trades and crafts. This will come, probably, prob-ably, Immediately after the unskilled labor problem has been satisfactorily adjusted. ad-justed. By the end of the year employment employ-ment departments and agencies under private pri-vate control will have ceased to exist for as long as the war lasts, and perhaps forever. Already employers have been forbidden to compete openly for skilled labor. The undertaking is a delicate as well as a stupendous one, and each new step by. the government will be taken with the greatest care. Both employer and employee em-ployee will be allowed a considerable latitude lati-tude at first. No employer will be compelled com-pelled to accept unconditionally the workmen work-men sent to him by the employment service, nor will he be restrained from hiring men who come to lilrn of their own accord. The laborer, on his side, will not be urged to accept work he does not desire. de-sire. He may take or leave the job offered of-fered him by the government. In the second event "the employment service will endeavor to find him a job more suited to his tastes. No blacklists have been made, nor will laborers be sent to plants where strikes are under way. No other restraint than a sense of duty will he-used he-used to keep the laborer in his place. But prompt punishment is promised for the employer who wilfully violates the edict of the government in regard to soliciting so-liciting labor. All reported violations will be carefully investigated and, If the facts of the case warrant, the supply of materials ma-terials to the offending concern will be stopped or curtailed, and, by arrangement with the fuel administrator, the allowance allow-ance of coal will be held up. Publicity of the most "pitiless" sort will be given to the corporation or individual convicted of disobeying Che order. Labor will be supplied to industries according ac-cording to a priority list similar to the one used by the railroad administration last winter. This will not be a hard and fast rule, however for the relative importance im-portance of industries varies with changes in the war situation. Thus, though ordnance ord-nance is always badly needed, the need for one sort of ordnance may be more imperative at one time than another. As far as possible, local labor demands will be met with the local labor supply. Where the supply is inadequate for all needs, it will be distributed among employers requiring re-quiring comparatively small numbers of workmen. The larger requirements will-be will-be filled with workmen transported from other states. The method of handling the labor supply sup-ply problem has been worked out on a plan somewhat similar in operation to the machinery o the selective draft. All of the recruiting and distribution will be conducted by agents of the public service ser-vice reserve, the recruiting wing of the employment service. In this they will be assisted by local community labor boards and state labor boards. The apportionment ap-portionment will be made by quotas, determined de-termined by the United States employment employ-ment service and approved by the war labor policies board, so as to insure a fair distribution to war work " from all parts of the country, and to prevent- any community from being unduly drained. The total demand has been divided among the various states and each state will subdivide its quota among its various committees. Estimates have already been made as to how great a proportion bf the working forces of the various states have been drawn inlo war Industries and as to how much unskilled Wbor is engaged in non-war industries. Quotas will be revised re-vised and restated every two months. The demand for labor Is being determined deter-mined mostly through orders for workmen work-men and through estimates of future requirements. re-quirements. A careful check on the demands de-mands and estimates is being kept by the local boards. Firms have been known to call for 1000 men a week when they could not put more tflan 100 to work. Then, too, the employer engaged in "nonessential" "non-essential" work will be given a measure of protection, though his needs must be subordinated to those of the war Industries. Indus-tries. He will bo a Hp wed to recruit rua own labor as before, though he must not make overtures to workmen at i war work. Should he advertise, It must be with the consent of the employment service. When his needs do not conflict with more Important Im-portant ones, the government will endeavor en-deavor to find help for him. Some uncertainty has. existed as to Jyst what constitutes war work. Many industries indus-tries not operating under government control con-trol or contract seem to be essential to the war program. Street car operation and coal mining are examples. To clarify this point the war industries board has decided that war work consists in "tt; manufacture of products or the erection of structures, directly or indirectly supplied sup-plied to some department of the government govern-ment for use in connection With the war." Products supplied Indirectly Include goods delivered under subcontract to government govern-ment contractors. So that street car operation op-eration is not war work and coal mining only partly so. However, both these Industries In-dustries are important to war work. How relatively important any particular industry in-dustry is will be determined by the local boards. Though the centralization of labor supplies sup-plies will doubtless benefit both employer and employee, labor will very likely benefit bene-fit most. One feature of this benefit wUl he tho standardization of wages, a problem prob-lem to which the war labor board Is now devoting a great deal of attention. An announcement of a standard wage scale, similar to that devised by the shipping board, will be announced by the labor hoard In a short time. This will go far toward abolishing the old competitive bidding Idea, formerly necessary to keep wages up. It Is quite possible that organized or-ganized labor will endeavor to keep federal fed-eral control of the labor market in effect after the war, in order to make the standardized wage scale a permanent Institution In-stitution But the government's chief concern for the present Is to keep war Industry at Its maximum efficiency by whatever means possible. "The fittest men for war work" is tlie slpgan of the centralization po'lr Production Is handicapped because war plants ar filled with men unable and unfitted un-fitted properly to perform the work. The "non-essential manufacturer" ha been given as his cue to place the best of his workmen at tho disposal of the nation, and the government means that he will take it. , |
