OCR Text |
Show Miscellarw ! - 4 : f l The Army and the Red Chevron, By Frederic J. Haskin. f WASHINGTON, March 11. The war department has decided to extend the I range of its rp.spor.si hi Ikies to take in i the unemployed ex-Foldier. Increasing ; seriousness of the unemployment situa- i tion is the reason for this step. The formation of a war department bureau bu-reau for aid ot" red chevron men does not 1 imply any lack of efficiency on the part , I of the I'nited States employment service : I of the labor department. This service has 1 found positions foi approximate.',- 7'V1'"' I soldiers in the past three months. Ifiut j the war department feels that it should i lend a luuid in placing the unemployed soldiers. I As Colojiel Arthur Woods, head of thR newly created bureau pins it, "The war department should be. ;md is. intensely interested in the ex-soldier, and we ere going to try to act as big brother to them." The war department's new bureau is so ex t rem el v new "t hat its exact duties ' and functions are not define 1. Il do'-s j not at present plan to go into the (-n ' pioyment bnsiness on an intensive scab'1 1 for the benefit of individual soldiers, but I it announces its intention of urging the . 1 employers to take hack their former 'workers who entered the army. t will ' lend to the department of labor men who I can be pert to the army camps to obtain ob-tain co-operation of the soldiers them-I them-I selves in readjustment plans. It will ask j business firm to keep in touch with the federal emplovment service, and to aive the discharge, soldier a charme win never ! possb'le. And it will extend tho id--a that ' it is the duty of every United Sbit'-s citi-I citi-I zen who envrdnys lai or or knows of an unfilled position to try to connect some , I soldier ith a job. ; The soldier who leaves the army with- i ! out having been wounded is in the best ; j physical condition. There is no question ; I that he is a desirable 1 vne of wn-kir.an. i I The soldier wan has been disa'.hd in! service i:ne- bv-k to civil hi",- with the' 1 idea that he must mak..- -end so:nr.nov. ! ! (".iven a fair hauee, he v. cl make goo i ' in i-pi'.e of draw'.". i.cks. In eitivn case I the ex-soldier is a pretty safe proposition proposi-tion as a workman. The bureau chief. Colonel Woods, was only recently discharged from the army, where lie had served in the. air service. TTe was enjoying a brief vacation in Florida when Secretary Baker pursued him by long distance, and brought him buck to Washington to hold down the title "assistant to the secretary of war," and incidentally to .study out some way by which the war department could fill the aforementioned big brother role to the wearers of the red chevron. Colonel Woods thereupon became the first unemployed unem-ployed soldier to be placed by the war department. In an interview regarding the war department's de-partment's new project, Colonel Woods said : "One outstanding difficulty in placing discharged soldiers is that the : hero just returned from the trenches does not always long to settle down immediately immediate-ly to the grind of another job, John 1 Smith, or for variety, call him Harold St. Clair, has ?'J0 given him with his dis- , charge, and he has an unshakable desire to spend his ?60 as joyfully as possible. ! Broadway and the white lights entortain Harold as long as he can pay generously for the luxury of heing entertained.. Vila $!j0 lasts him a week or so. Then he is stranded. i Even then he does not look for steady i employment. He joins that army of cas-: cas-: ual workers who spend every other day ! hanging around some fascinating steam shovel where excavation is in progress. : New York has more of these soldier istra.g-1 istra.g-1 glers than any other city. Every returning return-ing soldier has the impulse to ' study Broadway first hand, either in order to compare it to Paris, or because he missed seem ii the French metropolis. Tins with variations is the story of the majority of the unemployed red chevron men, especially" espe-cially" those in our cities. "The nation fee's a responsibility town rds these, men," went on Colonel Woods. "-Many of thein were taken from good positions and conscripted into the army. Others volunteered. All gave their services to the country, and the count ry owes them a fair chance to reinstate t hem selves into a suitable civil occupa- tion. We do not like to see them wander about the streets uneared for." ; The bureau believes that it is not altogether al-together tiie soldier's fault when he re-i re-i mains out of work. There are just now more men than jobs, particularly in the industrial field. For farm workers, coal miners, laborers and some other workers there is a demand in certain sections of the couiury. But for the other labor painters, railroad workers, engineers and auto mechanics, for instance there is almost al-most no call. Bight now the total of unemployment un-employment caused hy the close of war pro ice i s is cstim;i ted at 7'10,'jOa. Another difficult phase of the situation, the new bureau has discovered, is that in a )ari:e percen tage of cases discharged men prefer not to return to their prewar I oeeupat ions. C uitdoor life and exercise ; have' strengthened them, so that to some, indoor work, that thev once looked upon 'as a t tractive, sterns les desira tile tha n farming or other outdoor employ ron t. Thev have learned in the army to respect manned labor. M;my have learned for the first time in their lives to use their hands and muscles. ruber soldiers, who before the war en-I en-I gaged - in unskilled labor, have acquired iraininc, and can enter a trade as appren-i appren-i lice or journeyman. Still others have I gained liie a mi 'it ion to become clerical : v. nrk.-rs. Many men who had always done 1 ma nun '. labor gained some ed nen ; ion in ' the army and became cb-rks, or are now : determined to find clerical employment. The sin pins of clerical workers on Die ia her mark ft is as.or.iahing. Beports r'f the l:iaor d'-pfrtnicnt for the past week show over 'en thousand unemployed cler-1 cler-1 ial workers, and there is oniy a slight ie- mar-.fl for this line of service ju.-t now. One of the ten ta live plur.s to in: ere-1 sold -rs still in s n ice in some definite ' ei v iia n Of a t inn is to g;ve them ln-s'ruction ln-s'ruction in practica.: farming. '"If we find, that the soldiers are Jn-' Jn-' teres t ed," says Co! one! Woods, "we will i arrange 'clashes for soldiers, so that when : t'.e-v l---ave the arrny they can enter upon farm work without rlar"-tT of the farm. A farmer hesitates to hare a green hnnd who nviv hoe v.-'-''-i aides instead of weeds, and P-'-'d oats m the o'." A simple i 'rirse in farm work wneM l-,e of i e'cJ ct h"i use aiso to m-'-n who nasi na-si der n?i a government hou'etfad. Soiac ';:.owh-u ge ui fanning is. indiirpen- V sable to the homesteader, and is useful to any man who plants even the smallest victory garden in a city backyard. The war department can probably render ren-der the most valuable assistance to the employment service by supplying to it statistics regarding occupations of discharged dis-charged soldiers. In the most complete form these would -show the occupation and address of each discharged soldier who has no prospects of immediate' employment. em-ployment. When the soldier finds permanent perma-nent work, either through his own efiorts or through those of some agency, he would notify the bureau, and his case would be dropped. Until then, every effort ef-fort would be made by the bureau, cooperating co-operating with the other employment organizations, or-ganizations, to place him in a suitable position. |