Cornell University Library HD5503.A38 1919 A report of the activities of tfie War de MENT RJETABY 3 1924 002 407 033 ,„ .t l-Ug Activities of the War Department in the Field of Industrial Relations During the War i September 15, 1919 WASHINGTON OOVEHNMliNr I'HiNTlNG OFFICE 1919 THE LIBRARY OF THE NEW YORK STATE SCHOOL OF INDUSTRIAL AND LABOR RELATIONS AT CORNELL UNIVERSITY U/;. WAR DEPARTMENT OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY A Report of the Activities of the War Department in the Field of Industrial Relations During the War i September 15, 1919 WASHINGTON GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 1919 The original of tiiis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924002407033 TABLE OP CONTENTS. Page. Letter of transmittal 5 I. Introduction 7 II. Early policies 8 III. Establishment of labor boards and commissions 10 The Cantonment Adjustment Commission 11 Board of Control for Labor Standards in Army Clothing 15 National Harness and Saddlery Adjustment Commission 19 Arsenal and Navy Yard Wage Commission 23 IV. Establishment of administrative agencies 26 General 27 Ordnance Department 28 Adjustment Branch 29 The Bridgeport case 32 The Smith & Wesson case 34 Women's Branch 35 Information Branch 36 Procurement of labor 36 Housing Branch 36 Community Organization Branch 37 Safety and Sanitation Branch 38 Employment and Training Methods Branch 39 Construction Division 39 Quartermaster Corps 41 Aircraft — Industrial Service Section 43 Loyal Legion of Loggers and Lumbermen 44 The eight-hour law 47 Maintenance of labor standards 50 Child labor 52 Control of wages, hours, and conditions of work 62 V. Relations with other Government agencies 53 National War Labor Board 54 National Adjustment Commission 56 War Labor Policies Board 57 Conference Committee of National Labor Adjustment Agencies- 57 VI. Demobilization 58 VIL Conclusion 60 VIII. Personnel ^2 Appendix ^ 3 LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL. June 1, 1919. The Secbetaet of Wae. SiK : I have the honor to transmit to you a report of the activities of the War Department in the field of industrial relations during the war. The report deals with the work of the Industrial Service Sec- tions of the various Staff Corps as it was centralized and directed from the office of the Secretary of War. There are also transmitted herewith copies of reports submitted to their respective bureaus by the Industrial Service Sections of the Ordnance Department, the Quartermaster Department, the Con- struction Division, and the Bureau of Aircraft Production. A copy of this report will be filed with the Historical Branch of the War Plans Division of the Greneral Staff. Respectfully, yours, Stanley King. REPORT OF THE ACTIVITIES OF THE WAR DEPARTMENT IN THE FIELD OF INDUSTRIAL REATIONS DURING THE WAR. I. INTRODUCTION. On April 6, 1917, the War Department had no labor problem recog- nized as such. It was, to be sure, a large employer of labor, its arse- nals and quartermaster depots being manufacturing establishments of substantial size. The only labor problem with which the War Department had been faced in recent years was an outgrowth of the introduction of the so-called Taylor system of shop management with the "task and bonus " system of pay in certain departments of the Watertown Arse- nal. The opposition of organized labor to this experiment had re- sulted in the passage of a rider to an appropriation bill wWch ne- cessitated the abandonment of the experiment some years prior to 1917. Such munitions and supplies as were required beyond the capacity of the arsenals and depots were bought in the market on sealed bids. Beyond an inspection of the plants of contractors to determine their capacity to deliver under their contracts, the department did not interest itself in the labor policies of manufacturers who were con- tractors to it. _ On November 11, 1918, the War Department was a dominant fac- tor in the industrial and labor situation in the country. Its em- ployees, direct and indirect, included the majority of all industrial workmen of the country. Its functions and activities in the field of labor included not only the adjustment of disputes, the fixing of wages and hours in many industries, but an intimate contact with such relevant subjects as housing, employment management, com- munity organizations, etc. There was no aspect of the labor prob- lem into which it did not enter. Before December 31, 1918, the War Department, so far as labor was concerned, had reverted substantially to a peace-time basis — ; the exceptions being Jimited to a new policy, an outgrowth of the war-time experience — in the management of its arssnals, and to the liquidation of labor obligations assumed during the pendency of hostilities. The history of this development is the subject matter of this report. 7 8 WAE DEFT. ACTIVITIES ^FIELD 01? INDTJSTUIAIi EELATIOITS. II. EARLY POLICIES. The first authoritative statement of the Government's position on the labor problem in the war was made by the Council of National Defense speaking by the Secretary of Labor on April 23, 1917 : The Council of National Defense takes this position: That the standards that have been established by law, by mutual agreemnt or by custom, should not be changed at this time; that wliere either an employer or .an employee has been unable under normal conditions to change the standards to their own liking, they should not take advantage of the present abnormal conditions to establish new standards. That employers and employees in private industries should not attempt to take advantage of the existing abnormal conditions to change the standards which they were unable to change under normal conditions. Enunciated by the Council of Defense ^ it represented the policy of the administration rather than the policy of a particular depart- ment. While it was obviously incomplete and inadequate as a plat- form, it served to summon all parties in industry to a common coop- erative support of the Government and it served as a basis for de- partmental interpretatioD until a more comprehensive policy based on war experience could be evolved. The development of such poli- cies came so slowly that for many months the council's pronounce- ment reiterated from time to time in somewhat varying form was the basis of the Government's policy. On November 12, 1917, President "Wilson delivered an address be- fore the International Convention of the American Federation of Labor in Buffalo. The President said that the Government had de- clared its purpose to "see that the conditions of labor are not ren- dered more onerous by the war but also that we shall see to it that the instrumentalities by which the conditions of labor are improved are not blocked or checked." Further on he declared, " Nobody has a right to stop the processes of labor until all the methods of concilia- tion and settlement have been exhausted" and "The fundamental lesson of the whole situation is that we must not only take common counsel but that we must yield to and obey common counsel." The President also intimated that new instrumentalities for adjust- ment were to be created. Just two days later in Baltimore the Secretary of War addressing the annual convention of the National Consumers' League advised everyone present " to set his face resolutely against everything that on any pretext seeks to break down those barriers which we have set up by years of patient labor against the enervation and dissipa- tion of the child life and the woman life and of the man life of this 'The Council of National Defense is composea of the Secretaries of War, Navy, Inte- rior, Agriculture, Commerce, and Labor, under the presidency of the Secretary of War. EAELY POLICIES. 9 country." The Secretary of War in this address emphasized the fact that the efficiency of labor is not promoted by a lengthening of hours or reducing of wages. On October 15, 1917, the Chief of Ordnance, with the approval of t^e Secretary of War, issued General Orders No. 13, and a similar general order was issued at the same time by the Quartermaster Gen- eral of the Army. These orders suggested a maximum 10-hour day and a standard 8-hour day for men; time and a half for overtime; a half day on Saturday with one day of rest in seven ; adequate pro- tection against hazards and provisions for sanitation; the mainte- nance of existing standards ; the basing of a minimum wage upon the cost of living; the elimination of competitive bidding for labor among manufacturers; collective bargaining; the avoidance of em- ploying women on night shifts ; rest periods and adequate meal hours for women ; and the abolition of tenement-house work. General Or- ders No. 13 ordered specifically compliance with the Federal child-^ labor law. Wliile circunistances were not such as to render appro- priate the issuance of definite orders upon these subjects, the Chief of Ordnance pointed out that the suggestions contained in General Orders No. 13 were commended to the careful consideration of ar- senal commanders and all contractors executing orders for his de- partment, especially those manufacturers who were operating upon a cost-plus basis of compensation. — The full text of General Orders No. 13 appears in the appendix. On November 21, 1917, the Secretary of War in an official state- ment to the munitions manufacturers of Connecticut went somewhat further in requesting that the munitions manufacturers enter into an agreement with the War Department that labor disputes which threatened to delay and diminish the production of munitions and which could not be settled directly between the management and its employees 'should be disposed of through the intervention of .the Secretary of War. In this address the Secretary of War pointed out that in asking workers of the country to give a continuous and ac- celerated supply of munitions without interruption, the Government must be in a position to assure them of another and more peaceful machinery for the settlement of questions which had previously been decided through the agency of a strike. The Secretary reiterated the position of the department that its action was based upon the prime factor of production in the following words: It is no part of my purpose to interfere needlessly with the relations between you and your employees. The War Department has no theories to exploit and no other purpose except the one which I hold in common with you and your workers, to see that our armies In the field are not disappointed and ren- dered powerless in the presence of their adversary through the failure of the necessary supplies for the procurement of which contracts with you are to be made. 10 WAK DEPT. ACTIVITIES AFIELD OF INDtTSTEIAL RELATIONS. No further formal announcement of the Government's platform on the labor situation was enunciated until the report of War Labor Conference Board was promulgated by the President by proclama- tion on the 8th of April, 1918. Thereafter the principles so pro- claimed became the platform upon which all departments of tfie Government worked. The President's proclamation in full appears in the appendix. III. ESTABLISHMENT OF LABOR BOARDS AND COMMISSIONS. The war did not immediately and obviously affect the labor situa- tion. Government buying, it is true, began to mount rapidly, but resulted at first in nothing more than a rapid acceleration in indus- trial production. The first labor problem to confront the department arose with the building of cantonments. The passage of the selective-service law insured the man power of the Army. The mobilization plans of the General Staff provided for calling up the first increment of the new Army in September. By late May plans were well in hand for the erection of 16 national Army cantonments. Each cantonment was to be a small city, and scarcely three months were available for their construction if mobiU- zation was not to be delayed. This involved a larger building pro- gram than the country had ever undertaken. Doubts as' to its feasi- bility were heard on every hand. That the vast amount of neces- sary material could be assembled and erected, that the necessary utilities — ^water system, lighting system, sewer system could be installed — on land not yet cleared and from plans not yet com- pleted might well give one pause. Speed was of the essence. Any interruption of the process would be serious. The French and British missions had convinced the Government of the dire need of an American Army on the western fFMit. And yet the hazards of building operations were notorious. Where had strikes been more numerous, jurisdictional disputes more trying, and delays more constant than in building construction? It was at this juncture — and to meet this situation — that the Secre- tary of War entered into an informal agreement with Mr. Samuel Gompers, president of the American Federation of Labor, which formed the basis of the department's entire labor policy in its subse- quent building program. Wae Department, Washington, June 19, 1917, For the adjustment and control of wages, hours, and conditions of labor in the construction of cantonments, there shall be created an adjustment commis- sion of three persons, appointed by the Secretary of War — one to represent the Army, one the public, and one labor ; the lust to be nominated by Samuel Gom- ESTABLISHMENT OF LABOE BOAKDS AND COMMISSIONS. 11 pers, member of the Advisory Commission of the Council of National Defense, and president of the American Federation of Labor. As basic standards with reference to each cantonment, such commission shall use the union scales of wages, hours, and condition in force on June 1, 1917, In the locality where such cantonment is situated. Consideration shall be given to special circumstances, if any, arising after said date which may require particular advances In wages or changes in other standards. Adjustments of wages, hours, or conditions made by such board are to be treated as binding by all parties. Newton D. Bakeb. Samttel Gomfebs. the cantonment adjustment commission. Under this agreement was erected the Cantonment -Adjustment Commission, the first of the many boards and commissions created by various agencies of the Government during the war to deal with the labor situation. As members of the commission the Secretary of War appointed Gen. Garlington, Assistant Chief of Staff, to repre- sent the Army ; Mr. John E. Alpine, president of the International Association of Plumbers and Steam Fitters and vice president of the American Federation of Labor, to represent labor ; Walter Lippman, of New York, formerly editor of the New Eepublic, to represent the public. The commission was immediately organized, secured oflSces in the "War Department, and adopted a method of procedure, which was forthwith transmited through military channels to the constructing quartermasters on all cantonment jobs and through union channels to all locals in the building trades of the country. The cantonments were all from the necessities of the situation built on cost plus contracts, and all questions of wages, hours, and condi- tions of work were under these contracts placed under the jurisdic- tion of the constructing quartermasters. Under orders issued by the officer in charge of construction, Gen^ (then colonel) Littell, all orders of the commission were made mandatory on all constructing quartermasters. The commission, therefore, obtained directly and immediately a directing power in the labor problems incident to the building of the cantonments. The first immediate problem was that of the closed shop, and this was quickly disposed of by an exchange of letters between Mr. Louis B. Wehle, who acted as counsel for the commission during its early days, and Mr. Gompers, clearing the ground as to this point once and for all. Although the question of the closed shop was presented to the commission many times in subsequent months with disarming plausibility, the commission ruled in every case that the closed shop was not a union condition, the maintenance of which was prescribed to the department by the agreement of June 19. The commission's 12 WAK DEPT. ACTIVITIES ^FIELD OF INDUSTRIAL EELATIONS. policy was that a contractor who desired to maintain the dosed shop was free to do so, while the contractor who wished to operate an open-shop basis was equally entitled to do so. The commission ruled, however, at a later date that no contractor under its jurisdiction could discriminate against a man because of Ms membership in a union, thus in effect legislating against the closed nonunion shop on construction jobs. To effectively administer the problem, the commission divided the country into districts and in each district appointed an examiner, who should serve on a per diem compensation. The examiners were all selected with the unanimous approval of the members of the com- mission^ so that no question of their fairness and impartiality might subsequently arise. The commission's procedure in dealing with a labor dispute was simple and direct. Where a contractor and his eriiployees failed to agree upon a question of wages or working conditions, the facts were submitted to the constructing quartermaster, who certified them to the commission with such comments and recommendations as he could add. The men if they belonged to a local union would submit a separate statement of their case to the Washington representative of their international union, who would present it to the commission. If the facts were clear and not in dispute, the commission would, rule immediately, notifying the constructing quartermaster through mili- tary channels and the men through union channels of its decision. If the facts, however, were in dispute or the question complicated, the commission would direct its district examiner to proceed immediately to the job, and investigate, and report the facts with his recom- mendation. On the basis of his report the commission would rule on the case. The meetings of the commission were always informal. One and usually two members of the commission were always in Washington. Its decisions were prompt. Through the constructing quartermaster on the job the commission's rulings were made immediately effective, without delay or question. As a result, it became possible for either side which was aggrieved in any dispute to secure prompt and sub- stantial justice, unimpeded by technicalities or formal requirements. The result of the commission's work during the summer of 1917 was suflSciently attested by the fact that the cantonments of the country were constructed without any substantial interruption due to strike or lockout or other labor disturbance. Cantonments were ready to receive the first increment pf the National Army at the time set. It is doubtful whether any previous building operation of coniparable magnitude has ever been carried through in this country before with- out serious labor controversy. ESTABLISHMENT OE" LABOB BOARDS AND COMMISSIONS. 13 On July 27, 1917, a supplemental memorandum was signed by the Secretary of War and Mr. Gompers providing that the arrangement of June 19 with reference to cantonment construction might on. order of the Secretary of War be extended to embrace any other construc- tion work which was then being or from time to time thereafter dur- ing the war might be carried on by the War Department. On August 8 the construction of aviation fields was by Executive order placed, under the jurisdiction of the commission. On September 14 the con- struction of warehouses and storage facilities was placed under the jurisdiction of the commission. On December 28, 1917, an Executive order directed that all construction work undertaken by the War Department during the present emergency should be carried on un- der arrangement for the adjustment of wages, hours, and conditions of labor entered into by Mr. Gompers and the Secretary of War on June 19. The completion of the cantonments proved to be only the beginning rather than the end of the department's construction pro- gram, as each month saw the program increase until substantially a half million men were engaged at one time on construction work for the War Department. The early decisions of the commission had built up a series of precedents which guided its subsequent decisions. Although the pe>v- sonnel of the commission changed, and although for a considerable period of its existence it consisted of only two members, it continued to function promptly and effectively. From its organization in June, 1917, until the cessation of hostilities on November 11, 1918, it acted in every case by unanimous vote. Throughout the period of the war no substantial interruption occurred in the building program of the department at any time or any place due to a labor dispute. During the same period the decisions of the commission were accepted in every case without question or appeal. The commission was pre- pared to recommend that drastic measures be taken to fill the places of any men refusing to accept its decision. In one or two, instances with the approval of the commission the department substituted en- listed, men for civilian employees for a period of a few days. No further action was necessary to convince the workers of the futility and unwisdom of withholding immediate and complete obedience to the commission's orders. In viewing the work of the commission it is obvious that perhaps the main factor contributing to its success was the wisdom and patience and tireless devotion to the Government interest of Mr. John E. Alpine, who represented labor on the commission through- out the period of its existence. It is doubtful whether any other man could have been found in the labor movement who combined so many qualities essential to the formulation, and administration of a 14 WAE DEBT. ACTIVITIES ^FIELD OF INDTJSTKIAL KELATIONS. wise labor policy in the field of building construction. Without him the work of the commission could not have succeeded. The memorandum establishing the commission was a new depar- ture in the Government's relation to labor. It immediately placed the War Department in the position of recognizing that the union conditions prevailing on June 1, 1917, in the building trades were essentially fair. Instead of going into the labor market-and buying the labor necessary for the construction of the cantonments at the lowest possible rates, the department by a single step adopted the rates which had been fixed by negotiation between organized labor and organized contractors as a fair basis. Instead of providing that the cost of living should be the yardstick, with the complications which would result in determining at different times in different parts of the country by different mathematical computations the changes which had occurred, the War Department chose a simpler and less controversial standard. As the building and industrial op- erations of the Government developed to a point where they absorbed all the available labor in the country, and as the man power of the country was depleted by the draft of successive increments into the Army, the bargaining power of labor under the old law of supply and demand became immensely enhanced. That the adoption of the policy of June 19 caused an initial increase in cost of the building operations of the department is obvious. That the Government could have carried through its building program up to the cessation of hostilities at as low a cost as obtained on any other basis of pay- ment than that adopted is doubtful. That the Government could have carried through its program without interruption or delay due to labor controversies on any other basis than that adopted is prob- ably not open to question. In making war, speed becomes the vital matter and cost a matter of secondary importance. In this war the time element was of predominant seriousness. The War Department building program with labor difficulties eliminated went forward with a speed and a sureness which were of vital concern. The value of these factors can not be measured in terms of dollars and cents. That the basis on which they were secured cost the department in the end more, however, is unlikely. The memorandum of June 19 was expressly intended to apply to the construction of cantonments. When the department's program continu:ed to grow larger and extended into 1918 it was obvious that the rapidly increasing cost of living made it both unfair and impos- sible to hold the labor of the country to the rates of June 1, 1917. Under the clause of the original agreement providing that "con- sideration shall be given to special circumstances, if any, arising after said date which may require particular advances in wages or ESTABLISHMENT OF LABOE BOAEDS AND COMMISSIONS. 15 changes in other standards," the commission adopted the policy of changing its rates in particular localities whenever the organized workmen of the locality had established a new rate by bona fide agreements made with the organized employers of the vicinity. Upon proof that a new rate had been so established, the commission, adopted that rate as the prevailing union rate of a locality. In June, 1918, the name of the commission was changed from the Cantonment Adjustment Commission to the Emergency Wage Adjustment Commission to more accurately describe the work which the commission was carrying on. At the same time an informal arrangement was entered into with the Navy Department under which a representative of that department sat with the commission on all matters, the decision of which would affect the Navy building operations. As a result, thie wages and conditions of work main- tained by the two departments on construction work was brought into harmony and competition between the departments for building labor was substantially eliminated. The detailed administrative work of the commission, which neces- sarily increased rapidly, was delegated to the Industrial Service Bureau of the Administrative Section of the Construction Division of the Army, which had been established in the fall of 1917 under the direction of Col. (then Maj.) J. H. Alexander. The work of this division will be summarized at a later point. BOARD or CONTROL TOR LABOR STANDARDS IN ARMY CLOTHING. In the early days of the war one of the first articles of merchandise to reach quantity production under contract with the War Depart- ment was Army clothing. The conditions under which clothing can be manufactured lend themselves easily to abuse. The clothing in- dustry for many years suffered from sweatshop competition. And when the War Department began to let contracts for its tremen- dously increased needs it was quite natural that some of the contracts should fall into the hands of men who were more interested in the production of uniforms on the dates contracted for than in the con- ditions under which the uniforms were made. Obviously the matter was one of great concern to the War Department. Not only did it require a large and increasing flow of finished uniforms into its depots to clothe the successive increments of the National Army and to provide for stocks and for the replacement of worn clothing, but it was of first importance that these uniforms should not be made under conditions which would render easy the transfer of contagious germs from the sweatshop workers to the districts where the Army was to be gathered. This consideration was an important factor in addition to the anxiety throughout the country for maintaining exist- 16 WAB DEPT. ACTIVITIES AFIELD OF INDUSTRIAL EELATIONS. ing standards of labor, so that the conditions of the industrial army which was needed to support the Army in the field would not dete- riorate. As the complaints began to come in to the department criticizing the conditions under which Army uniforms were being made, par- ticularly in Ifew York City, the Secretary of War on July 20, 1917, appointed a committee of three to study conditions in the garment industry affecting the making of uniforms. The personnel of the committee included, Louis E. Kirstein, chairman, a partner in Wm. Filene & Sons Co., Boston, and formerly a manufacturer of clothing, Mrs. Florence Kelley, secretary of the National Con- sumers' League of New York. At a subsequent date Capt. Walter E. Kreusi, of the Quartermaster Department, was added to the committee. At the same time the Quartermaster General of the Army instructed the depot quartermasters of the appointment of the committee and directed them to furnish the committee with a list of contractors and individuals to whom contracts had been awarded for making uniforms, together with proper credentials to all contractors, enabling the committee to secure such informa- tion as it needed. The committee was aided by the mayor's com- mittee on national defense of New York, and by such other agencies as could offer assistance. On August 11 the committee submitted its report, which, after describing the conditions which it found, made certain specific recommendations, (a) The adoption of a new form of clothing contract incorporating terms to insure better deliveries of gar- ments manufactured under decent standards. (&) The employment of safeguards to see that the bidders are qualified to accept con- tracts and avoid the tendency of giving contracts to " fly-by-night " shops or sweatshops, (c) The employment of inspectors to supervise the enforcement of the contract after it is let and until delivery of'- goods, {d) Preference in letting contracts to manufacturers operating under collective agreements with organized labor. A full report of the committee appears in the appendix. On August 22 the Secretary of War formally approved the re- port of the committee and established a Board of Control for Labor Standards in Army Clothing, with power to carry out the recom- mendations of the committee. The members of the committee were appointed to the new board. By September 12 the board of control had submitted a new form of contract to the manufacturers of Army clothing for the formal approval of the Quartermaster General. The contract contained provisions to assure a fair wage, proper working and sanitary con- ditions for the workers, and provided the necessary means for seeing that these conditions were enforced. The contract at the same time ESTABLISHMENT OP LABOR BOAKDS AND COMMISSIONS. 17 assured a fair return for the contractor. It was the belief of the committee that the grievances which had arisen in tlie past would be largely eliminated by the proposal of the contract and that de-r cent industrial standards would be established and maintained by the Government in the purchase of its Army clothing. Further- more, it was believed that the adoption of- the contract with its pro- visions for inspection would insure the delivery of Army clothing on date called for in the contract, a condition which had not obtained previously, due to the fact that contracts had come into the hands of irresponsible and incompetent contractors. The Board of Control for Labor Standards opened offices in New York at 116 West Thirty-second Street and immediately began to develop an organization to carry out the work for which they were appointed. The Quartermaster General of thei Army issued instruc- tions to the depot quartermasters requiring them to submit a list of prospective bidders of Army clothing to the board of control. The board, through its inspection service, would determine whether the proposed bidder maintained satisfactory conditions in his plant, whether his operations were carried on in accordance with the State labor laws," and whether the proper conditions obtained in his plant for fire protection. If the inspection proved satisfactory, the bid- der's name was certified to the Quartermaster Department as the proper recipient for a contract. The Quartermaster Department then let contracts to approved bidders in accordance with their usual practice. If the inspection did not develop the fact that the pro- posed bidder maintained satisfactory conditions, he was advised as to what changes it would be necessary for him to make to secure the approval of the board and upon the completion of such changes his name was certified to the Quartermaster Department. In addition to this preliminary inspection previous to the approval of a manufacturer as a bidder, the board of control maintained a continual inspection of conditions in the plants of contractors. Furthermore, in the event of labor difficulties in a plant manufactur- ing goods for the Quartermaster Department, the board tendered its good offices to mediate the controversy. j The usual labor problems incident to the large scale of production of necessary suppplies for the Army in time of war were aggravated manyfold by the peculiar union conditions existing in the men's garment industry. Two competing and irreconcilable unions held the field. The United Garment Workers of America, of which Mr. Thomas Eickert was president, was affiliated with the American Federation of Labor. The Amalgamated Garment Workers Associ- ation, of which Mr. Sidney Hillman was president, was made up of workers in the industry who had seceded from the American Federa- 127785—19 2 18 WAE DEPT. ACTrVITIES ^FIELD OF INDUSTEIAL RELATIONS. tion of Labor and established an independent union, which was regarded by the federation as an outlaw organization. The interne- cine strife between the so-called outlaw union and the so-called regular union was more bitter than the usual competition between union and nonunion labor. The parties were irreconcilable and such efforts as were made by tlie War Department to bring them to an understanding were fruitless. With the rapidly increasing demands of the War Department for clothing to equip its new Army, with the limited number of skilled workers in the industry, and with the gradually depleted man-power supply due to the withdrawal of the younger men from industry to the Army, the Government was de- pendent upon both organizations. The Secretary of War adopted the policy of maintaining an attitude of strict impartiality between the two organizations. As a result, it was, of course, impossible to adopt the normal course of having a representative of labor ap- pointed to the board of control, and it was also impossible to appoint any person who had been connected with either organization as an impartial arbitrator in any labor controversy that might arise in th« manufacture of Army clothing. The controversy came to a head in a labor difficulty which arose in the plant of Mark Cowan & Co., of 787 Broadway, New York. The essential facts as gathered by the inspectors of the board of control were as follows : The majority of the employees of this con- cern who were members of the Amalgamated Garment Workers' Union went on strike, filed a complaint with the board of control that the contractor was not maintaining the hours and working conditions required by the regulations of the board. The board brought the matter to the attention of the contractor, who replied that he had an agreement with the United Clothing Workers of America, a rival organization, and that he was prepared to operate his plant with the members of this organization, maintaining the hours and conditions of work required by the board. The board set a date for hearing, but Mr. Cowan did not attend. The question presented was whether a labor dispute between a contractor and one union could be settled by an agreement between the contractor and a rival organization. The controversy was aggravated by the refusal of the contractor to sub- mit to the jurisdiction of the board after he had entered into an agreement with the United Clothing Workers. The board refused to certify the contractor to the Quartermaster's Department for fur- ther contracts until he should submit to their jurisdiction. The mat- ter was finally carried to the general officers of the American Federa- tion of Labor, and after a hearing by the board, at which Mr. Samuel Gompers argued at length, the contractor submitted to the board's jurisdiction and the controversy was finally adjusted. Curiously enough, the main question of the controversy was not finally passed ESTABLISHMENT OF LABOR BOAEDS AND COMMISSIONS. 19 on by the board, as the contractor had during the intervening time been able to completely man his factory with members of the United Garment Workers' Association, and the striking members of the Amalgamated Garment Workers had secured employment in other shops. The pioneer and development work of the board was finished in the early Avinter. Its policies had been established. The subsequent ad- ministrative work could probably be dealt with more effectively by a single responsible officer. As a result, the Secretary of War, in De- cember, 1917, by Executive order, dissolved the board and transferred its duties and responsibilities to the Administrator of Labor Stand- ards in Army Clothing. Mr. Louis E. Kirstein, former chairman of the board, was appointed administrator, reporting directly to the chief of the Industrial Service Section of the Quartermaster's De- partment. The transfer of responsibility from the board to a single adminis- trator produced immediate increase in efficiency and dispatch, and throughout the remainder of the war the office of the Administrator of Labor Standards in Army Clothing functioned smoothly and ef- fectively and performed an invaluable service to the Government in the production of the clothing for the Army. Subsequently it became necessary for Mr. Kirstein to return to his private affairs and the place was filled by Prof. William Z. Kipley, of Harvard University, who continued to administer the office until its dissolution in Decem- ber, 1918, after the cessation of hostilities. The work of the office can best be illustrated by a series of typical decisions presented by the administrator, which will be found in the appendix. It is to be noted that substantially all controversies in which the members of the Amalgamated Union were involved were referred to the administrator of labor standards for adjustment, as the Amal- gamated Union, being classed as an outlaw by the American Federa- tion of Labor, did not recognize the jurisdiction of the National War Labor Board. NATIONAL HARNESS AND SADDLERY ADJUSTMENT COMMISSION. In order to meet the requirements of the Army provided for by the General Staff, the Quartermaster General and the Chief of Ordnance placed contracts for harness and saddlery which taxed the entire productive capacity of the country in these lines. The comple- tion of deliveries under contracts in accordance with their terms was of prime importance. Contracts were placed with harness and saddlery manufacturers located from Atlantic to Pacific coasts and from Minnesota to Texas. Previous to our entering the war the har- ness and saddlery industry had passed through a period of somewhat restricted production, due, among other causes, to the increasing use of 20 WAB DEPT. ACTIVITIES ^FIELD OF INDUSTEIAL EEIATIONS. the automobile and the decreasing need for harness and saddles, and as a result the standard of wages in the industry had not progressed commensurably with wages in other lines of industry. In August, 1917, demands were made for increased pay by workmen in the fac- tories of a number of contractors, and upon these requests being de- clined strikes had been called. The War Department learned on in- vestigation that a general strike of the entire industry was threat- ened. Had the strike occurred it would have seriously crippled the Government's production program and would have : materially "de- layed the equipment of the Army. To meet the situation a meeting of the principal contractors was called in Chicago on September 26, 1917, at. which 46 contractors, were present. The meeting was attended by the chief of the re- mount section of the Quartermaster Department, by an officer from the Eock Island Arsenal detailed by the Chief of Ordnance to repre- sent the Ordnance Department, by an attorney of the Council of Nationa-1 Defense, and by a special representative of the Secretary of War. The War Department suggested to the contractors as a means of settling the strike and avoiding future labor controversy during the period of the war the establishment of a board of arbitration to deal with pending and all subsequent labor questions. After full dis- cussion, the meeting voted by 45 votes in the affirmative and none in the negative in favor of the Government's suggestion. An agreement providing for the establishment of the National Harness and Sad- dlery Adjustment Commission was submitted at the meeting and signed by the contractors of the Government, and subsequently signed by the president of the United Leather Workers' International Union, under which the union agreed not to strike during the period of the war, the contractors agreed to submit any labor controversy arising during the war to the final decision of the commission, and the Government agreed that in case the commission should render decisions which resulted in increased labor cost, it would make com- pensatory adjustment to the manufacturer on his contracts with the department. A copy of the agreement is given in the Appendix. The agreement was subsequently approved by the Secretary of War and the commission appointed. Mr. Henry Diegel was ap- pointed to represent contractors upon unanimous nomination of all the contractors present at the Chicago meeting. Mr. W. E. Bryan, president of the United Leatherworkers International Union, was appointed to represent the workers. A circular letter was thereupon sent to all contractors not present at the meeting, advising them of the action of the meeting and inviting them to become parties to the agreement. As a result substantially 95 per cent of all the contractors with the department in this line became signatory to the agreement and submitted themselves to the jurisdiction of ESTABLISHMENT OF LABOR BOAEDS AND- COMMISSIONS. 21 the commission. The only large contractor who declined to follow the Govermnent's suggestion was the firm of Perkins & Campbell of Cincinnati, which firm, because of the peculiar nature of its business, deemed it inadvisable to become parties to the Chicago agreement, but by an exchange of letters with the Secretary of War they agreed to submit any labor controversy arising in their plant as long as they were contractors with the department to the Secretary of War for decision, thus placing themselves in substan- tially the same position as their competitors in the industry. On October 20 the commission after full hearing handed down a decision providing the basis of 50 cents per hour for skilled workers in the industry throughout the country. On operations paid by the piece, piece prices were to be established by the respective manu- factures at such an amount as would produce a wage of 50 cents per hour for the average skilled mechanic. Appropriate exception was made for apprentices and for those who because of age or partial disability were incapable of performing the work of a skilled mechanic. New rates of pay were to become effective November 1, 1917. The commission also ruled upon two questions presented to it regarding the application of the 8-hour law. In July, 1918, the union presented a request for an average increase in wage based upon the increase in the cost of living since November 1, 1917. After a full hearing, and after a conference with the industry, the com- mission decided unanimously in favor of an increase of 20 per cent, bringing the rate for skilled mechanics up to 60 cents per hour. The advanced rate was already being paid to the skilled workers in the harness and saddlery shop in the Eock Island Arsenal. The enlargement of the department's harness and saddlery pro- ject consequent upon the proposed enlargement of the Army taxed the productive capacity of the industry to such an extent as to substantially exhaust the entire supply of sidlled workers in the industry in the country. There was a natural tendency among the contractors to bid against each other for labor. To meet this situa- tion the commission ruled that no contractor should pay above the standard wages fixed by the commission. The tendency then devel- oped among certain contractors to increase the number of hours per week and thus increase the weekly earnings of their men, so as to draw from the shops of their competitors. The increase in labor turnover became so serious and was so disadvantageous to the Gov- ernment that the commission, after conference with the industry, established a standard of hours per week beyond which it would not permit any contractor to go without special authority- from the commission. The standard of hours was fixed at 68 for the winter months. 22 WAE DEPT. ACTIVITIES FIELD 03? INDUSTKIAI. BELATIONS. To adjust the numerous questions which arose from time to time in the plants of individual contractors, as to whether they were pay- ing the prevailing scale fixed by the commission and as to the classi- fication of individual employees, the Quartermaster Department, on the recommendation of the commission, appointed a special traveling representative, Mr. Luther C. White, of Windsor, Vt. Mr. White moved from plant to plant, passing upon individual grievances. After the appointment of the commission no strike of any serious importance developed in the industry throughout the period of the war. In less than half a dozen cases a cessation of work occurred at individual plants, but upon the matter being explained to the em- ployees they immediately returned to work and submitted to the jurisdiction of the commission. The Government's program for har- ness and saddles was thus enabled to proceed at a maximum speed without interruption. The policy of the commission in establishing a standard wage and standard hours for the entire industry through- out the country reduced labor turnover to a minimum. The success of the commission's activities was due in large measure to the con- tinuous cooperation with the commission received from the industry, from organized labor, and to the wisdom and ability of Mr. Luther White in dealing with the individual grievances of the men promptly and effectively. This is perhaps one case where the Government in the execution of its labor policy was able to deal comprehensively and effectively with an entire industry and to substitute for the strike and lockout an orderly method of determination of questions without interruption of work. To meet the growing scarcity of skilled workers in the industry the commission recommended the appointment by the Department of Labor of a special recruiting office for harness and saddlery workers. This work was undertaken by a man of long experience in the indus- try and resulted in combing the country for the entire skilled per- sonnel of the industry. To meet the department's obligation of making a compensatory adjustment with contractors, the commission called for sworn state- ments of increase in labor cost from each contractor. Statements of contractors which showed an increase of not above the average for all contractors were approved by the commission. On state- ments which showed an increased labor cost greater than the average for all contractors, it was ruled by the commission that compensatory adjustnffent should be made on the basis of the average percentage and the contractor should then be requested to furnish additional supporting data. When the contracting officer was satisfied as to the accurateness of such further labor cost, final compensatory adjust- ment was to be made for the remaining balance to such extent as ESTABLISHMENT OF LABOE BOAKDS AND COMMISSIOSTS. 23 might be approved by the contracting officer but not to exceed the amount of the original sworn statement. The Comptroller of the Treasury ruled that the Chicago agreement of September 26 was not a binding obligation upon the War De- partment and that therefore the department was not in a position to make compensatory adjustments under this contract. Ordnance contractors whose original contracts contained the so-called labor disputes clause providing that any labor controversy arising during the execution of the contract should be submitted to the Secretary of War for decision, and providing further for compensatory ad- justment based on such decision, were paid their additional com- pensation under this clause. Quartermaster Department contracts in which this clause did not appear were denied compensatory ad- justment by the comptroller because di the informality of the exe- cution of the Chicago agreement on the part of the War Depart- ment. Because the good faith of the department was involved, the Secre- tary of War brought the matter to the attention of the Secretary of the Treasury and requested a reconsideration of the comptroller of his decision. The comptroller found it impossible- to reach any dif- ferent result and the Secretary of War thereupon recommended to the chairman of the Military Affairs Committee of the Senate and of the House the enactment of legislation drafted by the Judge Ad- vocate General of the Army providing for the payment of the claims of the harness and saddlery manufacturers. Bills were introduced in both Houses but failed to pass. Senator Chamberlain, chairman of the Military Affairs Committee of the Senate advised the Secre- tary of War imder date of January 30, 1919, " I shall be glad to in- troduce the bill as you request but I can not say it meets with my approval." The War Department upon the enactment of the so-called Dent bill dealing generally with contracts of the department which had been held by the comptroller to be informally executed, attempted immediately to liquidate claims of the harness and saddlery con- tractors. The matter is now in proper shape for final action by way of payment of all approved claims. Upon the cessation of hostilities the War Department arranged for the prompt termination of all harness and saddlery contracts. The work of the commission having been completed by the termina- tion of contracts, the commission was formally dissolved by order of the Secretary of War on January 15, 1919. ABSENAL AND NAVT-YAED WAGE COMMISSION. At the outbreak of the war the War Department was operating a group of manufacturing plants known as arsenals. The principal 24 WAB DEPT. ACTIVITIES ^FIELD OF INDTTSTKIAIi EELATIONS. arsenals were located at Watertown, Mass., Springfield, Mass., Water- vliet, N. Y., Picatinny, N. J. ; Frankford Arsenal at Philadelphia, Pa., and the Eock Island Arsenal at Rock Island, 111, These Govern- ment plants were operated by civilian workers, men and women, under the direction of officers of the Regular Army detailed from time to time for such purpose. The hours of labor were fixed by the Congress at eight hours per day. The rates of pay were fixed under the law at the prevailing rates in the vicinity for comparable work. The employees were under the civil service and were entitled to certain additional perquisites under the law, including a vacation with pay and sick leave with pay. The conditions of work were otherwise such as prevailed in other plants, neither particularly good nor par- ticularly bad. The skilled employees of the arsenals were in general well or- ganized in trade-unions affiliated with the international associations making up the American Federation of Labor. For the most part they belonged to the metal trades and the leather workers. The miscellaneous skilled employees were partially organized in an as- sociation of Federal employees affiliated with the American Federa- tion of Labor. The method of pay was largely day work; howevei', in some of the arsenals piece rates played a substantial part, the piece rates dating back for many years. The employees were rated in various grades of skill under the civil service, the usual practice be- ing to grade the employees of a particular craft into five classes. The navy yards located on the Atlantic and Pacific coasts were somewhat similar manufacturing plants under the jurisdiction of the Navy Department. They were siinilarly organized and the work in arsenals and navy yards was to some extent comparable, although the arsenal work had for many years been supposed to comprise a larger volume of so-called repeat work. The usual practice of fixing wages in the atsenals was for the commanding officer, upon receiving a request from a particular craft for a reconsideration of its wage schedule, to appoint a wage board from the officials of the arsenal to collect data as to the wages paid in private manufacturing plants in the vicinity doing comparable work. The employees would send out a committee to get similar statistics. Based upon the facts so gathered, the commanding officer if satisfied that an increase in wage scale was justified would' sub- mit a recommendation to the Chief of Ordnance, without whose ap- proval no change could be made. "TTie heavy demands for labor resulting from the war, the rapid increase in wage scales in private industry, the steadily mounting cost of living, and the resulting competition for labor made the nor- mal method of adjusting wages in the arsenals cumbersome and inelastic. Furthermore, it became important that the wage scales ESTABLISHMENT OF LABOR BOARDS AND COMMISSIONS. 25 in the navy yards and the arsenals should be kept in balance and that no radical change should be made by either department with- out previous conference with the other department. To deal with the situation the Secretary of War, the Secretary of • the Navy, and the Secretary of Labor, on August 15, 1917, appointed the Arsenal and Navy Yard Wage Commission, composed of Frank- lin D. Roosevelt, Assistant Secretary of the Navy; Walter Lipp- mann, representing the War Department; and William Blackman, representing the Department of Labor. In September, 1917, changes of organization in the departments resulted in the appointment of Rowland B. Mahany in place of Mr. Blackman as the representative of the Department of Labor, and of Stanley King in place of Mr. Lippmann as the representative of the War Department. Hearings were held by the commision in August and September, 1917, as a result of which a new scale of wages was established in the navy yards. The AVar Department representative on the commission be- lieved that better results could be accomplished, so far as the War Department was concerned, by passing upon the question after hear- ings at each arsenal rather than by transferring the decision of the entire Question to Washington. As a result Maj. (then Capt.) B. H. Gitchell, of the Ordnance Department, was appointed as the commission's representative to proceed to the various arsenals, con- duct hearings, confer with commanding officers, and submit a re- port with recommendations for action. Maj. Gitchell handled the matter with such unusual skill and discretion that at each arsenal he was able to secure an agreement between the commanding officer and the representatives of the men as to the action to be taken. Maj. Gitchell's recommendations were formally approved by the commission and made effective on November 1, 1917. On April 1, 1918, the question was reopened. It was clear that while wages had been substantially advanced in the preceding six months, the cost of living had advanced, and in particular that the Shipbuilding Wage Adjustment Board, better known as the Macy Board, had established scales of pay in the shipyards which were radically in excess of the arsenal scale. Maj. Gitchell handled the matter again with the commanding officers, with representatives of the men at the various arsenals, and again reached an agreement in each case, and a new scale was installed by the direction of the com- mission on May 1, 1918. It was made effective for six months. On October 1, 1918, the question was reopened because of the changes in general wage levels and the cost of living and because of the further advance having been made by the Shipbuilding Wage Adjustment Board. Maj. Gitchell again conducted negotiations with the arsenals and employees, and a new scale was established on November 1, 1918, involving a further advance of approximately 15 26 WAB DEPT. ACTIVITIES ^FIELD OF INDUSTEIAL EELATIONS. per cent above the rate of May 1, for employees receiving less than 70 cents per hour, and 10 per cent for those receiving over 70 cents per hour. In each case the Navy followed its original plan of conducting negotiations in Washington. The War and Navy Departments in each case before taking action conferred in detail, so that the advances as made were similarly timed and were approximately equal in per- centage of advance. The commission held no formal meetings after September, 1917, but acted entirely by informal conference. IV. ESTABLISHMENT OF ADMINISTRATIVE AGENCIES. At the outbreak of the war the Secretary of War recognized the vital importance of a proper relation to the labor problem by the War Department. He appointed Mr. Felix Frankfurter, professor of law at Harvard University, as a special assistant to the Secretary of War to deal with this problem. In June, 1917, Mr. Walter Lipp- mann, formerly an editor of the New Eepublic, assumed the office upon the departure of Mr. Frankfurter on a special mission. In September, 1917, on the resignation of Mr. Lippmann to engage in other work for the Government, the labor activities of the Secretary of War's office were placed under the direction of Mr. Stanley King, formerly a New England manufacturer. During the first months of the war the War Department's relations with the labor problems were focused largely in the office of the Secretary of War. The theory on which the Secretary's office pro- ceeded was that the Congress had placed substantially all of the activities of the Federal Government in relation to labor in the hands of the Department of Labor, and that the War Department needed to provide only an office through which the labor problems of the War Department might be cleared to the Department of Labor. The office of the Secretary of War in the spring and summer of 1917 was primarily a liaison office on labor problems. Such con- troTersies as arose in the plants of contractors to the War Depart- ment interfering with war production were referred by the office of the Secretary of War to the Department of Labor for adjustment through their conciliation service. A representative of the Secre- tary's office might participate in the negotiations, but the responsi- bility was conceded to rest with the Department of Labor. It is true that the organization of the Cantonment Adjustment Commis- sion in June and of the Board of Control of Labor Standards in Army Clothing in August were exceptions to the complete applica- tion of this theory, but the soundness of the theory was not doubted by the Department of Labor and was in general followed by the War Department. The appointment of a representative of the De- ESTABLISHMENT OE ADMINISTRATIVE AGENCIES. 27 partment of Labor on the Arsenal and Navy Yard Board was a recogmtion of the continued validity of the peace-time theory. Beginning in September, 1917, a change of emphasis in the depart- ment's relations with the labor problem became apparent. It was a necessary consequence of the increasing exigencies of the war situation. The War Department was responsible to the country for the procurement of the necessary munitions and supplies to equip the rapidly growing Army of the Nation. When this process was threatened with interruption or delay by labor disputes, the War Department could not excuse a deficit in clothing or equipment by pointing to a labor controversy which the Department of Labor had been unable to adjust. The Army needed supplies, and it was the duty of the War Department to secure them.^ Again, the rapidly developing war psychology of the people had brought the country to the point where no manufacturer or no asso- ciation of men could lightly refuse to take such action as the War Department officially requested. The Department of Labor, on the other hand, was conceived of by the manufacturers of the country in general as a peace-time mediation service, whose good offices they could accept or reject as they might wish. Its natural result was to delay and sometimes frustrate the efforts of a conciliator of the Department of Labor in the adjustment of a controversy on war munitions . because of doubts as to his jurisdiction, where a repre- sentative of the War Department could have secured an inomediate and unhesitating cooperation. As these facts became obvious the necessary conclusion forced itself upon the War Department. That the same problem had arisen in the early days of the World War in Great Britain was known, and in the fall of 1917 a commission from the British ministry of mimitions, headed by Sir Stephenson Kent, brought to the United States the accumulated wisdom and experience of the British Gov- ernment in meeting an almost identical situation. The ministry of munitions established in Great Britain in 1915 a complete divi- sion of its labor activities whose prime responsibility was to deal promptly and effectively with all aspects of the labor problem affect- ing the production of munitions. The War Department began the development of extensive admin- istrative machinery for dealing directly and formally with aU aspects of the labor problem which affected the production of its munitions and supplies. Because the procurement organization of the War Depart- ment was itself decentralized into autonomous bureaus the labor function of the department was built up within the several bureaus 'The War Department's new position was expressed by the Secretary of War in liis statement to the munitions manufacturers on Nov. 21, 1917, which appears in full in the appendix. 28 WAR DEPT. ACTIVITIES FIELD OF INDUSTKIAL RELATIONS. instead of as an independent division. In October, 1917, was, estab- lished the work of the Industrial Service Section of the Ordnance Department, although the formal title Industrial Service Section was not given to the division until some time later. The office of the Secretary of "War became the coordinating agency for all of the labor activities of the War Department. All questions of policy and all extensions of activity of the various bureaus in the labor field were passed upon by the office of the Secretary in conference with the chief of the various industrial service sections. The Secretary's office also became the connecting link between the labor activities of the War Department and outside departments. Ordnance Department — Industrial Service Section. The orders issued by the Chief of Ordnance defining the duties of the Industrial Service Section provided as follows : The Industrial Service Section will deal on behalf of this cflBce with all questions of wages, labor, or employment afCecting the production in Arsenals or privately owned plants, of ordnance stores or supplies. Its work will In- clude : (a) Investigation and adjustment of disputes between employers and em- ployees ; (6) Employment problems, involving the provision of adequate labor supply and the training of employees; (c) Establishment and maintenance of proper standards as to working con- ditions, wages, hours of labor, housing problems, etc. It will be the duty of this section to secure and organize the personnel necessary for the accomplishment of the above-mentioned purpose and to make such use of established agencies as may be appropriate. Gen. Crozier, Chief of Ordnance, selected as his adviser on labor matters Dr. L. C. Marshall, dean of the school of commerce and finance of the University of Chicago. Before Dean Marshall was well underway his services were requisitioned by the Council of Na- tional Defense, and he was succeeded by Herman Schneider, dean of the engineering school of the University of Cincinnati. The latter recognized that the Ordnance Department of the Army was in itself in many respects a ministry of munitions, and that the ultimate success of its procurement program must rest upon the wisdom which was used in the development of relations between the great indus- trial army engaged in the production of these munitions and the large group of plant managers who were becoming in effect agents of the Ordnance Department in the development of an accelerated production of material. The form of organization in the industrial service section was to a large extent conditioned by the changing organization of the Ordnance Department itself. In Washington under Dean Schneider ESTABLISHMENT OF ADMINISTEATIVB AGENCIES. 29 were first developed a number of branches dealing with various as- pects of the labor problem. The detailed administration of the sec- tion, however, was later decentralized and handled in -the field from the district ordnance oflSces. Representatives of the Industrial Serv- ice Section were subsequently established in Boston, Bridgeport, New York, Rochester, Buffalo, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Detroit, Chicago, and St. Louis. This form of organiza- tion enabled the district representatives of the Industrial Service Section to keep in close and intimate touch with the labor problems in their district, to deal promptly and effectively with any difficulty which might arise, but at the same- time the control of policies of the administration rested with the organization which was set up in Washington. Upon the retirement of Dean Schneider in the summer of 1918, Maj. William Rogers became acting chief of the Industrial Service Section. He was succeeded by Maj. B. H. Gitchell, who was ap- pointed chief of the section on July 18, 1918. Adjustment Branch. — ^In the Washington organization a branch was first established to deal with the adjustment of labor contro- versies in ordnance plants. This branch was kept continually in- formed of the labor situation in the plants of ordnance contrac- tors from reports from the inspectors in the plants. The section rapidly secured a personnel made up of men from the ranks of industry and labor and experienced in dealing with the prob- lems of industrial relations. In case of actual controversy in the plant of a contractor a representative of the Industrial Service Sec- tion was immediately sent to the plant to adjust the difficulty. In some of the early cases it naturally happened that the representa- tive of the Ordnance Department would find at the plant a con- ciliator from the Department of Labor on a similar errand. To avoid the duplication of effort and the more serious chance of mis- carriage resulting from the presence of two officials reporting to separate authorities dealing with the same situation, an informal arrangement was entered into between the Industrial Service Sec- tion of Ordnance and the conciliation service of the Department of Labor under which the conciliation service adopted the policy of not participating in the adjustment of disputes over which jurisdiction had been assumed by the Ordnance Department. It was not possible to lay a basis for the adjustment of the dis- putes by negotiating a blanket agreement similar to that arranged for in the building of cantonments. Wages differed widely in vari- ous localities, and relations between the metal trades unions and manufacturers differed even more widely. In some places where the unions had scarcely a foothold high rates of wages were paid and satisfactory conditions existed. In other cases the struggle between 30 WAE DEPT. ACTIVITIES— FIELD OF INDUSTKIAL RELATIONS. the unions and manufacturers had been so bitter that it would have been impossible at the time to bring about any general compromise. The authority in control exercised by a representative of the In- dustrial Service Section dealing with a controversy in the Ordnance Department was largely enhanced by the adoption in the summer of 1917 by the Secretary of War of a policy of inserting in substantially aU ordnance contracts the so-called labor disputes clause, which re- quired the contractor in effect to submit to the decision of the Secre- tary of War or his representative any controversy in his plant af- fecting the' production of ordnance supplies. The text of this clause is given in full in the appendix. ' The introduction of clause 17 in ordnance contracts was at first vigorously opposed by a large num- ber of contractors. The opposition was natural and was bom of both the desire of contractors to deal with their own labor situation and the fear that the Government under the guise of settling a par- ticular dispute would introduce into the plant methods or policies more radical than the management desired. There was a further hesitation on the part of some contractors on the ground that the insertion of clause 17, which might, of course, become known to or- ganized labor as the contracts were public documents, would be a direct inducement to organized labor to initiate trouble for the pur- pose of strengthening their position. To meet the situation the Ord- nance Department was authorized in the case of such contractors to eliminate the clause in the formal contract, but to embody the sub- stance of the clause in an exchange of letters between the Secretary of War and the contractor which would constitute in effect an in- formal agreement to the same end. The mandatory insertion of the labor-disputes clause in all ord- nance contracts was removed in the early months of 1918, and its insertion thereafter became permissive. The clause proved in the end to be what the department early recognized it would be, namely, a protection to the contractor. As the war progressed the rapidly mounting wage scale and cost of living made necessary, on the part of practically all contractors, adjustments of their own wage scale with the resulting effect upon the unit labor cost. Under a ruling of the Comptroller of the Treasury the contractors under fixed-price contract were not entitled to additional compensation from the Gov- ernment to meet such increased wage costs unless their contracts con- tained a labor-disputes clause and the increased-wage scale was ap- proved in advance by representatives of the Industrial Service Sec- tion. As a result, fixed-price contractors later found it impossible to avoid advancing wage adjustments and impossible also to recoup themselves for such added elements of cost. The method of mediation adopted was based upon two preliminaxy requirements. Before any investigation or mediation was attempted ESTABLISHMENT OF ADMINISTRATIVE AGENCIES. 31 the employees had to return to their machines and continue produc- tion. In the second place, all claims and demands had to be pre- sented not through the local agents of the unions but through their national officers. The first requirement was an obvious necessity for the maintenance of production. The second helped in the develop- ment of policy and enabled the Government to enlist the aid of the national union executives in controlling their local officers when dangerous situations arose. In the adjustment of controversies involving the question of wages, the Adjustment Branch used in general as a basis the wage scales in the arsenals, which have been referred to in a previous chapter. Just as a slightly decreasing differential was maintained between the shipyard scales fixed by the Shipbuilding Wage Adjust- ment Board and the arsenal scales to provide for the emergency needs of the shipyard for men, so a further differential was in gen- eral maintained between the arsenals and private plants in which the department was called to adjust disputes. This tended toward a more uniform wage condition in the plants of ordnance contractors, although this uniformity could not be secured in any systematic way. At first the decisions of the Adjustment Branch applied only to individual concerns, but subsequently it became more satisfactory not only to both parties to the controversy, but to the Ordnance De- partment to establish community awards, dealing with the entir* labor situation in particular industrial centers. Such community awards were made in Buffalo, Bridgeport, Hartford, and Newark among other places. Manufacturers often remarked that if the department would leave them to handle their own labor difficulties they could quickly win such a decisive victory from organized labor that production would be promoted. This was particularly urged by manufacturers who had been operating under the open-shop basis. In one notable case where both the manufacturers and the union leaders of an industrial city were confident of success, the War Department endeavored to allow them to fight out their battle without interference. It soon became apparent that the two sides were too evenly balanced for either to secure quick decision. As the materials which were being made in certain shops in the community affected by the strike were imme- diately necessary on the western front, the War Department could not safely permit the strike to continue, and intervened. The results of the policies adopted by the Adjustment Branch were reasonably satisfactory. No serious stoppage of work occurred except in Bridgeport, and that lasted for only a few days. The ordnance production program was not seriously delayed at any point by strikes. The approach toward stabilization of wages was a large factor in the reduction of labor turnover. The Adjustment Branch, 32 WAR DEPT. ACTIVITIES FIELD OF INDUSTKIAL EELATIONS. which, upon the reorganization of the Industrial Service Section in August, 1918, became the Wages and Working Conditions Branch, was during most of the war under the direction of Maj. James Tole. The two most serious cases which came before the Adjustment Branch were the Bridgeport case and the Smith & Wesson case. In considering these cases it should be remembered that they are not typical, but are examples of the most extreme action which the Gov- ernment was forced to take during the war. The Bridgeport cose.rT-Bridgeport even before the United States entered the war was subject to serious labor unrest. This situation was aggravated by the placing of large contracts in Bridgeport for ordnance supplies, which caused a further scarcity of housing and a general increase in cost of living, and which attracted aggressive la- bor from surrounding cities. In August, 1917, the machinists began to demand wage increases and the adjustment of their grievances in the Bridgeport plants. Their demand was centered on three points: Wages, discrimination against union men, and alleged intimation of workmen through threats of applying the military draft. Various efforts of local conciliation were unavailable. On March 29, 1918, the machinists at the Remington Arms struck on a minor grievance. They quickly returned to work, but on May 3 strikes oc- curred in the Eemington plant, the Liberty Ordnance plant, and in 22 subcontract shops. The union had selected at its fighting ground certain plants which were key points of ordnance supplies in the district. An ordnance wage adjustment board was appointed to hear the Bridgeport case, and on June T its award was handed down. The situation was complicated by the fact that certain plants were oper- ating under ordnance contracts which did not cont-iin the labor dis- putes clause, and furthermore, a number of the Bridgeport plants were under contract with the Navy, which had no such clause. The union at first objected to the decision but soon altered its decision to support of the award when it became known that the manufacturers who were not subject to the labor disputes clause in their contract would refuse to make the decision effective. After careful consideration of the problem, and with a realization of the vital effect which its solution would have not only in Bridger port but throughout New England, the Secretary of War on June 24, 1918, upon the recommendation of his immediate advisers, formally referred the entire controversy to the National War Labor Board and advised the board that the War Department would make its de- cision effective in plants having contracts containing the labor dis- putes clause. The Navy Department officially concurred in the re- ference. All of the manufacturers at Bridgeport formally agreed in ESTABLISHMENT OF ADMINISTEATIVE AGENCIES, 33 writing to abide by the decision of the National War Labor Board, and similar agreements were secured from the union. The union, however, accused the manufacturers of bad faith in not accepting the previous award and struck as a protest. Their strike was short lived, and they returned to work in two days, pending the decision of the National War Labor Board. This decision was handed down by Mr. Otto Eidlitz, umpire of the board, on August 28, 1918, more than a year after the controversey had started. The award affirmed the right of collective bargaining without union recognition, established a local board of mediation and conciliation, fixed minimum wages for both men and women, specified advances in hourly wage rates, established a basic 8-hour day, ordered that cases where military draft had been improperly used should be thoroughly investigated, made the award retroactive, and ordered the appointment of an examiner to supervise the administration of the finding. The long delay which ha,d been involved in the case had tried the nerves of the workmen, whose hopes had been built up by their leaders to anticipations of victory which were not entirely realized. Upon the handing down of Mr. Eidlitz's decision, their disappoint- ment took the form of a third strike. They were now beyond the control of their leaders and openly refused to recognize the decision of the National War Labor Board. The situation was a critical one, involving not only the production program at Bridgeport but the validity of decisions of recognized agencies of the Government in dealing by arbitration with labor controversies. At this point, the President of the United States, on the joint recommendation of the Secretary of Labor, the Acting Secretary of War, and the joint chairman of the National War Labor Board, addressed a public let- ter to the striking employees at Bridgeport calling upon them in the name of the Government to abide by the award of the National War Labor Board. The letter further informed them that if they refused each such workman would be barred from employment in any war industry in the community for a period of a year ; during that time the United States Employment Service would decline to obtain em- ployment for them in any war industry elsewhere in the United States, as well as under the War and Navy Departments, the Ship- ping Board, and all other Government agencies, and the draft boards would be instructed to reject any claim of exemption based upon usefulness in war production. The President's letter dated the 13th of September, 1918, also referred to a somewhat similar situation in which the employers had refused to accept the mediation of the Na- tional War Labor Board and in which drastic steps had just been taken. It produced an immediate effect. The men returned to their 127T85— 19 3 34 WAR DEPT. ACTIVITIES FIELiD OF INDUSTRIAL BBLATIONS. work aiid the Bridgeport situation was adjusted in accordance with the decision of Mr. Eidlitz. (The President's letter is contained in full in the appendix.) TTie Smith c6 Wesson case. — The Smith & Wesson Co. of Spring- field, Mass., were devoting substantially their entire capacity to the manufacture of pistols for the Ordnance Department. For many years they had been operating on the basis of a closed nonunion shop. Each employee on joining the company was required to sigh an individual card stating that he was not a member of any labor union and that he would not join any labor union without first giving the company one week's notice. Early in 1918 the company complained to the Ordnance Department that it was losing skilled workmen to competing plants. After the wage adjustment at the Springfield Armory, a spontaneous movement arose among Smith & Wesson employees for an increase in wages based upon the arsenal figures. It was not a union movement and was not directed by offi- cers of the union. A committee of employees was appointed to confer with the management. The management refused to see the committee and discharged its members. Thereupon in July, 1918, the employees asked the machinists union to come in and organize the shop. The management discharged from time to time various em- ployees whom they thought were active in this process of unioniza- tion. This position of the management was maintained in spite of the action of the National War Labor Board in adopting its principles on March 29, 1918, which were the result of joint conference of em- ployer and employee, and one of which was the following : The right of workers to organize In trade-unions and to bargain collectively through chosen representatives Is recognized and affirmed. This right should not be denied, abridged, or interfered with by the employers In any manner whatsoever. On July 12, about half the force of Smith & Wesson struck. The War Department did not intervene until the 17th. The need of pistols, however, was immediate ; the Smith & Wesson contract con- tained a labor disputes clause, giving the Secretary of War the right of mediation; and the Ordnance Department intervened and en- deavored to negotiate a settlement. It was unsuccessful. The Secretary of War thereupon, acting upon the advice of his office, formally referred the dispute to the National War Labor Board, whose decision was handed down on August 21, 1918, exactly five days before the Bridgeport award, by the joint chairmen of the board. The award of the National War Labor Board granted in a measure the demands of the employees and ordered the acceptance by the company of the principle of collective bargaining. The Smith & Wesson Co. thereupon formally presented to the Secretary of War a statement in which they refused to recognize the ESTABLISHMENT OF ADMINISTRATIVE AGENCIES. 35 jurisdiction of the National War Labor Board and declined to make effective its decision. It is believed that this is the only case in the entire period of the war where any contractor with the depart- ment after full discussion with the representatives of the depart- ment refused point blank to carry out the specific instructions of the department. The refusal was, of course, aggravated by the fact that Smith & Wesson were under contract with the department to submit to the decision of the Secretary of War or his representative in case of labor controversy arising in their plant while they were engaged in ordnance production. At the same time a carefully pre- pared publicity campaign appeared in the papers in the interest of Smith & Wesson. A group of New England manufacturers at the same time, headed by the Colt Patent Fire Arms Co. of Hartford, Conn., addressed a letter to the Secretary of War under date of September 7, attacking the Government's pohcy in the Smith & Wesson case, and demanding that the autocratic management of industry should not be interfered with by committees of workmen or representatives of the employees. The department took the only action which was open to it in the face of these facts. The Bridgeport case was pending at this time. In each case one of the parties after a written agreement to abide by the decision of the National War Labor Board openly flaunted the authority of the board and the authority of the War Department and refused to carry out its agreement. Such action in time of war could not be tolerated. The War Department commandeered the plant of Smith & Wesson, dispensed with the services of the principal officers of the company, and installed representatives of the Ordnance Department to operate the plant. The attitude of the department is expressed in the reply of the Acting Secretary of War of Septem- ber 11 to the Colt Patent Fire Arms Co. The action of the War Department in the case of Snjith & Wesson and the action taken by the President almost simultaneously in the Bridgeport case laid to rest once and for all any question in the mind of either contractor or workers as to the Government's intention and power to make effective during the period of the war its labor policy. WomeTi's hrcunck. — ^An investigation of arsenals and other plants employing women was undertaken by Miss Mary Van Kleeck, of the Eussell Sage Foundation, at the request of the Council of National Defense in July, 1917. As a result of the publication of her valuable report. Miss Van Kleeck was made chief of the Women's Branch of the Industrial Service Section in December, 1917. On July 15, 1918, Miss Van Kleeck was transferred to the Department of Labor and was succeeded by Mrs. Clara M. Tead. The Women's Branch was primarily interested in maintaining a high rate of production by the introduction of modern methods of 36 WAE DEFT, ACTIVITIES EIELD OF INDUSTRIAL, RELATIONS. plant management so far as they related to women. Its representa- tives were drawn from experts in production methods. In general, a representative of the branch was called in by a plant only where a plant was behind schedule on its production or where i^. reported mability to secure adeqiiate labor. A representative of the Women's Branch would then inspect the plant with refei'encc to its methods of employing women, paying special attention to turnover, measures for sanitation and safety, the selection of workers, the systems of train- ing and replacement, and the maintenance of proper working condi- tions. Through their constant touch with women's work in industry the staff of the Women's Branch was able to give expert advice on such matters as the types of work for which women were best fitted, the desirable modifications of machinery so that women might operate it with the greatest efficiency, the rerouting of material or the introduction of group methods, the splitting of processes in order to make the best use of woman labor on the basis of skill or heaviness of work. It was difficult to draw significant conclusions as to the relative efficiency of men and women. In general, however, manufacturers seemed to find women more efficient than men on inspection and gaug- ing and repetitive processes. Women were usually at least as effi- cient as men on precision processes and in operating electric cranes. Detailed comment on these matters may be found in the full report of the Women's Branch. Information Branch. — The Information Branch of the Industrial Service Section was established to secure from other branches of the Government and private agencies and from all available sources such information regarding labor activities as would be of value to the members of the Industrial Service Section in the execution of their duties. The information section had no administrative function out- side of the department. Procurement of labor. — A branch on the procurement of labor was established in the Industrial Service Section to assist ordnance plants whose labor supply was short and whose production was fall- ing behind for this reason. After the recruitment of labor was cen- tralized in the summer of 1918 in the United States .Employment Service, the procurement branch became a liaison between ordnance plants and the Department of Labor, the detailed work being done largely by the procurement of labor officers in the district offices in connection with the local employment offices. Mr. G. A. Somarindyck was chief of the Procurement of Labor Section. Housing hranch. — Early in the war the need for housing began seriously to interfere with production. The employees in industrial centers like South Bethlehem, Pa., and Bridgeport, Conn., increased so rapidly that men were found sleeping 12 and 18 in the same room, ESTABLISHMENT OF ADMINISTKATIVE AGENCIES. 37 and bunks would be used for 24 hours a day in four shifts, each man tumbling in for six hours rest. In smaller manufacturing towns which contained only one or two industries conditions became almost as bad. The demand for housing also came from isolated points where entirely new plants were being erected for the manufacture of dangerous explosives. The effects of the housing shortage on production became manifest; new additions to plants were idle, while other plants could not be run on one or two shifts. Eents rose rapidly, increasing cost of living and making necessary increases in wages and stimulating labor trouble. About December 15, 1917, the Industrial Service Section called into consultation Mr. Perry E. MacNeille, an architect of New York, and Mr. MacNeille was directed to build up the Housing Branch of the Industrial Service Section. At first the Housing Branch attempted to deal only with those cases where the shortage was so serious as to seriously delay production which was vital. The branch then en- deavored to determine whether the situation could be met in any other way; by a census of rooming and boarding facilities, and by improvement of the rapid-transit systems so as to bring employees from other towns, by staggering the hours of the plant so as to in- crease the capacity of the transit facilities. When the housing shortage could not be handled locally, the Hous- ing Branch was first confronted with the finding of funds to erect houses. In some cases the money was arranged by adding to the con- tract cost of producing material for the Ordnance Department on the part of the manufacturers ; in such cases the manufacturer acted as the agent of the Ordnance Department in putting up the necessary houses. The Housing Branch developed the plans in standard units, furnished complete drawings, and such supervision and inspection during the process of building as might be necessary. In July, 1918, the Congress unified all Government housing activi- ties under the United States Housing Corporation under the Depart- ment of Labor, and the Housing Branch turned over to the new agency all its projects except those already authorized from ordnance funds. On November 11, 1918, 19 housing projects had been com- pleted or were under way, with an estimated cost of $33,289,000. In addition to this the United States Housing Corporation was admin- istering for the Ordnance Department 49 contracts, with an estimated cost of $61,783,000. Comrmmity Organization Branch. — ^With the influx of large num- bers of war workers into industrial centers many conditions were created in the community which interferred seriously with produc- tion. Aside from the congestion of housing, all the facilities of the city were overloaded. Theaters and athletic fields and libraries, 38 WAR DBPT. ACTIVITIES FIELD OF INDUSTBIAL. RELATIONS. sanitation and water systems, hospitals, all became so seriously overloaded as to be a serious menace. Saloons and red-light dis- tricts sprang up over night, and conditions frequently resembled those of the old-fashioned boom town. These conditions were almost certain to arise even in well-organized communities, but in many of the smaller towns which had never paid much attention to com- munity organizations, social conditions became intolerable, and were quickly reflected in the production charts of the plants. In order to remedy this situation Mr. Fred C. Butler, of Tonawanda, N. Y., was called in by the Industrial Service Section to head the Community Organization Branch. The need for systematic community work was brought forcibly to the attention of the chief of the Industrial Service Section by the conditions that existed at Rock Island, 111. Just across from the main entrance of the Eock Island Arsenal a disreputable district had developed, which, with the great expansion of the Eock Island Arsenal in war work during the latter part of 1917 became such a menace to the health and efficiency of the workers that drastic action became necessary. A plan was worked out in the Industrial Service Section, the cooperation of the Department of Justice secured and the agents of that department, with the assistance of State officials and public-spirited citizens in the town, very quickly cleaned up the saloon and red-light district. Later when the Community Organiza- tion Branch was formed the final clean-up work was put in its charge. Subsequently in East Moline, 111., and Charleston, "W. Va., Muscle Shoals, and East St. Louis, this branch did work of unusual value and along similar lines. Upon the Community Organization Branch also fell the work of organizing the community at the new munitions points which had no corporate life and no traditions. Safety and Sanitation Branch, — ^The experience of the United States in manufacturing chemicals on a large scale and handling explosives had not been sufficient to develop adequate methods of protection for the workers. Furthermore, a number of explosions had made various communities nervous and created some difficulty in securing workmen for dangerous occupations. The Safety and Sanitation Branch was formed on March 4, 1918, with Capt. A. D. Eeiley as chief. From the various bureaus and private organizations interested in sanitation and safety the branch secured everything possible, which it contributed in turn to the ordnance contractors engaged in explosive production. Subsequently the work of all Federal agencies was coordinated under the work of the Public Health Service, and as a result of this action a broader field was given to the work of this branch. The Safety and Sanitation Branch also developed a substantial number of new mechanical contrivances and equipment in the field ESTABLISHMENT OF ADMINISTRATIVE AGENCIES. 39 of safety and sanitation which were installed in the plants of various contractors to meet specific difficulties which had been encountered. Em-ployment and Trainrng Methods Branch. — In order to pro- mote the greatest efficiency of labor within the plant it was apparent that a general introduction of wise employment management and modern methods of training would be necessary. Maj. F. W. TuUy was placed in charge of this work. One of the significant activities resulting from the work of this branch was the establishment of courses for employment managers to develop a personnel to fill the needs which were so rapidly arising throughout the plants producing material for the Ordnance Department. Up to this time no private establishment or university offered any training to young men for such work. The Ordnance Department, in cooperation with the Quartermaster Department, the Education Committee of the General Staff, the Emergency Fleet Corporation, United States Employment Service, and the Navy, cooperated in the establishment of courses under the direction of Capt. Boyd Fisher of the Ordnance Department. The work which was done at the University of Roches- ter and at other universities for men, and at Bryn Mawr and Mount Holyoke Colleges for women, who entered this field, made a sub- stantial contribution in the field of industrial management. The further development of this course was taken over by the Bureau of Vocational Education on the cessation of hostilities. The problem of the dilution of labor did not become of increasing importance to the War Department until well into 1918. In the fall of 1917 plans for dealing with the problem in the arsenals were satisfactorily developed. In 1918 Maj. TuUy made studies of the problem in connection with the training and dilution section of the Department of Labor, to which had been intrusted by the labor administration under Secretary Wilson the formulation of definite plans on the subject. Had the war continued this problem would have occupied a much larger place in the department's program. The work of the Industrial Service Section of the Construction Division was inaugurated by Col. (then Maj.) J. H. Alexander early in October, 1917, although the formal title of Industrial Service Sec- tion was not given to the division until some time later. The build- ing of the cantonments had been carried on by a section of the Quartermaster Department under Col. Littell, who was known as the officer in charge of cantonment construction. In October, 1917, sub- stantially all of the construction of the War Department, including that which had formerly been done by the Ordnance and the Air- craft, was contralized in a new staff corps known as the Construction 40 WAK DBPT. ACTIVITIES ^HELD OF INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS. Division of the Army. The Industrial Service Section of thjsjdivisiqn was responsible for rates of pay, hours of work, conditions of labor, and for all relations with labor in all the construction program of the War Department. The rates of pay were to be fixed, under the Baker- Gompers agreement, at the prevailing union rate in the vicinity. It was necessary for the Industrial Service Section to compile a com- plete schedule of rates of pay in the building trades throughout the country. Information was obtained from local organizations, build- ing contractors, local chambers of commerce, and through the chan- nels of organized labor. This information was carefully checked by representatives of the Construction Division and was at all times up to date. Eepresentatives of the division were in continuous con- tact with international representatives of the building trades. The construction program was so vast that for many months it required the employment of over 400,000 men. With so large a body of men controversies and grievances were continuously arising, the great bulk of which were passed upon by the Construction Division and finally disposed of by them. The Industrial Service Section would at times dispose of as many as 20 controversies in a day. Those con- troversies which, either because of their size or because of questions of policy involved, were not ready to be disposed of, were submitted by the Industrial Service Section, with a full presentation of the facts, to the Cantonment Adjustment Commission for its decision. The Industrial Service Section was in effect a judicial body of first instance, disposing of the great majority of questions which came up for decision. As the war developed the question of the procurement of labor became a vital one. To meet the problem so far as the Construction Division was concerned, the Industrial Service Section organized a special labor procurement branch to recruit labor for such jobs under- taken by the Construction Division as were not satisfactorily manned. The general recruiting of labor throughout the country was subse- quently centralized by the President in the United States Employ- ment Service of the Department of Labor. Immediately the Indus- trial Service Section of the Construction Division established a close liaison with the United States Employment Service, and throughout the remainder of the war maintained so close a relation that the effectiveness of this service was perhaps at no point so great as secured by the Construction Division of the Army. To meet an acute shortage of common labor on certain southern projects, the Industrial Service Section of the Construction Division planned a campaign for recruiting labor in Porto Eico and the Bahama Islands and transporting it, to the United States. The plans received the approval of the Department of Labor, the State Depart- ment, and the British Embassy. The actual recruitment was carried ESTABLISHMENT OF ADMINISTRATIVE AGENCIES. 41 on in Porto Eico by officials of the Department of Labor, and in the Bahama Islands by representatives of the contractor engaged on the War Department work. Approximately 15,000 laborers were brought to this country on Army transports and assigned to the con- struction projects in the South. The proposition was well under way when the armistice was signed. While certain unfortunate incidents marred the project at the beginning, these were rapidly overcome. A conception of the fine example of the cooperation with the United States Employment Service can be had from this illustration, and had the war continued the importation of labor from the islands of the Carribean Sea would have undoubtedly had a very substantial effect upon the man-power resources of the country. At the cessa- tion of hostilities labor already imported was repatriated by the Construction Division. It will not be invidious to say that the Industrial Service Section of the Construction Division attained a standard of efficiency and comprehensive treatment of the problems with which it was charged which was not exceeded by any other agency dealing with the labor problem of the Federal Government. The problem of the division was in many respects somewhat simpler than the problem of the Industrial Service Section of the other staff corps. The division by the nature of its work had a more complete control of the labor policy of its contractors than any other division. QUAETEHMASTEE CORPS INDUSTRIAL SERVICE SECTION. While the ordnance and aircraft requirements demanded a tran- sition from the manufacture of known and established articles to the production of military supplies entirely different in kind, the Quartermaster Corps in furnishing food, clothing, and transporta- tion for the Army was in the market for articles which varied little from the normal produce of peace times. In the Quartermaster Corps, while the war revived a few trades like harness making, which were rapidly losing their importance, and brought about great expansion in some branches of other trades, such as the cotton duck manufactured in the textile industry, the general statement may be made that all requirements could be secured by calling upon estab- lished industries. For this reason, among others, the labor problem did not become acute in general in the industries which supplied the Quartermaster Corps as early as in some of the other branches of the War Department. In December, 1917, with the approval of the Secretary of War, Gen. Goethals, Acting Quartermaster General, appointed Dr. E. M. Hopkins, president of Dartmouth College, as assistant to the Quartermaster General in charge of labor problems. Mr. Hopkins immediately organized the Industrial Service Section 42 WAE DEPT. ACTIVIXIES AFIELD OF INDTJSTEIAL RELATIONS. of the Quartermaster Corps, reporting directly to Gen. Goethals. To this section was immediately transferred the work of the Admin- istrator of Labor Standards in Army Clothing, which has been described in a previous chapter. Besides this, the Industrial Service Section dealt with the adjustment of disputes in the plants of con- tractors with the Quartermaster Department. As the labor shortage became more acute it became necessary to introduce women for the first time into the metal trades on a large scale and this made necessary in the Ordnance Department and in the Aircraft Department, branches of the Industrial Service Sections of those departments to deal with the problems arising from the intro- duction of women. It so happened that in the trades which pro- duced in the largest quantity for the Quartermaster Corps, such as the textile and garment trades and the shoe industry, women had long been an industrial factor and the matter of hours and working condi- tions had been dealt with so that the problem was not a significant one for the Industrial Service Section of the Quartermaster Corps. In July, 1918, Mr. Hopkins became assistant to the Secretary of War in charge of industrial relations for the entire War Department, and his position as chief of the Industrial Service Section of the Quartermaster Corps was taken by Mr. John R. McLane, a lawyer of Manchester, N. H. The work of the Industrial Service Section of the Quartermaster Corps was defined at the time of its organization as follows : Keeps in touch with the relations between labor and management, in industry and plants, in whose products this division is interested in behalf of the Govern- ment, safeguards these relations in all possible ways to the end that desirable products shall not be impeded and in the case of differences which have led or are likely to lead to interruption of production, to take such action as Is needed to induce continuance of work under stable conditions. A great deal of the work of this branch, especially in the early days of its existence, was in acquainting the oflScers of the Quartermaster Corps with the fundamental labor policies of the War Department. The greater portion of its work, however, was in connection with acute labor troubles, strikes and threatened strikes. In the event of a strike or threatened strike, the Industrial Service Section might take one of three positions: (1) Intervene to bring about a settlement by negotiation, (2) arrange a submission of the dispute for a decision by one or more arbitrators, (3) allow the strike to run its course. At various times all three positions were taken, although the last was only adopted in cases where the loss of production due to the strike was not so serious as to affect the department's program. The arrangement of a settlement by negotiation called for admin- istrative work by the branch in bringing together the parties, over- coming the prejudices of each side against meeting the other side, ESTABLISHMENT OF ADMINISTRATIVE AGENCIES. 43 and maintaining in the conference the spirit of reasonableness until a settlement could be agreed upon. Settlement by arbitration called first for administrative work in arranging the agreement to arbitrate, definition of points at issue, appointing the arbitrators, and arranging for the conference. This was followed by the judicial work of the arbitrator. The branch had to work out a prescribed procedure to be followed. It was the judgment of the branch that in general the administrative and ju- dicial functions would not be performed by the same person, pri- marily because it was difficult for a board of arbitration to pass judicially upon the points at issue without losing in time the confi- dence either of one side or of the other. The administrative work, however, could be carried on indefinitely by the same organization so long as the administrator took no part in delivering decisions. •The work of the Administrator of Labor Standards in Army Clothing was developed under the jurisdiction of the Industrial Service Section from work on uniforms alone until it covered all clothing supplies bought through the Manufacturing Branch of the Clothing and Equipage Division of the Quartermaster Corps and certain other articles, such as raincoats and leather jerkins in the Leather Goods Branch. It is a tribute to the work of the administra- tion in its inspection service that no fires occurred causing loss of life in shops under the inspection of the Administrator of Labor Standards in Army Clothing. A disastrous fire in New Jersey in the fall of 1918 in a factory engaged in the manufacture of buttons for the Quartermaster Corps showed the necessity for the further expan- sion of this work. The work of the Industrial Service Section covered not only the manufacture of uniforms, the manufacture of raincoats, the textile industries, and the shoe industry, but a large number of other lines of industrial activity, which were producing miscellaneous articles for the Quartermaster Corps. Upon the cessation of hostilities steps were taken to discontinue the work of the branch and its activities were finally concluded in January, 1919. . , /aIECEAFT — INDUSTEIAL SERVICE SECTION. In January, 1918, at the suggestion of the Secretary of War, Mr. William Potter, Assistant Director of Aircraft Production, estab- lished an Industrial Service Section to deal with all labor problems connected with the production of aircraft, and appointed Mr. Charles P. Neill, formerly Commissioner of Labor of the United States, as chief of the section, and Mr. W. Jett Lauck, subsequently secretary of the National War Labor Board, as assistant chjef. The work of the section proceeded along lines similar to the work of the other 44 WAR DEPT. ACTIVITIES ^FIBLD OF IKDUSTBIAL KEL,AT10:NS. industrial service sections. A branch of the section dealing with the subject of women industry was installed under Miss Marie Obenauer. Upon the retirement of Dr. Neill, whose entire time was subse- quently required by the Railway Administration in dealing with labor problems, and the appointment of Mr. Lauck as secretary of the War Labor Board, the Industrial Service Section of Aircraft was placed in charge of Maj. B. H. Gitchell, of the office of the Secretary of War. Maj. Gitchell installed a decentralized organiza- tion along the lines similar to those which had been followed by Ordnance. Representatives of the Industrial Service Section were established in all of the district offices of the Bureau of Aircraft Pro- duction and the problems were dealt with in the field rather than from Washington. A typical illustration of the work of the Indus- trial Service Section of this department is the settlement of a labbr controversy involving a large number of plants in the city of Buffalo, the principal plant being that of the Curtiss Airplane Co. The decision is printed in full in the appendix, and involved the arrange- ment of machinery for carrying it into execution and for adminis- tering the problem during the remainder of the war. This machin- ery was established in the Buffalo district office of the Bureau of Aircraft Production and was extraordinarily successful. The Navy Department joined with the War Department in the adjustment of this controversy and accepted the decision of the Industrial Service Section of the Aircraft Bureau. LOYAL LEGION OF LOGGERS AND LUMBERMEN. The labor problem connected with the production of aircraft spruce in the Northwest forms a brilliant chapter in the history of the War Department's administration of the labor problems during the war. In the late fall of 1917 the lumber industry on the North- west coast was in a chaotic condition. The production of spruce, which was indispensable in the manufacture of airplanes, was at a low level. The strike of 1917 in the lumber camps had been broken and the men went back beaten for the moment. There followed, however, the practice of " conscious withdrawal of efficiency " and the so-called " strike on the job." There was every expectation in the minds of those best informed that unless present conditions were changed a complete strike would occur in the spring of 1918. The tough pioneer character of the industry and the lack of any healthy social environment had resulted in the migratory, drifting character of workers. Ninety per cent of those in the lumber camps are described by one of the wisest students of the problem, not too inaccurately, as " womanless, voteless, and jobless." Efforts to rec- ESTABLISHMENT OF ADMINISTRATIVE AGENCIES. 45 tify evils through the trade-union movement had largely failed be- sauf^e of the small headway which trade-unions were able to make. Tlie operators manifested a bitter and uncompromising attitude to- ward any organization among their employees. The I. W. W. was filling the vacuum thus created. The unrest focused itself upon a demand for the 8-hour day. The industry was almost the only large industry on the coast on which the basic 8-hour day did not prevail. The operators opposed the 8-hour day on the ground that they were unable to meet southern competition operating under longer hours. To such a situation came Col. (later Gen.) Brice P. Disque. Col. Disque, confronted with some 70,000 unorganized workers, devel- oped an organization of his own, sponsored by the War Department and approved by the Secretary of War. This organization he named the Loyal Legion of Loggers and Lumbermen. It was in effect a Government union composed of workers in the lumber camps organ- ized into local and district councils with appropriate insignia of noembership and with periodic meetings and conventions. The mem- bership rapidly grew until it included nearly 90,000 men. At about the same time, at the request of Col. Disque, a substan- tial number of troops were sent into the forests of the Northwest with the aim of both increasing the labor supply, of protecting the Government interests, and of stabilizing the situation. These troops were divided up among the separate camps, where they worked as lumberjacks and were paid the standard wages prevailing in the vicinity. Their Government pay was refunded to the War Depart- ment. Col. Disque early secured the entire confidence both of the men and of the operators. On February 27, 1918, the lumber operators in convention in Portland, Oreg., unanimously placed entire control of the labor problems in their industry in the hands of Col. Disque. On March 4, 1918, at a convention of the Loyal Legion of Loggers and Lumbermen held in Portland, at which there were 400 delegates present, a resolution was unanimously adopted pledging the undi- vided support of the 62,000 members of the loyal legion to any de- cision in the administration of the labor problem made by Col. Disque. Shortly thereafter Col. Disque promulgated his initial order under the authority which he had received from both sides, and enjoined strict compliance with the order by all parties. The order follows : The undersigned having been authorized, by unanimous vote of a representa- tive convention of logging camp and lumber miU operators and also a conven- tion of delegates representing the 62,000 members of the Loyal Legion of Log- gers and Lumbermen, to determine certain questions regarding labor conditions in the lumber industry of the States of Washington and Oregon, west of the Cascade Mountains, the following decisions are published and strict compliance by all operators is enjoined : 46 WAB DEBT. ACTIVITIES ^FIELL) OF INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS. It is decided that the entire industry, logging camps and lumber mills, adopt the basic 8-hour day principle on March 1, 1918, with the understanding that time and a half be paid for overtime when men are worked more than eight hours. It is further decided that all employees shall work, actually on the job, a full eight hours each six days per week, national holidays excepted. It is further decided that, until further notice, no camp or mill shall work a crew more than eight hours, producing Its product, nor more than six days per week. This does not prohibit working two or three shifts per day of eight hours each. It is further decided that the employees of all logging camps and mills shall hereafter be known by the designations given in the schedule which will be published by this office from time to time and that no other designations shall be issued. It is further decided that no employees, except the cooks, shall receive free board, and that a uniform charge of $7.35 shall be paid by all employees, ex- cept cooks, for their weekly board. This cost shall Include food and prepara- tion as well as utensils and equipment, and wages of kitchen and dining-room employees. It is further decided that all employers who furnish housing accommoda- tions for their men arrange at the earliest practicable date to supply clean bedding, including beds, mattresses, pillows, blankets, sheets, and pillow slips to all men employed and that a charge of $1 per week be made for the service, the charge to be at rate of 25 cents per day for each of the first four days of each week. The service shall include change of sheets and pillow slips weekly or oftener. It i.s further decided that as soon as a camp is equipped with bedding, all employees shall use same and no one be allowed to introduce his private bed- ding into the bunk house, but that it shall be checked in a separate building. It is further decided that the employees whose designations are marked by an asterisk on the wage schedule shall be considered as monthly employees, whose duties by their very nature habitually require that they work before and after the general camp or mill operations and that such ordinary work shall not be considered as overtime when it is the regular and ordinary work required to prepare for the day's operations. It is further decided that paragraph 4 shall not be understood as prohibiting necessary repair work, opening up a track, loading cars or ship when departure of same requires Immediate action, or other work, which frequently is neces- sary and reasonable to render it possible to carry on the general operation without Interruption. It being understood 'that emergencies and new conditions may render changes In these regulations necessary, operators are authorized to apply to this office when they desire to act beyond scope of this order, but that no variation will be justified until authority therefor has been received. Col. Disque thereupon installed an organization to make his de- cisions effective. Bunk houses and mess halls were inspected, com- plaints of individual workmen as to conditions were immediately investigated, and the entire physical conditions under which the lumber workers lived were renovated and made decent aad re- spectable. The changes in physical conditions, the recognition of the basic 8-hour day, and the possibility of dealing with the men in an or- ESTABLISHMENT OF ADMINISTKATIVB AGENCIES. 47 ganized way through the loyal legion gradually changed the entire morale of the industry. Talk of a strike on May 1 gradually died out and the production of spruce lumber increased rapidly and continuously. After the plan of Col. Disque had proved itself a signal success, and after the annual convention of the American Federation of Labor convened in St. Paul in the summer of 1918, the United Timber Workers' Union affiliated with the American Federation of Labor, sent organizers into the lumber camps to organize the men into the federation's union. Col. Disque felt that the timber- workers' union had been unable to make any headway in the lumber camps before his arrival and had practically lost entire control of the situ- ation to the I. W. W. He objected to the timber- workers' union taking advantage of his own organizing work with the loyal legion, and he feared that the organizers sent in by the timber- workers' union would be tempted to sow seeds of discontent where none now existed. He therefore opposed the officers of the timber-workers' or- ganization wherever possible, and as a result complaints were lodged by the timber-workers' union with the headquarters of the Ameri- can Federation of Labor in Washington. The matter was a sub- ject of prolonged discussion between the office of the Secretary of War and officials of the federation. The War Department suggested that one of the principal officers of the federation should proceed to the Northwest coast with a representative of the War Department to examine in detail the situation as it then obtained and to confer with Col. Disque as to an amicable settlement of the problem. The many other problems which were presented the officers of the federa- tion at the time delayed the proposed trip and the cessation of hos- tilities of November 11, resvilting in the demobilization of the War Department's activities in the lumber camps, then made such a trip unnecessary. THE EIGHT-HOTJR LAW. Perhaps no single question in the entire field of the labor admin- istration of the War Department involved so much difficulty in ad- ministration as the 8-hour law. The laws governing the subject are embodied in the 8-hour law approved in June, 1912, the naval appropriation act approved March 4, 1917, and the Executive order of the President dated March 24, 1917. The original enactment ex- tending the 8-hour day previously enjoyed by persons employed directly by the Government to those engaged upon Government con- tracts is that of June 19, 1912. This statute provides that a stipula- tion should be inserted in every contract prohibiting the employ- ment of any laborer or mechanic for more than eight hours in any one calendar day upon the work contemplated by the contract. Sec- 48 WAR DEPT. ACTIVITIES FIELD OF INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS. tion 2 of the law contained certain exceptions to the 8-hour limita- tion therein imposed. The exceptions applying to contracts for transportation by land or water, for the transmission of intelligence, and for the construction or repair of levees or revetments necessary for protection against floods or overflows on the navigable waters of the United States, and the express inclusion within the law of armor and armor plate, are clear and explicit and in most instances do not give rise to difficulties. That portion of the exceptions which was particularly important in the recent emergency and which oc- casioned most difficulty is as follows: Nothing In this act shall apply to contracts * * * for the purchase of supplies by the Government, whether manufactured to conform to particular specifications or not, or for such materials or articles as may usually be bought in open market, * * * whether made to conform to particular specifications or not : Provided, That all classes of work which have been, are now, or may hereafter be performed by the Government shall, when done by contract by individuals, firms, or corporations, for or on behalf of the United States * * * be performed in accordance with the terms and provisions of this, act. The 8-hour law of June 19, 1912, also provided that the President by Executive order might waive the provisions of the law during time of war. But this provision was limited to a great extent by a proviso contained in the naval appropriation act approved Marph 4, 1917, that in the event of such suspension the wages of persons em- ployed on Government contracts should be computed upon a basic day rate of eight hours, with time and a half for all work in excess of eight hours. This naval act proviso was brought into operation by the Executive order of the President dated March 24, 1917, which suspended the provisions of the act of June 19, 1912. The interpretation placed upon these enactments by the War De- partment in times of peace was not of conomanding impoi'tance to the industry and labor of the country. The purchases of munitions and supplies previous to the Government's entry into the war con- stituted" so small a proportion of the total industrial output of the country as to be almost negligible. But with the entry of the United States into the European war, and the consequent vast expansion of Government purchases, the larger part of the industrial product of the country was rapidly turned from peace-time channels to war production. The 8-hour law, which had been little known by manu- facturers in previous years, now became a matter of prime significance to every contractor to the War Department. While it was true that the President's Executive order suspended the limitation upon hours of work, the naval appropriation act provided that under all con- tracts which came within the provisions of the law the contractor ESTABLISHMENT OF ADMINISTRATIVE AGENCIES. 49 should pay at least time and a half to his employees for all work done in excess of eight hours in any day. The War Department was immediately flooded with inquiries from contractors as to whether the 8-hour law applied to their industry. And subsequently the de- partment received a continuous and increasing number of complaints from organized labor that particular plants were not complying with the provisions of the law in the payment of time and a half for work done beyond eight hours. The crux of the situation lay in the interpretation of section 2 of the act approved June 19, 1912, making certain exceptions to the applicability of the law and in the proviso which ia turn made excep- tions to the exception. To deal with the problems thus arising, the Secretary of "War on September 25, 1917, issued an order detailing Mr. Felix Frankfurter as his representative in the administration of the law, specifically to make rulings in cooperation with the Judge Advocate General as to what contractors were affected by the law, the interpretation to be placed upon any provisions of thalaw, and the methods of securing the enforcement of the law. Mr. Frankfurter on the same date issued a 23-page pamphlet em^ bodying the policy of the department as thus far determined and outlining the department's proposed policy for the administration of the law. Upon the assignment of Mr. Frankfurter to other duties shortly thereafter, the Secretary of War added to the staff of his office Mr. Samuel J. Eosensohn, assistant corporation counsel of New York City, and placed under Mr. Rosensohn the problems aris- ing in the administration of the 8-hour law. It never became possible to simplify and clarify to the layman the intricacies of the problems presented. It was impossible to explain to the workers of the country why the manufacture of uniforms was subject to the 8-hour law and the manufacture of shoes was not so sub- ject; why the manufacture of harness and saddles was subject to the law and the manufacture of pistol holsters was not so subject; why the workers in a particular munitions plant malring guii forgings were subject to the law and therefore entitled to time and a half for work in excess of eight hours, and the workers in anothei part of the same plant making jigs and tools for the productior of gun forg- ings, an operation requiring greater skill and rece^^'ing liigher pay, were not subject to the law and therefore did not receive time and a half after eight hours. Had the war continued it would have been highly desirable to have secured from the Congress the enactment of 8-hour legislation more easy of administration, more simple of un- j^erstanding, and requiring less subtlety of interpretation. The 8-hour question was presented to the war labor conference board 127785—19 4 50 WAS DEPT. ACTIVITIES ^FIELD OF INDTJSTEIAL, KEIATIONS. appointed by the Secretary of Labor, but this board was ujiable to reach any other agreement than to leave the subject where the law placed it. As the war continued a large number of industries volun- tarily went to the 8-hour basic day and thus eliminated troubles and questions arising under the application of the 8-hoiir lavv. The questions arising, however, continued with increasing number and required a large portion of the time of Maj. Samuel J. Rosensohn. MAINTENANCE OF LABOR STANDARDS. At the outbreak of the war the principal industrial States had established by State legislation labor standards regarding the hours of work, the employment of women and children, the protection of machinery, the sanitary facilities of plants and workshops, etc. These standards had been achieved only in general after prolonged campaigns of education, and they were regarded with natural jeal- ousy both by labor and by public opinion. The question was early presented as to whether in the interests of the most efficient prosecu- tion of the war these standards should be set aside during the period of hostilities. It was obvious that if the war were to be a short one the country might suffer a temporary relaxation of the enforcement of these standards for the sake of a temporary accelerated production of war material. On the other hand, if the war were to be a long one the physical and moral deterioration which might naturally be expected to ensue in the relaxation of proper standards developed after long experience in large scale industrial production might more than counterbalance any temporary and at best problematic accelera- tion in production. The problem had been faced in Great Britain, where the standards had been largely relaxed in the early days of her participation in the war, with the result that a more mature experience had impelled the British Government to reimpose the labor standards for the well-being of her industrial army. The Council of National Defense in the early days of the war after careful consideration enunciated the policy that it was desirable that none of the standards so established in the separate States should be relaxed except in case of special emergency certified to by the Council of Defense. In dealing with the problem the War Department in the fall of 1917, through the office of the Secretary of War, entered into rela- tions with the State labor boards of the separate States charged with the enforcement of the legislative standard of their States. This arrangement is expressed in a letter from the Secretary of War to Mr. Edwin Mulready, chairman of the war industrial commission of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, under date of December 18, 1917, copy appended. ESTABLISHMENT OF ADMINISTRATIVE AGENCIES. 51 In the administration of the problem it was early obvious to the War Department that the emergency need of relinquishing any legis- lative standards in the individual plant could be wisely determined only by the Federal Government. An individual case will make clear the method adopted by the War Department in dealing with the question. A large shoe manufacturing concern in one of the principal industrial cities filed a request with the State industrial commission of that State for the suspension of the weekly day of rest law as applied to its plant in order that it might accelerate the production of Army shoes for the Quartermaster Department. The State industrial commission referred the question to the office of the Secretary of War. Upon investigation it developed that the depart- ment already had a substantial surplus of Army shoes in stock in its various depots, with the deliveries of Army shoes being made at a rate adequate to take care of immediate needs of the Army, and that there was available throughout the country shoe manufacturing capacity not yet allocated to the manufacture of Army shoes, so that in case the department should need increased deliveries of shoes it could be secured with ease in other plants working six days a week. It was therefore obvious that there was no emergency requiring a suspension of the weekly day of rest law in a particular plant in order that that plant might increase its own deliveries of Army shoes. Acting upon this information, the plant's request was denied by the State labor commission to which the request had been presented. Cases were frequently presented by the State commissions and by production bureaus of the War Department requesting a suspension of legislative standards in case of a particular plant manufacturing a specific munitions article, when upon investigation it appeared that the production and delivery of such parts were already in excess of the production of other essential parts required for the assembly of the particular kind of munitions. The delivery of the completed article would not be accelerated by the more rapid delivery of the particular part in question. Under such circumstances the office of the Secretary of War would refuse to certify to the State labor com- mission involved the existence of any emergency requiring the sus- pension of legislative standards. The administration of this entire problem throughout the period of the war was handled by Maj. Samuel J. Rosensohn of the office of the Secretary of War in cooperation with the industrial service sec- tions of the various bureaus and the various State labor commissions. At no time did it become necessary to make any general relaxation of legislative labor standards. The specific relaxations which were made from time to time were comparatively few in number, for a 52 WAE DEPT. ACTIVITIES FIELD OE INDUSTRIAL BELATIONS. limited time, and made only after full investigation of the par- ticular emergency. CHILD LABOR. In the summer of 1918 came the decision of the Supreme Court of the United States holding unconstitutional the Federal child labor law. It was clear that public opinion was unalterably opposed to the employment of child labor, and this opinion found expression in the enactment of the Congress. At the suggestion of the War Labor Policies Board, the War Department immediately directed the inser- tion in all procurement contracts of the department of a clause pro- hibiting the employment of child labor and establishing in the plants of contractors to the department substantially the same requirements on this subject as those contained in the enactment of the Congress. This action upon the part of the War Department naturally met de- termined opposition on the part of a substantial group of southern contractors. The department's position, however, was clear. The good offices of the Children's Bureau of the Department of Labor were enlisted, and the machinery which they had developed to enforce the child labor law as passed by the Congress was made available to the War Department to enforce the provisions in its procurement contracts dealing with the same subject. CONTEOL OF WAGES, HOURS, AND CONDITIONS OF WORK. In the rapid expansion of the activities of the industrial service sections of the various bureaus it had been apparent from the outset that in the fixing of wages, hours, and conditions of work by any bureau in a particular locality, consideration must be given to the policies of other bureaus on this subject and to any previous action taken by them in the immediate vicinity. The office of the Secretary of War served from the start as the controlling and coordinating fac- tor in this field. The action of the Secretary of War on June 14, 1918, placing the final responsibility for the control of wages, hours, and conditions of work for all War Department projects in the hands of his special assistant on industrial relations merely made explicit a practice which had existed from the outset. A general order issued by the Secretary of War in which this prac- tice was crystallized was issued by The Adjutant General by General Order No. 58, and follows : [June 14, 1918. Memorandum for the Chief of Staff.] To secure unity of action by the several departments of the Government In all matters affecting industrial relations and to prevent competition for labor between the contractors and subcontractors of the respective production depart- ments, the Secretary of Labor, with the approval of the President, has created a Labor Pollclos Board. Stanley King and E. M. Hopkins, of the office of the RELATIONS WITH OTHER GOVERNMENT AGENCIES. 53 Secretary of War, are detailed as the War Department representatives on this board. Applicable to all work in the United States done directly by the War Depart- ment and to all work done by contract, whether cost plus or otherwise, where the War Department, by the terms of the contract or by agreement of employer and employees involved or otherwise, has authority as to the wages, hours, and conditions of work under the contract, no changes in hours of labor, rates of pay, rates and hours of overtime shall hereafter be made upon the authority of or by the direction of or with the approval of any bureau of the War Depart- ment, except upon written recommendation to the representatives of this depart- ment on the Labor Policies Board, approved in writing by such representative. All changes in wages, hours, or conditions of work so approved In writing shall be made effective by supervising or contracting oflElcers concerned. Please issue the necessary orders to make this effective. Newton D. Bakeb, Secretary of War. General Order No. 58 centralized in one office the control of wages, hours, and conditions of work on all War Department proj- ects where the War Department exercised any authority on the subject. It served to immediately knit more closfely together the labor agencies of the department, as well as to make more effective the contact with the department on questions of wages and hours with the other departments of the Government. V. RELATIONS WITH OTHER GOVERNMENT AGENCIES. From the outset the relations of the War Department on its labor problems were primarily with the Department of Labor. This de- partment in the early months of the war was restricted in the develnn- ment of its activities to meet the war-time needs by the limitea appropriations placed at its disposal by the Congress. Throughout the year of 1917, therefore, its organizations continued substantially on a peace-time basis. On January 4, 1918, the President by proclamation appointed the Secretary of Labor War Labor Administrator and laid upon him the responsibility of developing an effective administration of the labor problems incident to the war. The Secretary of Labor there- upon appointed an advisory board under the chairmanship of ex- Gov. Lind, of Minnesota. The board after careful investigation made detailed recommendations to the Secretary of Labor regard- ing the machinery and personnel of the War Labor Administration. Action toward making effective the board's recommendations was delayed by the Secretary of Labor because of lack of appropriations until the summer of 1918. At that time its conciliation service was extended and new bureaus were established to deal with such sub- jects as women in industry, training and dilution of labor, education, etc. At the same time, the United States Employment Service was expanded into a great Federal labor recruiting agency, which estab- 54 WAK DEPT. ACTIVITIES FIELD OF INDUSTRIAL, RELATIONS. lished a network of recruiting offices throughout the country, and attacked aggressively and effectively the problems of the recruit- ment of labor and of labor turnover. With all of these agencies of the Department of Labor the War Department agencies dealing with the problem kept in intimate contact. The cooperation which the department received from the Department of Labor throughout the war was constant, generous, and unbroken. NATIONAL WAK LABOK BOARD. In January, 1918, the Secretary of Labor, upon the nomination of the president of the American Federation of Labor and the president of the National Industrial Conference Board, appointed a War Labor Conference Board for the purpose of devising for the period , of the war a method of labor adjustment which would be acceptable to employers and employees. This board made a unanimous report under date of March 29, 1918, in which it presented the principles and policies which it recommended to govern relations with em- ployees in war industries for the duration of the war. As a result of the report of the board, the Secretary of Labor on March 29, 1918, established the National War Labor Board, to which he appointed the members of the War Labor Conference Board under the joint chairmanship of Hon. William H. Taft and Hon. Frank P. Walsh. The appointment of the board and the promulgation of its principles was proclaimed by the President on April 8. The National War Labor Board became the final court of appeal of the Federal Gov- ernment on labor controversies during, the period of the war. Its principles and rules of procedure, together with the proclamation of the President under which it was established, appear in full in the appendix. The War Department from time to time referred to the National War Labor Board controversies in the plants of contractors which it was unable to adjust. The case of the Bridgeport munitions workers and that of Smith & Wesson, which presented perhaps the most diffi- cult problems, have already been discussed in an earlier section of this report. The relations of the War Department with the National War Labor Board were at all times cordial, and cooperation of the two agencies was made more effective upon the selection of the National War Labor Board for the position of secretary of Mr. W. Jett Lauck, who had been a member of the industrial service section of the Aircraft Bureau of the War Department. In only one field was the War Department unable to follow the recommendations of the National War Labor Board. After the cessation of hostilities the United Brotherhood of Carpenters began a consistent policy of referring to the National War Labor Board any controversies which arose affecting the members of their organi- RELATIONS WITH OTHER GOVERNMENT AGENCIES, 55 zation on building projects of the War Department. The first such controversy was a ^rike of the organized carpenters employed on the Brooklyn Army supply base and directed against the order of the Secretary of War of November 13, 1918, eliminating overtime on all War Department work because of the cessation of hostilities. This strike was subsequently changed to a strike for increased wages. The controversy was heard by the Emergency Construction Wage Commission and the carpenters' request was denied. The carpenters then took the case to the National War Labor Board, on which the president of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters sat as one of the representatives of labor. The National War Labor Board brought the matter to the personal attention of the secretary, who, after con- sideration of all the facts, advised the National War Labor Board under date of December 10, 1918, that so long as the agreement be- tween the president of the American Federation of Labor and him- self remained in effect he could not consent to the N^-tional War Labor Board exercising jurisdiction on labor controversies arising on construction projects of the War Department. The National War Labor Board thereupon refused to take jurisdiction in the contro- versy, m. Subsequently the United Brotherhood of Carpenters submitted to the National War Labor Board complaints regarding wages and other conditions of work on War Department construction projects in San Antonio, Tex., and in Denver, Colo. The National War Labor Board in spite of the clear statement of the Secretary of War in the New York carpenters controversy of December 10 assumed jurisdic- tion of these controversies and handed down decisions. In the hear- ings of the cases the War Department was not represented. In view of the fact that the controversy had already been passed upon by the Emergency Wage Construction Commission, which exercised juris- diction over the subject matter, and the demand had been refused by this commission, and in view of the express position of the War Department already taken in the New York carpenters controversy, the War Department refused to recognize the decision of the National War Labor Board and directed its officers at San Antonio and Denver to disregard the decision. That the War Department could have taken no other position is clear from the fact that its contractors were operating under cost plus contracts and were themselves, therefpre, not directly interested in the wages paid. The hearings by the Na- tional War Labor Board were in effect ex parte. The National War Labor Board performed a function of great usefulness to the Government in its labor problems throughout the war. While the major portion of its activities were in fields in which the War Department was not directly interested, nevertheless within the War Department field it was useful and effective. 56 WAK DEPT. ACTIVITIES FIELD OF INDUSTKIAL RELATIONS. NATIONAL ADJUSTMENT COMMISSION. In the labor problems incident to the loading of cargo on trans- Atlantic ships, the War Department had a direct and primary inter- est, although the operation of the ships was not a War Department function. In August, 1917, the basis for a peaceful solution of labor issues arising in longshore work was established through the creation of the National Adjustment Commission. An agreement was signed by the Secretary of War, the Secretary of Labor, the vice chairman of the Shipping Board, the president of the American Federation of Labor, the president of the International Longshoremen's Asso- ciation, and representatives of the Council of National Defense Ship- ping Committee, under which the National Adjustment Commission was established at Washington, with local adjustment commissions in the several ports. The commission was made up of a representa- tive of the Shipping Board, a representative of the War Department, a representative of the International Longshoremen's Association, and a representative of the shipping interests. At a later date the Navy Department appointed a representative to act in an advisory capacity. The commission was given final and binding authority with regard to wages, hours, and working conditions; in all cases work was to continue uninterruptedly until the local or national commission could take action. In the event of dissatisfaction by either party in the award of the local commission, appeal might be taken to the National Commission. The detail work of the National Adjustment Conunission is to be found in the commission's report submitted to the United States Shipping Board. Suffice it to say here that in the adjustment of longshore and harbor craft labor difficulties its work was imusually successful. All of its decisions and awards were accepted and put into effect by all of the parties at interest. Only one strike of any con- sequence occurred in this field before November 11, 1918, and in this strike the men returned to work after a few days and submitted to the jurisdiction of the commission. The War Department was represented on the commission succes- sively by designation of the Secretary of War by Walter Lippmann, Stanley King, Ernest M. Hopkins, John E. McLane, and Maj. Saipuel J. Eosensohn. This brief comment on the work of the commission would be inadequate did it not reflect the judgment of each of the War Department's representatives as to the wisdom, the loyalty, and the whole-hearted and effective cooperation which the commission received from Mr. T. V. O'Connor, president of the International Longshoremen's Association, who served as a member of the commission from its organization, and who brought to its deliberations a profound knowledge of the conditions of the busi- RELATIONS WITH OTHER GOVERNMENT AGENCIES. 57 ness, a deep understanding of the attitude of the men engaged in the various operations connected with the loading of vessels, and an un- flinching courage which was never daunted by difficulty. WAR LABOR POLICIES BOARD. The War Labor Policies Board was established in May, 1918, by the Secretary of Labor, with the approval of the President, to more effectively coordinate the laber activities of the various departments and agencies of the Federal Government. The Secretary of Labor appointed as chairman of the board Mr. Felix Frankfurter, who up to that time had been special assistant to the Secretary of War. Each department or agency of the Government which dealt with the labor problem appointed as its representative on the War Labor Policies Board the ranking member of the department engaged in the labor field. The War Department was represented on the board successively by Stanley King, Ernest M. Hopkins, and again by Stanley King. Among the problems which were made the subject of special in- quiry by the board were the following : Central recruiting of labor ; standardization of wages and conditions of work; deferred classi- fication of skilled workers; dilution and training of labor; employ- ment of women and children ; sanitary code for the explosive indus- try; stimulation of production; standardization of clauses affecting industrial relations in Government contracts; centralization of the collection of industrial statistics by Federal agencies; living condi- tions of workers ; demobilization and reconstruction. The War Labor Policies Board did not undertake the detailed ad- ministration of labor problems. It served as a clearing house for discussion by various departments of problems presented by indi- vidual departments, and as a result tended to unify the methods and policies of the various departments and agencies of the Government in dealing with labor. CONFERENCE COMMITTEE OF NATIONAL LABOR ADJUSTMENT AGENCIES The War Labor Policies Board did not find it practical to consider in detail questions of wage rate and industrial standards. At the suggestion of the board and at the instance of the Secretary of Labor a Conference Committee of National Adjustment Agencies was es- tablished in September, 1918. On this committee were represented all arbitration boards and adjustment agencies established by the various departments and agencies of the Government to deal with labor controversies. It was agreed by the various agencies that no award changing the conditions or standards of work or rates of wages should be issued by any individual board, commission, or agency. 58 WAR DEPT, ACTIVITIES AFIELD OF INDUSTEIAL EELATIONS. before it had first been brouglat to ihe attention of the conference committee. Each agency retained the final right to make its awards as it saw fit, but it first had the benefit of the counsel and advice of its associated agencies as to the effect which the proposed changes would have in the fields of labor occupied by the other agencies. The work of the conference committee was only at its inception when the cessation of hostilities made its further activity unneces- sary. VI. DEMOBILIZATION. With the cessation of hostilities on November 11, 1918, the rea- sons which had made necessary the War Department's extended ac- tivities in the labor field ceased to obtain. The department had undertaken its functions because of its prime responsibility for the production of munitions and supplies for the armies in the field. All its action had been founded on this principle. Upon the cessa- tion of hostilities, procurement bureaus of the department immedi- ately discontinued further purchases and began as rapidly as pos- sible to cancel existing contracts and liquidate the department's obli- gations under these contracts. It seemed entirely obvious that the department should henceforth leave the administration of the labor problem, so far as it affected the Federal Government, to the De- partment of Labor, where the original jurisdiction had been placed by the Congress. The Industrial Service Sections of Ordnance, Quartermaster, and Aircraft were promptly demobilized. The In- dustrial Service Section of the Construction Division continued with a gradually decreasing personnel, and will not finally complete its work until the emergency construction program of the Government has been brought to completion. The National Harness and Sad- dlery Adjustment Commission was dissolved by the Secretary of War on January 15, 1919. The Emergency Wage Construction Commis- sion will continue until the emergency construction program of the Government is substantially complete. Labor activities of the office of the Secretary of War are restricted to the liquidation of obliga- tions in the labor field assumed during the period of hostilities. In March, 1919, sections 1 and 2 of General Orders No. 58, War Department, 1918, announcing the War Department's representatives on the Labor Policies Board and prescribing that changes in hours, wages, and conditions of work could be effected only upon the ap- proval of one of these representatives, were rescinded. The war had indicated the importance of the problems arising from the relations between the Ordnance Department and its large number of civilian employees in the arsenals and other munition plants operated by the Ordnance Department. With a view to af- fording means for dealing with these problems on a scale commensu- DEMOBILIZATIOISr. 59 rate with their importance, the Industrial Service Section of the Ord- nance Department was reestablished on April 3, 1919, becoming a Branch of the Executive Section, Office of the Chief of Ordnance. By office order No. 620 of the Ordnance Department, the new duties of the Industrial Service Branch were formally defined, as follows: It shall be the duty of the Industrial Service Branch to develop administra- tive mechanism within and without industrial plants for dealing with the rela- tions between employer and employee to the end that proper treatment of em- ployees as to pay and working conditions may be assured, production increased, and loyalty promoted. In accordance with these general instructions, the Industrial Service Branch win advise the Chief of Ordnance directly on all matters pertaining to labor engaged In the production of ordnance stores and supplies, covering specifically all questions concerning hours of labor, rates of pay, housing, transportation, dilution, industrial education, women in industry, community conditions affect- ing labor, and the prevention of wage or other labor disputes. It shall have in charge the administration of laws regulating production of ordnance material in private plants. It shall maintain relations on the above matters with the office of the Secretary of War, with other divisions of the War Department, the Department of Labor, the Navy Department, the Public Health Service on mat- ters affecting health, safety, and sanitation, and all other agencies dealing with labor. All such matters are to be referred to the Industrial Service Branch and will be handled by that branch either directly or through other appropriate agencies of the Government. The detailed administration of the problem in the Ordnance was further crystallized in office memorandum 206, issued May 2, 1919, by Brig. Gen. W. S. Peirce, acting Chief of Ordnance : Ordnance took a leading part in the war-time attempt to solve the problems and devise the mechanisms of industrial relations. It must in peace continue to do its part. As a great manufacturing establishment maintained for the peo- ple and by the people of the nation, there rests on it the obligation to develop the most effective organization and the best modes of procedure. This can be ^one In the sphere of industrial relations by conserving the gains made during the war and gradually working out from those gains a carefully planned organi- zation for relieving the tensions and taking up the slacks that always occur when human beings work together for a common purpose. There exists now the beginning of this evolution. Most of the skilled workers in ordnance establishments are members of trade- unions, and in the presentation to the commanding officers of their special trade problems have been represented often by union officials. Such conferences be- tween commanding officers and representatives of special trades are highly de- sirable, making for better understanding of general problems and of the special difficulties encountered by highly developed trades. It is possible, too, through the trade representatives to bring before the men the difficulties of the manage- ment. Commanding officers should feel free to make use of such conferences, but when the subject of discussion leads to decisions affecting policy and prac- tice of import to other ordnance establishments, it is directed that the trade representative be requested to present the matter to the national officers of his union, that they may take it up with the Chief of Ordnance through the Indus- trial Service Branch of the Main Office, the Industrial Service acting as a clear- ing house to prevent confusion and inconsistency of rulings. 60 WAR DEPT. ACTIVITIES FIELD OF INDUSTEIAL BELATIOHS. It must be clearly understood that there shall be no abridgement of the right of men to join societies, associations, or unions of any kind, and no limitation upon conferences between representatives of those bodies and the proper ord- nance representatives. Every courtesy shall be extended and aid given consist- ent with the policy and purpose of ordnance. On the other hand, special privi- leges to societies, associations, or unions can, of course, never be granted. Some ordnance establishments have been using the committee system to bring about closer relation with the workers. A single works committee to handle all matters affecting employees is either too small to be truly repre- sentative or so large as to be ineffective. A better arrangement of the system is necessary. For the present, however; committees that are in existence should be continued and the experience gained by commanding officers in working with the committee transmuted into recommendations for a more effective organization. To enable the office of the Chief of Ordnance to be better able to advise with commanding officers about perfecting means of cooperating with employees, it is desired that commanding officers of all ordnance establishments forward to the Industrial Service Branch a statement of their present systeat and organization for dealing with their worlsers on all questions affecting employ- ment, promotion, wages, hours, and working conditions, together witft,.^^their recommendation for improving their mettoods based on the special conditions surrounding their individual establishments. No one type of organlzatioti will fit the diverse needs of ordnance plants, and no attempt will be made to bring about rigid uniformity in mechanism. It must be borne in mind in this process of perfecting industrial relations that the specific purpose of industry is production and that the test of the success of organization is in the quality and quantity of production. By this test, the war has taught us, the old method of refusing the counsel and cooperation of labor was a failure. But in devising a new way the old test still holds good. As chief of the new Industrial Service Section of the Ordnance Department Gen. Peirce appointed Mr. Payson Irwin, who had been associated with the Industrial Service Section of the Ordnance throughout the war. The future development of the indystrial service section and its integration with the War Department and military establishment in peace times is a problem beyond the scope of the present report, The war labor problem of the War Department is substantially completed. VII. CONCLUSION. The War Department carried through its industrial program for the equipment and maintenance of its armies in the field and of its troops in training in the camps and cantonments of this country without serious interruption or delay at any point due to labor controversy. That there were many temporary stoppages of work by the employees at various points in the program was natural. That no stoppage of work or strikes developed of any prolonged CONCLUSION. 61 duration; and that the War Department's project was able to march with increasing speed and with a rapidly increasing volume, was significant and undoubtedly not without effect upon the ultimate outcome of the war. This result was accomplished as a result of the work of many agencies, but primarily and directly as a con- sequence of the general and unhesitating cooperation and loyalty to the Federal Government which was evidenced 'by labor, both or- ganized and unorganized, throughout the country and throughout the period of the war. To the adjustment of individual contro- versies and to the development of the morale of labor, the war labor functions of the War Department contributed to no small extent. It is perhaps not inaccurate to say that they rendered an important contribution in a vital field in the industrial mobilization of the Nation. That these results were accomplished by voluntary methods, and without the application of compulsion, is particularly significant. As the war progressed, there developed a substantial body of public opinion led by members of the manufacturing class and favoring some form of conscription of labor. The application of the work or fight order to certain restricted classes of unproductive employment by the Provost Marshal General, with the approval of the Secretary of War, as a means of conserving the man power of the country and directing it out of such channels as were without value to the gov- ernment in the prosecution of the war, led to the hope on the part of many that this order might be extended by legislative enactment to apply substantial compulsion to the great body of workmen of the country. The Secretary of War's position was that the question of the conscription of labor was essentially a question of industrial pol- icy to be passed upon by the Congress as such and therefore to be separated from questions of military policy involved in the applica- tion of the selective service law. Happily, it never became necessary to consider the question of the conscription of labor in general. The powers possessed by the government and exercised by the President in the Bridgeport case proved entirely adequate for the situation in those few emergencies where the voluntary methods of adjustment proved for a time ineffective. That the Government secured such results as have been indicated by undue concessions to organized labor is frequently charged. The charge can be adequately answered only by a detailed consideration of the facts of each of the various controversies into the settlement of which the War Department entered. Such an examination it is believed will show that the policies of the department on all sub- jects except wages were policies which had been followed with suc- cess by able and progressive manufacturers in their private business. 62 WAR DEPT. ACTIVITIES FIELD OF INDUSTEIAL RELATIONS. A careful study of wage levels throughout the war indicates that almost without exception wages were raised by private contractors in bidding against each other and that the wages established from time to time by the War Department followed rather than preceded standards which had been set either by private competitive bid- ding or by agencies of other departments of the Government. In fact, one of the most difficult problems of the "War Department was to restrain manufacturers from increasing their rates of pay, directly or indirectly, in competition to secure labor from fellow contractors. At no time and in no single case throughout the period of the war did the department fail to enforce its decisions in controversies which it entered, securing compliance alike by employer and worker, and adopting all necessary means to secure such compliance. Members of the various boards and commissions, and chiefs of the various sections are listed on subsequent pages. To them the de- partment owes in special measure the success of its activities in the field of industrial relations. It is impossible to close this report without expressing the peculiar debt which the department owes to the leaders of organized labor, with whom it came in almost daily contact throughout the war. From them it received the most continuous and loyal assistance. In particular is the department indebted to Mr. John E. Alpine, presi- dent of the International Association of Plumbers and Steamfitters, to Mr. William E. Bryan, president of the United Leatherworkers' International Union, and to Mr. T. V. O'Connor, president of the In- ternational Longshoremen's Association, who contributed almost con- tinuously of their time and energy to the War Department, without compensation. From Mr. Samuel Gompers, president of the Ameri- can Federation of Labor, the department received continuous, gen- erous and wise cooperation, born of his intimate sympathy with the aspirations of labor, his encyclopedic knowledge of the labor move- ment and his complete devotion to the Nation's cause. VIII. PERSONNEL. CANTONMENT ADJUSTMENT COMMISSION. [Subsequently changed to Emergency Wage Construction Commission.] Representing the public : Walter Lippmann, succeeded by Stanley King, succeeded by Ernest M. Hopkins. Representing labor: John E. Alpine. Representing the Army: Brig. Gen. Garlington, succeeded by Brig. Gen. S. T. Ansell,^ succeeded by Col: J. H. Alexander. 1 Brig. Gen. Ansell was appointed to the commission but did not participate in any of its activities whatever. During this period the work of the commission was handled entirely by Messrs. Alpine and King. PERSONNEL. 63 BOARD OF CONTROL, OF LABOR STANDARDS IN ARMY CLOTHING. Appointed August 22, 1917: Louis E. Kirstein, chairman; Mrs. Florence Kelley, secretary, National Consumers League, New York; Capt. Walter E. Kreusi, Quartermaster Corps. In December, 1917, the board was dissolved by order of the Sec- retary of War. NATIONAL HARNESS AND SADDLERY ADJUSTMENT COMMISSION. Eepresenting the public: Stanley King, succeeded by Samuel J. Eosensohn, major, Judge Advocate General, Representing the Quartermaster Department: Col. John S. Fair. Eepresenting the Ordnance Department : Col. J. E. Simpson. Eepresenting the manufacturers : Henry Diegel. Eepresenting labor : William E. Bryan. ARSENAL AND NAVY YARD WAGE COMMISSION. Representing the Navy: Franklin D. Eoosevelt. Assistant Sec- retary of the Navy, chairman. Eepresenting the War Department : Walter Lippmann, succeeded by Stanley King. Eepresenting the Department of Labor: William Blackman, suc- ceeded by Eowland B. Mahany. NATIONAL ADJUSTMENT COMMISSION. Eepresenting the War Department: Walter Lippmann, succeeded by Stanley King, succeeded by Ernest M. Hopkins, succeeded by John E. McLane, succeeded by Samuel J. Eosensohn. CHIEFS OF INDUSTRIAL SERVICE SECTIONS AND ALL ACTIVITIES CORRESPOND- ING TO INDUSTRIAL SERVICE SECTIONS PRECEDING FORMAL ESTABLISH- MENT. Ordnance Department: Dean L. C. Marshall, succeeded by Dean Herman Schneider, succeeded by Maj. William Eogers, succeeded by Maj. B. H. GitcheU. Construction Division: Maj. (later Col.) J. H. Alexander. Quartermaster Department : Dr. E. M. Hopkins, succeeded by John E. McLane, Esq. Aircraft Bureau : Dr. Charles P. Neill, chief, W. Jett Lauck, as- sistant, succeeded by Maj. B. H. GitcheU. 64 WAR DEPT. ACTIVITIES ^FIELD OF INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS. OFFICE OF THE SECRET ART OF WAR. , Special assistant to the Secretary of War in charge of industrial relations: Felix Frankfurter, succeeded by Walter Lippmann, suc- ceeded by Stanley King, succeeded by Ernest M. Hopkins, succeeded by Stanley King. Officers detailed to the office of the Secretary of War to deal with industrial relations: Samuel J. Eosensohn, major, Judge Advocate General; B. H. Gitchell, major, Ordnance; F. W. Tully, major, Ordnance. APPENDIX. [G. O. 13.] 6ENERAL Orders, 1 OrricE of the CHnor of Obdnancb, No. 13. J United States Aemy, Washington, November 15, J917. [Note. — A similar order has been issued by the Quartermaster General.] SUGGESTIONS FOR ARSENAL COMMANDERS AND MANUFACTURERS. While circumstances are not such as to render appropriate the issuance of definite orders upon this subject at the present time, the following suggestions tre commended to the careful consideration of arsenal commanders and manu- facturers executing orders for this department, especially to those manufac- turers who are operating upon a cost plus profit basis of compensation. In view of the urgent necessity for a prompt increase in the volume of production of practically every article required for the conduct of the war, vigilance is demanded of all those i)n any way associated with industry lest the safeguards with which the people of this country have sought to protect labor should be unwisely and unnecessarily broken down. It is a fair assumption that for the most part these safeguards are the mechanisms of efficiency. In- dustrial history proves that reasonable hours, fair working conditions, and a proper wage scale are essential to high production. During the war every attempt should be made to conserve in every way possible all of our achieve- ments in the way of social betterment. But the pressing argument for main- taining industrial safeguards in the present emergency is that they actually conribute to efficiency. To waive them would be a shortsighted policy, leading gradually but inevitably toward lowered production. It might be expected that an individual working 10 hours a day instead of 8, or 11 hours a day instead of 10, would turn out more goods. He can, and doubtless will, for the first few days. But experience shows us that in a few weeks, or a few months, the output will be the same, or even less, than it was during the shorter day. This department, procuring war material in great quantities and of many different kinds, can not be without interest as to the conditions under which this material is manufactured. In peace times we can afford to depend upon routine agencies for seeing to it that those engaged on Government work are both reasonably eflScient and fairly protected in the conduct of their work. There is grave danger, however, that under stress of war such consideration may be overlooked, and that not only injustice may be done to individual workers and groups of workers but that quantity and quality production may Itself suffer. For this reason the following memorandum has been prepared in the hope of giving publicity to broad policies which, in the opinion of the de- partment should obtain in estabUshments acting as its agent in turning out »Dittons and suppUes of war. There will be necessarily some radical points of difference as between industrial conditions in times of war and those which properly obtain in times of peace. Again, principles and standards for indus- trial employment vary among the several States, and even differ as between 127785—19 S 65 66 WAE DEPT. ACTIVITIES FIELD OF INDUSTEIAL. BELATIONS. various industries in the same State. Hence there are serious difficulties M the way of establishing uniform and proper regulations in these matters. In the preparation of the following memorandum no effort has been made to establish, or even suggest, definite rules of conduct. However, the memorandum as a whole presents what may be considered a fair — ^if tentative — ^basis of action. It is issued for the information and guidance of inspectors and production officers quite as much with the hope that it will assist in clarifying their own thinking as that it may lead to action on their part by the Governi ment. It must be recognized that the unusual conditions brought about by the war force both upon the manufacturers and upon their employees additional! burdens and strain. The difficulties and responsibilities of each side are appar- ent. Every efCort should be made to lighten, rather than to add to, theefii burdens. Therefore inspectors are directed to observe closely and inquire discreetly concerning the industrial conditions in the plants to which they may be assigned. If on the whole these conditions appear to be measurably in conformity with the spirit of the following outline, an inspector would be warranted in virtually dismissing the whole subject. At the same time the department wishes to be assured that schedules of hours obviously excessive, or wage scales distinctly unfair, or working conditions such as should not be tolerated, will certainly be brought to its attention. The department itself will decide as to what steps, if any, should be taken upon a given set of con- ditions. As this memorandum is in no sense a confidential one, there can be no harm in allowing anyone to see It. It should not be used in any way that might tend to instigate industrial disputes. It is thought that the dissemination ot this memorandum throughout the department wiU have a tendency to prevent industrial unrest, rather than to cause it, and to make for success in the great enterprise upon which we are individually and collectively launched. It should be borne in mind that those charged with the responsibility for making purchases for the Government are interested in the conditions under which work is done, not only for humanitarian reasons but also because ol the effect upon cost. Great quantities of arms and ammunition are being pur- chased on a cost plus basis, and any practice which has a tendency to lower production adds to the total cost of carrying on the war. I. HOTJES OF LABOR. 1. Daily hours. — ^The day's' work should not exceed the customary hours Ini the particular establishment, or the standard already attained In the In- dustry and in the community. It should certainly not be longer than 10 hours for an adult workman. For younger workers, for women, and in] heavy or exhausting processes for all workers the best results will be secured only by a shorter schedule. The drift in the industrial world is toward an 8-hour day as an efficiency measure. It should be remembered that a 10-hour working day with time added for lunch and the trip to and from home means actually from 12 to 13 hours. Workers afforded such meager oppo^ tunltles for leisure and recreation can not be efficient. The British experience has shown that lengthening hours reduces output and increases the sickness rate and the loss of time through irregular attendance. It has shown also that hours of labor must be adapted to the age and sex of the worker and the nature of the occupation. 2. Overtime. — ^The theory under which we pay " time and a half " for ove^ time is a tacit recongition that It is usually unnecessary and always unde-j APPENDIX. 67 filrable to have overtime. The excess payment is a penalty and Intended to act as a deterrent. There Is no industrial abuse which needs closer v^atchlng In time of war. 3. Shifts in continuous industries.— Eight hours per shift should be a maxi- mum in continuous 24-hour work. This standard has also administrative advantages in that the executives are less fatigued and better able to direct production. 4. Salf holiday on Saturday.— ^he half holiday on Saturday is already a common custom in summer, and it is advantageous throughout the year, espe- cially if the workday be 10 hours long the other days of the week. It makes possible a rest of a day and a half, and thus renders production more satis- factory for the week as a whole. It also gives time for overhauling and clean- ing the machinery and the plant. The working period on Saturday should not exceed five hours. A longer period without intermission for rest or for food is too long. An occasional shift of two or three hours on Saturday afternoons is un- objectionable if essential for the balancing of departments and not applied ■continuously to the whole plant, but the additional hours should be regarded as overtime and paid for on that basis. A plant now operating on Saturday after- noon and desiring to make Saturday a half holiday without change in pay will usually find employees willing to meet the loss in production due to the shorter hours through more assiduous labor during the balance of the week. 5. Hours posted. — It is desirable that the hours of labor for every tour should be posted. This is an especially valuable safeguard where the schedule of hours tends toward extremes. 6. Holidays. — ^The observance of national and local holidays will give op- portunity for rest and relaxation which tend to make production more satis- factory. The British tried to increase production by postponing and shorten- ing their holidays, but they soon found that with the strain of speeding up this was not economical, and the customary vacation periods have therefore been largely restored. 7. One day of rest in seven. — One day of rest in seven should be a universal and invariable rule. Its wisdom has been established beyond all discussion as affecting productivity, personal health, and the welfare of the community. II. STANDAEDS IN WOSKKOOMS. 1. Protection against hazards and provisions for comfort and sanitation. — Existing legal standards to prevent danger from fire, accident, occupational diseases, and other hazards, and to provide good light, adequate ventilation, fiufficient heat, and proper sanitation should be observed as minimum require- ments necessary both to protect the safety and welfare of employees and to insure economical production. They are not handicaps to efficiency, but aids to it. They guarantee that the conditions surrounding work will not be a drain on the worker's energy, but will be a positive benefit in assuring energetic .attention to work. I 2. Location of toilets.— X\l toilets should be readily accessible and sanitary, and workers should not be required to go up or down more than one flight of Stairs to reach the toilet facilities unless they are allowed to use a reasonably .accessible passenger elevator. 3. Extreme temperatures.— Those processes in which workers are exposed to excessive heat— that is, over 80°, or excessive cold, that is under 50°— should be earefuUy supervised so as to render the temperature conditions as nearly normal as possible. When extreme temperatures are essential workers should not only be properly clothed but sudden changes should be avoided. 68 WAK DEPT. ACTIVITIES ^FIELD OF INDUSTKIAL KBLATIONS. 4. Lights. — If any Ught is at the level of the workers' eyes it should be so. shaded that its rays will not directly strike the eyes. ^_^ in. WAGES. 1. Wage standards. — Standards already established in an industry and in the locality should not be lowered. The minimum wage rate should be made in proper relation to the cost of living, and in fixing them it should be taken into consideration that the prices of necessities of life have shown great increases. Changes to meet changed prices should not, however, be made with too great rapidity, and all wage adjustments should be based on considerations which suggest at least relative permanency. ■""2. Recruitment of labor. — ^The practice of enticing employees from other establishments engaged in the production of war materiel for the Government by the offer of higher wages should be strongly discouraged. There is always a temptation to resort to it upon the part of those who are executing contracts for the Government on a cost plus profit basis, since in such cases the wages, whatever they are, are paid by the Government; it is therefore necessary to keep close watch upon this practice, and to inform contractors that the depart- ment intends with respect to it to exercise the supervision over expenditures In manufacturing operations to which it is entitled under contracts of this nature, IV. NEGOTIATIONS BETWEEN EMPLOYEES AND EMPLOYEES. The need of preserving and creating methods of joint negotiations between employers and groups of employees is especially great in the light of the critical points of controversy which may arisfe in a time like the present. Existing channels should be preserved and new ones opened, if required, to provide easier access for discussion between an employer and his employees over con- troversial points. V. STANDARDS FOE EMPLOYMENT OF WOMEN. In addition to the standards and principles already discussed in this memo- randum special considerations apply to women. These considerations are of urgent importance because of the inevitable increase in the employment of women following the withdrawal of men for military service. 1. Hours of lahor. — Existing legal standards should be rigidly maintained, and even where the law permits a 9 or 10 hour day effort should be made to restrict the work of women to 8 hours to enable them to bear the Increased burden brought by new tasks and by greater speed in their accustomed occupations. 2. Prohibition of night work. — The employment of women on night shifts should be avoided as a necessary protection, morally and physically. English investigators have found that night work for women Involves proportionately larger costs for supervision and protection. 3. Rest periods. — No woman should be employed for a longer period than; four and a half hours without a break for a meal, and a recess of 10 minutes should be allowed in the middle of each working period. 4. Time for meals. — ^At least 30 minutes should be allowed for a meal, and this time should be lengthened to 45 minutes or an hour If the working-day exceeds 8 hours. 5. Place for meals. — Meals should not be eaten In the workrooms. It is unhygienic and prevents the relaxation which the workers should be induced to take even though, through inertia, tiiey are inclined to neglect it at the noon recess. Their withdrawal from the workroom also makes possible thorough- ventilation, which increases the rate of production in the afternoon. APPENDIX. 69 6. Saturday half hoUday.—The Saturday half .holiday should be considered an absolute essential for women under all conditions. 7. Seats. — ^For women who sit at their work seat with backs should be pro- vided whenever the occupations render them possible, and when standing at occupations seats should be available and their use permitted at regular intervals. I 8. Lifting weights. — No women should be required to lift repeatedly more than 25 pounds in any single load. 9. Superintendents for women. — In any factory employing women, especially when their number is considerable, it is desirable to employ a superintendent for women, whose duty it is to oversee the conditions under which women's work is done. Of course, where a social worker or nurse is employed a superintendent of women is unnecessary. 10. Replacement of men hy women. — ^When It is necessary to employ women in work hitherto done by men care should be taken to make sure that the task is adapted to the strength of women, and the advice of State factory inspectors or other experts should be sought in determining the conditions under which they shall work. The standards of wages hitherto prevailing for men in the process should not be lowered where women render equivalent service. The hours for women engaged in such processes, of course, should not be longer than those formerly worked by men. 11. Tenement-house work. — No work should be given out to be done in rooms used for living purposes or in rooms directly connected with living rooms In any dwelling or tenement. This requirement Is in the interest both of the health of the soldiers and of the standards of industry. Official investigation has repeatedly shown the evils of the home-work system as a menace to the health of the consumer and the efficiency of the industry. VI. STANDAEDS FOB EMPLOYMENT OP MINOES. 1. Age. — ^No child under 14 years of age shall be employed at any work under any conditions. ^ 2. Hours of labor. — No child between the ages of 14 and 16 years shall be employed more than 8 hours a day or 48 hours a week, and night work is prohibited. 3. Federal child-labor Iom. — ^These and other standards of the Federal child- labor law must be strictly observed. 4. Minors under 18. — ^Minors of both sexes under 18 years of age should have the same restrictions upon their hours as already outlined for women employees. WlLUAM Ceoziee, Major General, Chief of Ordnance. NATIONAL WAR LABOR BOARD. principles. Peoclamation by the Peesident of the United States, Whereas in January, 1918, the Secretary of Labor, upon the nomination of the president of the American Federation of Labor and the president of the National Industrial Conference Board, appointed a War Labor Conference Board for the purpose of devising for the period of the war a method of labor adjustment which would be acceptable to employers and employees; and 70 WAR DEPT. ACTIVITIES ^FIELD OF HSTDUSTHIAL KELATIOIirS. Whereas said board has made a report recommending the creation for the period of the war of a National War Labor Board with the same number of members as, and to be selected by the same agenqies that created, the War Labor Conference Board, whose duty it shall be to adjust labor disputes In- the manner specified, and in accordance with certain conditions set forth in the said report ; and Whereas the Secretary of Labor has, in accordance with the recommenda- tion contained in the report of said War Labor Conference Board dated March 29, 1918, appointed as members of the National War Labor Board Hon. William Howard Taft and Hon. Frank P. Walsh, representatives of the general pubUc , of the United States; Messrs. Loyall A. Osborne, L. F. Loree, W. H. Van Dervoort, C. E. Michael, and B. L. Worden, representatives of the employers of the United States ; and Messrs. Frank J. Hayes, William L. Hutcheson,;.; William H. Johnston, Victor A. Olander, and T. A. Rickert, representatives of the employees of the United States : Now, therefore, I, Woodrow Wilson, President of the United States of America, do hereby approve and affirm the said appointments and make due proclamation thereof and of the following for the information and guidance of all concerned; The powers, functions, and duties of the National War Labor Board shall be to settle by mediation and conciliation controversies arising between em- ployers and workers in fields of production necessary for the effective conduct of the war, or in other fields of national activity, delays and obstructions in which might, in the opinion of the National Board, afEect detrimentally such production ; to provide, by indirect appointment, or otherwise, for committees or boards to sit In various parts of the country where controversies arise and secure settlement by local mediation and conciliation ; and to summon the parties to controversies for hearing and action by the National Board in event of failure to secure settlement by mediation and conciliation. The principles to be observed and the methods to be followed by the National Board in exercising such powers and functions and performing such duties shall be those specified in the said report of the War Labor Conference Board dated March 29, 1918, a complete copy of which is hereunto appended.' The National Board shall refuse to take cognizance of a controversy between employer and workers in any field of industrial or other activity where there is by agreement or Federal law a means of settlement which has not been Invoked. And I do hereby urge upon all employers and employees within the United States the necessity of utilizing the means and methods thus provided for the adjustment of all industrial disputes, and request that during the pendency of mediation or arbitration through the said means and methods, there shall be no discontinuance of Industrial operations which would result In curtailment of the production of war necessities. In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed. Done in the District of Columbia, this 8th day of April, in the year of our Lord, 1918, and of the independence of the United States the one hundred and forty-second. [SEAL.] WOODBOW WlLSON. By the President: RoBEsiT Lansing, Secretary of State. ' Not printed herewith. APPENDIX. 71 Pbinciples and Policies to Govekn Eei,ations Between Woekees and Em- ployees IN Wae InDUSTEEES lOE THE DUEATION OP THE WAE. There should he no strikes or lockouts during the war. Right to Obganize. ; The right of workers to organize In trade-unions and to bargain collectively through chosen representatives is recognized and affirmed. This right shall not be denied, abridged, or interfered with by the employers in any manner what- soever. The right of employers to organize in associations or groups and to bargain ■ collectively through chosen representatives is recognized and aiflrmed. This right shall not be denied, abridged, or interfered with by the workers in any manner whatsoever. Employers should not discharge workers for membership in trade-unions, nor for legitimate trade-union activities. The workers, in the exercise of their right to organize, should not use coercive measures of any kind to induce persons to join their organizations nor to induce employers to bargain or deal therewith. Existing Conditions. In establishments where the union shop exists the same shall continue, and the union standards as to wages, hours of labor, and other conditions of em- ployment shall be maintained. In establishments where union and nonunion men and women now work to- gether and the employer meets only with employees or representatives engaged in said establishments, the continuance of such conditions shall not be deemed a grievance. This declaration, however, is not intended in any manner to deny the right or discourage the practice of the formation of labor unions or the joining of the same by the workers in said establishments, as guaranteed in the preceding section, nor to prevent the War Labor Board from urging or any umpire from granting, under the machinery herein povided, improvement of their situation in the matter of wages, hours of labor, or other conjlitions as shall be found desirable from time to time. ^ Established safeguards and regulations for. the protection of thfe health and safety of the workers shall not be relaxed. WOMEN IN INDUSTET. If it shall become necessary to employ women on work ordinarily performed by men, they must be allowed equal pay for equal work and must not be allotted tasks disproportionate to their strength. HOUES OF LABOB. The basic eight-hour day is recognized as applying in all cases in which existing law requires it. In all other cases the question of hours of labor shall be settled with due regard to governmental necessities and the welfare, health, and proper comfort of the workers. MAXIMUM PBODTTCTION. The maximum production of all war industries should be maintained and methods of work and operation on the part of employers or workers which operate to delay or limit productin, or which have a tendency to artificially increase the cost thereof, should be discouraged. 72 WAE DEPT. ACTIVITIES ^FIELD OF INDUSTBtAL EELATIONS. MOBILIZATION OF LABOE. For the purpose of mobilizing the labor supply with a view to its rapid and efCective distribution, a permanent list of the numbers of skilled and other workers available in different parts of the country shall be kept on file by the Department of Labor, the information to be constantly furnished — 1. By the trade-unions. 2. By State employment bureaus and Federal agencies of like character 3. By the managers and operators of industrial establishments throughout the country. ■These agencies shall be given opportunity to aid in the distribution of labor as necessity demands. CUSTOM OF LOCALITIES. In fixing wages, hours, and conditions of labor, regard should always be had to the labor standards, wage scales, and other conditions prevailing in the locali- ties afCected. THE LIVING WAGE. 1. The right of all workers, including common laborers, to a living wage la hereby declared. 2. In fixing wages, minimum rates of pay shall be established which will ■ insure the subsistence of the worker and his family in health and reasonable comfort. ORDNANCE CONTRACTS — ^LABOE DISPUTES CLAUSE. Clause n. — In the event that labor disputes shall arise directly affecting the performance of this contract, and causing or likely to cause any delay in making the deliveries upon the date or dates specified, the contractor shall ad- dress a written statement thereof to the Chief of Ordnance for transmission to the Secretary of War with the request that such dispute be settled, provid- ing such information and access to information within the control of the Con- tractor as the Secretary of War shall require, and it is stipulated and agreed that the Secretary of War may thereupon settle or cause to be settled such dispute, ahd the contractor agrees to accede to and comply with all the terms of such settlement. If the contractor is thereby required to pay labor costs higher than those then prevaiUng in the performance of this contract prior to such settlement, a fair addition to the contract price of the material shall be made therefor ; but if such settlement reduces the labor costs to the contractor, a fair deduction shall be made from the contract price, all as may be deter- mined by the contracting officer. No claim for addition or deduction shall be made unless the same has been ordered in writing. CORRESPONDENCE RELATIVE TO ADJUSTMENT AND CONTROL OF WAGES, HOURS, AND CONDITIONS OF LABOR IN THE CON- STRUCTION OF CANTONMENTS. War Department, Washingion, June 19, 1911. For the adjustment and control of wages, hours, and conditions of labor in the construction of cantonments, there shall be created an adjustment commis- sion of three persons, appointed by the Secretary of War ; one to represent the Army, one the public, and one labor ; the last ■..) be nominated by Samuel Gompers, member of the Advisory Commission of the Council of National De- fense, and president of the American Federation of Labor. APPENDIX. 73 As basis standards with reference to eacli cantonment, such commission shall use the union scales of wages, hours, and conditions in force on June 1, 1917, in the locality where such cantonment is situated. Consideration shall be given to special circumstances, if any, arising after said date which may re- quire particular advances in wages or changes in other standards. Adjust- ments of wages, hours, or conditions made by such boards are to be treated as binding by all parties. Newton D. Bakee. Saml. Gompbks. Was Depabtmbnt, Washington, June SO, 1917. Mr. Fbank Morsison, Secretary American Federation of Labor, Washington, D. C. KE cantonment constktjction labor conditions. Mt Deab Mk. Moeeison : Confirming our talk over the telephone this after- noon, it must be clearly understood, as a basis for any labor adjustment ma- chinery, that the Government can not commit itself in any way to the closed shop, and that the conditions in force on June 1, 1917, which are to serve as part of the basic standards do not include any provisions which have refer- ence to the employment of nonunion labor. In our telephone talk just now, I understand that you accede to this view. The word " conditions " is of course clearly understood to refer only to the union arrangements in the event of overtime, holiday work, and matters of that kind. This was clearly under- stood between Mr. Gompers and myself this morning when we agreed that it would not be legally possible at this time to insert an understanding— even so much as a provision that preference be given to members of organized labor. Very truly yours. Louis B. Wehle. (Copy to Mr. Gompers.) New Yoek, N. Y., June 22. Lotus B. Wehee, 901 Munsey Building, Washington, D. 0. Your understanding of the memorandum signed by Secretary Baker and me is right. It had reference to union hours and wages. The question of union shop was not included. Samuix Gqmpebs. Was Dkpaetment, WasMngton, June 23, IHT. gAMUEL GOMFEBB, Esq., President American Federation of Labor, Washington, D. G. Be cantonment construction labor conditions. Mt Deab Mb. Gompees: I acknowledge receipt from you yesterday evening of the following telegram: " Louis Wehle, "901 Munsey Building, Washington, D. C: " Your understanding of the memorandum signed by Secretary Baker and me is right. It had reference to union hours and wages. The question of union shop was not included. " Samuel Gompees." ,74 WAE DEPT. ACTIVITIES HELD OF INDUSTRIAL EELATIONS. This completes the record sufficiently for me to be able to deliver the mem- orandum over to Mr. Secretary Baker. So long as there was a possibility that anyone could misunderstand the Intention of the memorandum in connection with the question of the union shop, I deemed it best to keep the memorandum undelivered. Of course, the Government could not possibly, under the present state of the law, commit itself in the employment of labor to employing only union labor or even to give preference to union labor. The consummation of this informal memorandum will, I hope, result bene- ficially to all parties and be a help to the Government in this emergency. Very truly, yours, Louis B. Wehee. PROCEDURE UNDER THE MEMORANDUM OF JUNE 19, 1917, SIGNED BY NEWTON D. BAKER AND SAMUEL GOMPERS. 1. The Cantonment Adjustment Commission will sit at Washington, D. C, unless specially ordered by the Secretary of War to go to the site of a con- struction. 2. It will obtain full information of union scales of wages, hours, and condi- tions in force on June 1, 1917, in the several localities where cantonments are to be constructed. For suchl labor as is being or will be employed on such work, for this information the commissiop wiU rely upon data furnished so far as may be practicable by the Department of Labor. 3. The cantonments will be conveniently distributed and the Secretary of War will, for the period of the construction and with the unanimous approval of the commission, appoint for each district a responsible, impartial examiner who shall act under the orders of the commission. 4. If a dispute arises which can not be adjusted satisfactorily by the con- tracting officer at the site and the employees involved, the contracting officer shE^ll issue a provisional order which may be affirmed, reversed, or modified by the adjustment commission. 5. In cases where the provisional order of the contracting officer is not ac- cepted, the actual work of construction shall not be interrupted, but the con- tracting officer shall notify the member of the commission representing the Army of the matter in dispute, the proposals made by each party for adjust- ment, and of the provisional order which he has issued. At the same time the member of the commission designated by Mr. Gompers shall obtain from a reliable source a report on the matter in dispute. 6. If the commission Is notified that a dispute is not adjusted satisfactorily at the site, or if it learns from other sources that a dispute is in such condition, It will as speedily as possible send an examiner to the site. 7. The examiner shall have authority, acting under the orders of the com- mission, to mediate between the parties. If he fails in this he shall report promptly and fully to the commission with a recommendation. The examiner sliall, if ordered by the commission or by any one of its members, remain at the site to supply any further information that may be asked. 8. The rulings of the commission are binding upon all parties concerned. 9. Notice of a ruling shall be sent to the contracting officer and to the spokesmen of the parties involved in the dispute. 10. The examiner will supervise the application of the commission's rulings with reference to hours, wages, and conditions and with reference to any ac- counting which may be proper under such ruling. Any change in wages, hours, or their application, when finally agreed to, or when finally fixed by the com- APPENDIX. 75 mission, shall for accounting purposes be effective so far as practicable as of the date which may be fixed by the agreement, or by the ruling of the commis- sion. 11. The commission shall have power to make additional regulations in order to achieve the purpose of the memorandum, and shall decide aU questions aris- ing under it. Wab Department, Washington, August 17, 1917. No: 420— Ad. From : Committee on Clothing Contracts. To : The Secretary of War. Subject: Preliminary report of committee. 1. Garment making to-day in the United States is a highly speclaUzed skilled factory industry. Its established location and equipment, its trained and or- ganized labor force constitute a first-class element of national and local economy which can not be dislocated and disemployed without grave Injury, loss, and disturbance. 2. Our war has summarily reduced the demand for men's and women's civil garments. It has also curtailed the fabric mills' output of goods for civil cloth- ing. Both of these effects have entailed a reduction or cessation of the steady work of the regular garment makers. The Nation's imperious counterdemand for uniforms offered a rare opportunity for deliberate economic adjustment. To date it has been unused or abused. The Quartermaster officers are devoted to success in procuring supplies needed at low cost to the Government. In the war emergency the question of cost has been entirely subordinated to timeliness of delivery. The Government has tried to forestall unsanitary conditions of production by contract provisions and inspection. 3. The workers in the industry as a whole are by physical and social charac- teristics poorly adaptable to other industries. While increasing numbers of the men's garment workers and their employers' lofts and machinery were being thrown into Idleness, many and large orders for uniforms were procured by new " mushroom " contractors and contract jobbers. These they have been tardy in execution, even though they violated terms and resort to discredited sweating practices. The chief of the Supplies Division believes the tardiness due largely to want of material. Some of the work has been farmed out in country districts, tenements, and ill-fitted, make-shift factories. Some contracts have passed through two and three hands till executed at far less than the Govern- ment's price by labor which is paid a fraction of the usual wages for given oper- ations. Some of the work has been done in tenement houses and by the em- ployment of children, who stated that they were 15 years old, but who admitted that they had no working papers. Work is creditably reported to have been ped- dled on pushcarts In the ghetto of New York and It is even said that threaten- ing and Illegal pressure was placed on persons to undertake It at miserable wages. 4. Contractors have defended the violation of the agreement with the Govern- ment not to have the work done In tenement houses and uninspected places by the baseless assertion that there were not lofts enough. Persons have received contracts, whose equipment was palpably deficient for the timely execution of the quantities of work or wholly unsulted to the making of the work con- tracted for. For example, a cap maker procured contracts for hundreds of thou- sands of coats, which could not be economically and practically executed on his machinery. The Quartermaster, however, reported that he was the low bidder and that he delivered the goods. It appears that he used these contracts to 76 WAB DBPT. ACTIYITIES AFIELD OP INDTJSTKIAL, RELATIONS. set himself up in a field where he was not needed and that he has taken ad- vantages of war exigencies to gain his experience and profit at the expense of the established industry and standards of labor. Temporary shops and sweating centers have been set up in remote districts, where the industry can not persist and where they escape for the moment from the State factory inspec- tion and other measures of control. 5. It may be said that the Government invites such methods by accepting bids at prices that would be unprofitable by any other method. This is untrue, for some of the contracts are being executed under excellent conditions, with fairness to labor, satisfaction to the contractor, and with particular satisfaction to the Government. It can not be admitted that the above practices are eco- nomic. They are, on the contrary, indications of incompetence and ignorance. They are the measures taken by cunning and cupidity to the disadvantage of the Government, the industry, and labor. The contracts can be placed with regular and organized factories at the present prices. 6. The last defense of the present practice disappears before the evidence that the deliveries are not being made according to schedule and need. We feel that these conditions can be remedied by the drawing of a new clothing con- tract upon new principles which will insure better deliveries of better gar- ments and conserve our national economy. 7. The contract should include the provisions of the eight-hour law of June, 1912; a provision for equal pay for equal work without distinction of sex or race; a provision that the contractor will enter into collective bargaining ar- rangements with his employees; will pay the prevailing or standard rate of wages; will employ no labor of any persons under the age of 16; will strictly comply with local labor laws and complete the manufacture of the garments under the factory system in premises used for clothing production under his own control, which premises have been previously inspected and approved by an agent of the Government. 8. The plan for letting the contracts should include careful consideration, by a central authority of the normal location of the trade, the capacity, and the equipment of manufacturers. As far as practicable, the contracts should be let proportionately in the established centers of the industry with an avowed pref- erence for: (a) Manufacturers who operate under collective agreements which include machinery for adjustment of grievances with labor organizations, and <6) Manufacturers who have a good record for compliance with the local labor laws. 9. Contracts are not self-enforcing. Many of the violations of past agree- ments might have been avoided if there had been a sufficient, vigorous inspec- tion force. The office of the Quartermaster General has plans for such a force to view the proposed factories and follow the work through production. Offend- ing contractors have held over the head of the Quartermaster curtailment of the all-important timely production. Some of them have intimidated the workers who are, however, revolting against it and so indirectly menace the Nation's supply. Therefore, the Quartermaster officers have shown a cordial interest in the discovery, by this committee, of new resources for production, Insuring good conditions, living wages, and stabilization of a great industry. 10. Supervision of the existing contracts should be stiffened at once. An immediate reduction of the amounts, or cancellation in .the cases of the more flagrant violators, would have salutary effect. The present contractors should be advised to harmonize their practice with the proposed new contract terms. APPENDIX. . 7? 11. The existing contracts should be reviewed to redistribute such as are disproportionate to the contractor's normal capacity and equipment. 12. The committee submits that the above immediate provisions can be carried out without increased cost to the Government, and with improvement in the quality and in the time of deliveries. Louis B. KiESTBiN, Chairman. Flokence Kelley. WAI.TXB E. Kbxtisi, Captain, Quartermaster Corps, United States Reserves. DIGEST OF DECISIONS RENDERED BY PROF. WM. Z. RIPLEY, AD- MINISTRATOR OF LABOR STANDARDS FOR ARMY CLOTHING. 1. The principle that there should be no strikes or lockouts during the war has been emphasized by his decision In the matter of Paul Holt Co., of Brooklyn, N. Y., rendered September 12, 1918. In this case workers who struck without any prior attempt to deal vrtth the firm or call in the Administrator of Labor Standards were censured and the administrator stated that he would either refuse to take jurisdiction, or if he assumed it, award of pay for time lost would be refused. 2. As to right to organize, this right was interpreted in the matter of Wanamaker & Brown, of Philadelphia, decision July 24, 1918, which authorized the employer to use its discretion as to refusing permission to the union to organize the shop on the ground that the policy declared by the National War Labor Board that existing conditions should be maintained required that a shop part union only should not be induced by Government action to change its status — emphasizing the distinction between the right of collective bargain- ing and recognition of the union. In the case of Lanker & Stevens, Philadelphia, decisions rendered July 13 and August 2, 1918, the firm was censured in the first decision for breach of faith and discrimination against union men In falling to carry out properly the award of the arbitrator as to the reinstatement of its employees. Thereafter the employer entered into a closed-shop agreement with the union and the administrator held that it did so on its ovm responsibility only, and that such fact had no bearing on his action. However, In view of its changed attitude in other respects toward its employees, the embargo on contracts to that firm was lifted. In the case of Wanamaker & Brown, Philadelphia, May 23, 1918, the adminis- trator held that since a majority of the workers were union members and a partial recognition of the union had already been accorded, it was proper to direct adjustment of disputes by a representative of the firm in conference with a representatives of the Amalgamated Garment Workers Union. How- ever, nonunion workers were to be given opportunity either to elect an inde- pendent shop chairman or to authorize the firm representative to speak for them. The right of the employer to employ and discharge workers for any reason other than legitimate union activities was alErmed, but the adminis- trator recommended strongly conferences with the representatives of the workers to maintain efiSciency and discipline, a mutual spirit of accommoda- tion, a recognition of the right of the employees to have some voice in deter- mining the conditions for work and of the joint interest of all to eliminate fi-iction for the sake of highest efiiclency. In the case of High Clothing Co., of Newark, N. J., decisions rendered August 3 and 15, 1918, ordered the reinstatement of employees discriminated 78 WAK DEPT. ACTIVITIES ^FIELD OF INDUSTRIAL KELATIONS. against and installation of a system of collective bargaining and on the failure of the employer to accept the order in good faith a stoppage of his contracts was recommended. Finally, in the case of Lustberg, Nast & Co., of New York (no date), col- lection of dues for the union in an open shop during the lunch hour or other- wise outside of working hours was declared a legitimate trade-union activity and allowed, provided, however, that the collections were made only by workers in the plant and not by outside union men. In the case of Larry Levy, decided October 15, 1918, the firm refused to recog- nize a committee of its own workers, because the workers met in a union hall and selected the committee under the direction of union delegates. It was held that the workers may decide for themselves the matter of selecting dele- gates and since there was no charge of improper conduct against any com- mittee member, the committee must be recognized. In the case of A. B. Kirschbaum Co. of Philadelphia, Pa., October 21, 1918, it was held the distribution of union pamphlets in an open shop during lunch hour, the pamphlets remaining throughout the day scattered on the premises, while a border line case, was not a legitimate trade-union activity and the reinstatement of a worker discharged for that reason was refused. ' 3. As to wages, in the decision rendered with reference to the clothing industry at Rochester, N. Y., August 21, 1918, a general increase of wages was ordered, ranging from 20 per cent to employees receiving under $15 per week, to 10 per cent for employees receiving over $25 per week, the increases to govern until either market or cost of living conditions changed and the arbi- trator to decide as to whether or not investigation should be reopened. A minimum rate of $12 per week of 48 hours was ordered for all female opera- tives and time and one-half for overtime both for pieceworkers and those employed on an hourly basis. 4. As to hours of labor, in the case of the Lustberg, Nast & Co. of New York (no date), the practice of "splitting" the eight-hour day and of attempting to work employees for more than eight hours by putting them on civilian work after they had worked eight hours on Government work was declared a viola- tion of the law when time and one-half was not paid. (Citing Opinion of J. A. C, Jan. 14, 1918.) 5. In the case of Cohen, Goldman Co., New York (no date), the bonus system was abolished as tending to excessive " speeding up " and accordingly waste- ful of material, harmful as to quantity, and exhausting to the worker. 6. In the case of Sanborn Manufacturing Co. (August 28, 1918), difficulties involving the inspection of work and rejection of the defective work were dis- cussed and the administrator directed that inspections should be prompt and rigid and that distinction should be made between defects due to material and machinery and those due to workmanship, in the latter case only the workmen to bear the loss (in time and cost) of making good the defect. OCTOBEB 25, 1918. AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND THE PARTIES HEREUNTO SUBSCRIBED.' 1. There shall be created a National Harness and Saddlery Adjustment Com- mission hereinafter referred to as " The commission," composed of four mem- bers, of which two members shall be appointed by the Secretary of War to represent the public; one member by the manufacturers signatory hereto, and one member by the United Leather Workers' International Union. One of the '■ List of contractors subscribing to tbls agreement omitted. APPENDIX. 79 members of this commission appointed by the Secretary of War shall be desig- nated by him as chairman. Each member, including the chairman, shall be entitled to one vote, and a majority vote shall govern in all cases. 2. The commission shall adjust all differences now existing or that may here- after arise betveeen the contractors and employees engaged in the production of articles under agreement to which the United States is a party, including wages, hours, and conditions of labor. The commission may adopt rules, regulations, and methods of procedure in order to carry this agreement into efCect, and all decisions or adjustments made by it shall be binding upon and complied with by the contractors signatory hereto, who have contracts with the United States, and also by the operatives, members of the United Leather Workers' International Union represented in the execution of this agreement by their president. 3. This agreement shall be in full force and efCect for the duration of the present war. 4. The parties hereto severally agree that during the war there shall be no interruption of work upon which they are engaged in the carrying out of contracts to which the United States is a party. 5. In the event that any changes in wage scale are made or approved by the commission in carrying out Its functions under this agreement, compensatory adjustments shall be made by the United States in accordance with the recom- mendations of the commission. 6. The scale of wages for operatives for work done under contracts to which the United States and the contractors signatory hereto are parties, shall In no case be less than is now in efEect. 7. The contractors signatory hereto agree that nonunion labor employed In carrying out work under a contract to which the United States is a party shall receive the same rates of compensation as the members of the United Leather Workers' International Union. Septembee 26, 1917. CIRCULAR LETTER TO HARNESS AND SADDLERY MANU- FACTURERS. Wab Depaetment, Washington, October 10, 1917. Gentlemen : In view of the large requirements of the Government for harness and saddlery to equip the Army, it is of vital importance at this time that there should be no interruption of work in the factories of manufacturers holding Government contracts. As difficulties have developed in some of the factories and were threatened in others a conference was called by this department in Chicago on September 26 to consider methods of preventing the interruption of the Government's work during the period of the war. As a result of this meeting an agreement was entered into establishing the National Harness and Saddlery Adjustment Commission. This agreement was signed by 45 of the 46 manufacturers present at the meeting, by Mr. W. B. Bryan representing the United Leather Workers International Union, and has since been approved by the Secretary of War. The commission ^provided for consists of Maj. John S. Fair, who will act on matters affecting *the Quarter- master's Department, Maj. John R. Simpson, who will act on matters affecting the Ordnance Department, and the writer, appointed by the Secretary of War to act as chairman ; Mr. Henry Diegel, of the Atchison Saddlery Co., Atchison, Kan., unanimously appointed by the meeting to represent the contractors sig- natory to the agreement, and Mr. W. B. Bryan representing the union. 80 WAB DEPT. ACTIVITIES AFIELD OF INDXJSTEIAL KELATIONS. It is of the utmost importaBce that every manufacturer now holding a con- tract with the Government for the manufacture of saddles and harness should become a party to this agreement, and we assume that in view of the action taken in Chicago* all manufacturers not represented at the meeting will desire to join at this time in the agreement. Two copies are inclosed herewith, one for your flies and one for execution by you and return to us In the inclosed envelope. May we ask your immediate attention? Cordially yours, Stanlht King, For the Secretarv of War. FIRST WAGE AWARD OF ADJUSTMENT COMMISSION. Wab Depabtmbnt, Washington, October SO, 1917. THE NATIONAL HABNKSS AND SADDLEKY ADJUSTMENT COMMISSION KECieiOW KE- GAEDING BEQUEST FOB INCREASED WAGES IN FACTOEIES OF AIL CONTEACTOES. The National Harness and Saddlery Adjustment Commission, after considera- tion of the facts regarding request for increased wages In factories of contrac- tors signatory to the agreement of September 26, 1917, have reached the follow- ing unanimous decision. 1. The wage scale for fitters, finishers, machine operators, and cutters in the factories of contractors signatory to the Chicago agreement shall be upon the basis of 50 cents per hour for a skilled mechanic. On operations paid by the piece, piece prices shaU be established by the respective manufacturers at such amounts as will produce a wage of 50 cents per hour for the average skilled mechanic. Employees of the above classes who are employed by the day shall be paid on the basis of 50 cents per hour for skilled mechanics. Employees of the above-mentioned classes who are apprentices, or who because of age or partial disability are incapable of performing the work of a skilled mechanic, shall be paid at such lower rate as may be determined upon by the employees concerned and the employer. 2. Employers signatory to the above-mentioned agreement shall advance the wages of their productive employees not covered in the above-mentioned classifi- cation to an amount which shall represent an increase In pay in substantially the same proportion as employees of the classes named In paragraph 1. 3. The rates of pay stated above shall be effective beginning November 1, 1917. 4. The board will recommend compensatory adjustment of contracts with sig- natory contractors on a basis which shall fairly compensate such contractors for the actual Increased cost to them due to the above-mentioned increase In wages. AU signatory contractors shall furnish a sworn statement of such In- creased cost per unit on a form provided for the purpose. Such statements will be tabulated by Mr. Diegel for the board and submitted by him witli his tabula- tion to the military members of the board, who shall pass finally upon the compensatory adjustment for their respective departments. • John S. Faie, Lieutenant Colonel Quartermaster Corp. John R. Simpson, Major, Ordnance. W. E. Betan, Henet Diegel, Stanley King. APPEHDIX. 81 LETTER ACCOMPANYING FIRST AWARD. - OCTOBBIR 26 1*517 To Contractors signatory to the agreement of September 26, 1917, with this department. Deab Sirs : Requests for increases in wages were presented to the commission in Washington, and after hearing held, the commission reached a decision, official copy of which is inclosed herewith. Under the terms of the agreement of September 26 this decision is binding on both the contractors signatory to the agreement and the employees. Will you be good enough to arrange to have the decision carried out in accordance with its terms In your factory? You will receive from the bureau of the War Department with which you have contracts for harness and saddlery, request for a detailed statement of the increased labor costs resulting from the inclosed decision of the board, and you will kindly return same to the appropriate department at your earliest convenience. Action by the commission on the exact amount of compensatory adjustment to be made to contractors must await the return of replies from all signatory contractors. Three questions regarding the application of the 8-hour law were presented to the commission for decision, and on each question the commission acted by a unanimous vote. " The 8-hour law is applicable on contracts for the Quartermaster's Depart- ment for all merchandise delivered after September 15, 1917, irrespective of whether contract called for delivery before that date or not. Employees are entitled to overtime at the rate of time and a half for overtime work performed beginning September 16, 1917. " Overtime at the rate of time and a half is payable to employees for work done in excess of eight hours in any day. It is not a compliance with the law to pay for overtime on only those hours worked in excess of 48 hours per week, as the law provides specifically for a daily basis. " Pieceworkers shall be paid for overtime on the basis of one-half the average hourly rate earned by them during the week in addition to regular pay at piece rates. For example — a pieceworker whose pay slips for a week of 60 hours amount to $36 should receive as overtime $0.30 per hour for the number of hours overtime in addition to his regular piecework wage." It is believed that most contractors are already interpreting the 8-hour law on the above basis. Such contractors as are not now adopting this policy should immediately change to conform to the above rulings. Yours, very truly, Stanley King, Chairman, National Harness and Saddlery Adjustment Commission. MEMORANDUM OF DECISION. July 22, 1918. By Maj. B. H. Gitchell, Ordnance, N. A., sole arbitrator appointed by the Secretary of War under date of July 9, 1918, to settle the labor disputes existing in the plants of the Buffalo Foundry & Machine Co., The Crosby Co., and any other companies located in BufEalo, N. Y., which have been or may be referred to the Secretary of War for adjustment. Acting In accordance with the request of Mr. William H. Hill, vice president, The Crosby Co.; Mr. H. D. Miles, president. The BufEalo Foundry & Machine Co. ; Mr. James E. Sague, vice president, The Worthington Pump & Machinery Corporation ; Mr. Charles B. Wilson, assistant to the general manager, Curtiss 127785—19 6 "^2 WAK DEPT. ACTIVITIES ^FIELD OF INDUSTEIAl, EELATIONS. Aeroplane & Motor Corporation (all Buffalo plants) ; and Mr. Andrew T. ■McNamara, representing the machine shop employees of Buffalo and vicinity, at conferences held by MaJ. B. H. Gitchell, in Buffalo, July 13, 1918, to deter- mine the issues raised between the manufacturers and employees with respect to the claims of the employees regarding wages, hours, and conditions of labor, the following decision is hereby rendered : First. That wages shall be adjusted on the basis of the scale of wages now in force In the ordnance arsenals and the navy yards east of the Mississippi River. Second. That the wages shall be computed on a basic day rate of eight hours with overtime to be paid for at the rate of time and a half for all hours worked in excess of eight hours. At the request of the employees, and only upon their consent, they may be permitted to work overtime for five days at straight time rates in order to enable them to have a half holiday on Saturday. Third. That work on Sundays and national holidays shall be considered as overtime. Where Saturday has been made a half holiday upon consent of the employees, as provided In paragraph two of this decision, work done on Satur- day afternoon shall be considered as overtime. Fourth. That those who receive rates of pay in excess of the above shall not be reduced in their present employment because of this decision. All employers who have been paying more than time and one half for work on Sundays and holidays shall continue to pay such overtime scale. Fifth. That the principles of the National War Labor Board shall govern the relations between employers and employees. Sixth. That whenever It shall appear from oflSclal Government investigations that the cost of living In or about Buffalo has increased 10 per cent or more; or in the event that any scale higher than that, which is used as the standard for this adjustment shall be fixed for a district which Includes Buffalo, by or with the approval of the War Labor Policies Board, the Secretary of War will consider and act upon an application for the reconsideration of the award made herein. Such reconsideration shall not be appliled for until after six months 'have elapsed from the date of this award, or the date of such reconsideration, without the prior approval of the Secretary of War. Seventh. That this decision as to wages, hours, and conditions of labor shall take effect as of July 15, 1918, and shall continue for the period of the present war and six months thereafter. Eighth. That the application of this decision to an individual plant shall be ■determined by a committee consisting of Lieut. James F. Malley, Ord. K. 0., chairman of the committee, Mr. Edward F. Barcalo, of the Barcalo Manufac- turing Co., Buffalo, representing the manufacturers, and Mr. Andrew T. Mc- Namara, representing the machine shop employees of Buffalo and vicinity, together with an officer of the company operating such plant, to be designated by the company, and a representative of the employees directly affected, such representative to be actually in the employ of the company not less than three months and chosen by the employees In such manner as they may elect. Bach member of the committee shall have one vote. In the application of this decision to an individual plant, where it has an Interest greater than the War Department In production, the Navy Department shall have the right to appoint an officer or representative to act in the place of Lieut. James F. Malley, above named. Any question In regard to the method of electing a representative of the employees is to be determined by the three members of the committee herein named. Ninth. That any doubts or disputes which may arise as to the construction or interpretation of this decision shall be referred by the three members of' the APPEITDIX. 83 committee named In paragraph eight of this decision to the undersigned for determination. B. H. GlTCHElL, Major Ordnance, National Army, Sole Arbitrator Appointed by the Secretary of War. NOVEMBEB 21, 1917. STATEMENT OF THE SECRETARY OF WAR TO THE MUNITION MANUFACTURERS OF CONNECTICUT. Gentlemen : I am glad of this opportunity for securing a better understand-. Ing between you and the War Department. In order, however, that that understanding shall be complete you must know the underlying problem with which I am confronted, a consideration of which must play an important part in determining my action. I am responsible for securing continuous production of the munitions of war needed by our armies in the field. The manufacturers and workers of this country, I am certain, will be ready and willing to share that responsibility, and will do everything in their power to make my efforts successful. This need for a continuous and accelerated supply of munitions means, necessarily, that under no circumstances shall work be stopped. This is of vital importance. When, however, we make a request of the workers that the manufacture be continued under all circumstances and that no strike be called, we must be in a position to state to them that another and more peaceful machinery has been created which will consider and determine the questions formerly decided through the agency of the strike. Because of the present emergency, methods which were proper in peace times become dangerous to the country's welfare. It is for this reason that I ask you to enter into an agreement with the War Department that labor disputes which threaten to delay or diminish the production of the munitions factories which can not be settled between you and your employees shall be settled through the intervention of the Secretary of War. In making this request I do not wish in the slightest way to Imply that through your own management you have not been able to maintain and develop friendly relations between yourselves and your employees. On the contrary, the information I have received would seem to Indicate that in the handling of your labor problems you have sought to act not only with an eye to your interest, but with full appreciation of the interest of your workers and of the important industry which you have built up, and with full knowledge of the important part that that industry must play in the successful issue of the war. This is the time when all people are called upon to make sacrifices for the cause of democracy and freedom, and I am not unmindful of the sacrifices you have already made, and it is only the great need of the occasion that makes me ask for further sacrifices from you. I ask this in order that the patriotic con- tributions you have already made to the country's cause may not be in vain. Of equal importance in the successful conduct of the war is the hearty coop- eration of labor. The action at Buffalo assures us of that cooperation, and in dealing with your workers you will do your utmost to secure for the Govern- ment their cooperation. It is no part of my purpose to interfere needlessly with the relation between you and your employees. The War Department has no theories to exploit and no other purpose except the one which I hold in common with you and your workers, to see that our armies in the field are not disappointed and rendered 84 WAR DEPT. ACTIVITIES ^FIELD OF INDTJSTBIAL, RELATIONS. powerless in the presence of their adversary through the failure of tte neces- sary supplies for the procurement of which contracts with you are to be made. Should the occasion arise when it shall be necessary in the Interest of the Government for me to exercise the power which I have asked you to vest in me, that power will be exercised with a full appreciation of the conditions of your industry and of the problems with which you are confronted. You will then have full opportunity to present all matters which you may deem necessary for a proper determination of any question which I may be called upon to decide. I wish to express my appreciation of the public spirit which prompts your offer of cooperation which I am sure is the keynote of this conference. Yours, very sincerely, Newton D. Bakgb, Secretary of War. LETTER FROM SECRETARY OF WAR REFERRING BRIDGEPORT CONTROVERSY TO NATIONAL WAR LABOR BOARD. War Depaetment, Washington, June 24> 1918. Hon. WnxiAM H. Taft, and Hon. Frank P. Walsh, Joint Chairmen, War Labor Board, Washington. Dear Sies: I beg to formally refer to you a controversy which has arisen between certain manufactuTers of munitions in Bridgeport, Conn., and their employees, which because of the importance of the plants to our program and because of the far-reaching affect that any decision made will have upon the prompt delivery of our munitions deserves your early and your most careful con^deration. The policy of the War Department, as you know, is so far as possible to determine by boards which it has set up or by its mediation service controver- sies which may arise in the production of its program of munitions. This particular controversy, however, is, in my opinion, of such importance as to Justify, if not demand, reference to the War Labor Board as the final court of appeal appointed by the President. Such a course is made particularly wise because your board now has under advisement somewhat similar problems presented in two other large munitions centers. The essential facts are as follows : 1. In the early spring of this year demands from certain of their skilled employees were made upon the Remington Arms Co., of Bridgeport, Conn. The company is under contracts with this department which do not permit of a general wage increase in its plant except with previous approval of the con- tracting oiiicer. Similar demands were subsequently made on the Liberty Ordnance Co., of Bridgeport, and on a number of subcontractors of these two concerns. 2. The Ordnance Department, at the request of the Department of Labor, and of at least one of the parties to the dispute, offered its mediation services, and as a result a board of oflBcers was detailed to hold a hearing in Washington. A report of this hearing is inclosed." 3. There was no written agreement by the parties to abide by the decision of the board. The question as to what verbal agreement, if any, exists is In dispute, as well as the question as to the number of employers parties to the controversy. / 4. A finding was made by the ordnance board which up to the present time has not been fully accepted by either party. The employees have received it » Eeport not reprinted. APPENDIX. 85 uncler protest; the employers, except the Remington and a few others, deny that they are parties to the controversy; the Remington has taken an appeal from the finding of the ordnance board under the labor disputes clause in their contract, a copy of which Is inclosed. 5. Evidence has been submitted to me that an implied understanding exists with the machinists and toolmakers in the plants of the Remington Arms and the Liberty Ordnance that such award as may finally be made should date from May 1, and that an understanding exists with the machinists and tool- makers in plants of subcontractors operating on fixed-price contracts that the award should take efEect from the date it Is rendered. In view of these facts and under the power conferred on me under the con- tract with the Remington Arms Co., I have directed the Chief of Ordnance to set aside the finding of the board of ordnance officers ; to instruct the Bridge- port contractors of the Ordnance Department that the finding is not to be made effective ; and I beg to refer to your board the entire question of what, if any, readjustment of wage scale in Bridgeport and vicinity should be made In justice to the employees and having due regard to the proper interests of their emp^loyers and having of course in mind the vital interests of the Government. The decision of your board will be made effective by me under the clause in the contract referred to in plants having such contract provisions with this department. Cordially, yours, Newton D. Bakee, Secretary of War. The Navy Department concurs in above. F. D. Roosevelt, Acting Secretary of the Navy. LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES TO STRIKING EMPLOYEES AT BRIDGEPORT, CONN. The White House, Washingtort, IS September, 1918. Gentlemen : I am in receipt of your resolutions of September 6 announcing that you have begun a strike against your employers in Bridgeport, Conn. You are members of the Bridgeport branches of the International Union of Machin- ists. As such, and with the approval of the national officers of your union, you signed an agreement to submit the questions as to the terms of your employ- ment to the National War Labor Board and to abide the award which in ac- cordance with the rules of procedure approved by me might be made. The members of the board were not able to reach a unanimous conclusion on all the issues presented, and, as provided in its constitution, the questions upon which they did not agree were carried before an arbitrator the unanimous choice of the members of the board. The arbitrator thus chosen has made an award which more than 90 per cent of the workers affected accept. You who constitute less than 10 per cent refuse to abide the award although you are the best paid of the whole body of workers affected and are, therefore, least entitled to press a further Increase of wages because'of the high cost of living. But, whatever the merits of the issue, it is closed by the award. Your strike against it is a breach of faith calculated to reflect on the sincerity of national organized labor in proclaiming its accept- ance of the principles and machinery of the National War Labor Board. If such disregard of the solemn adjudication of a tribunal to which both parties submitted their claims be temporized with, agreements become mere -scraps of paper. If errors creep into awards, the proper remedy is submission 86 WAE DEPT. ACTIVITIBS AFIELD OF INDTJSTEIALi BBLATIONS. to the award with an application for rehearing to the tribunal. But to strike against the award is disloyalty and dishonor. , The Smith & Wesson Co., of Springfield, Mass., engaged iu Government wort, has refused to accept the mediation of the National War Labor Board and has flaunted its rules of decision approved by presidential proclamation. With my consent the War Department has taken over the plant and business of the company to secure continuity in production and to prevent Industrial dis- turbance. It is of the highest importance to secure compliance with reasonable rules and procedure for the settlement of industrial disputes. Having exercised a drastic remedy with recalcitrant employers, it is my duty to use means equally well adapted to the end with lawless and faithless employees. , Therefore, I desire that you return to work and abide by the award. If you refuse, each of you will be barred from employment in any war industry in the community in which the strike occurs for a period of one year. During that time, the United States Employment Service will decline to obtain employment for you in any war industry elsewhere in the United States, as well as under the .War and. Navy Departments, the Shipping Board, the Railroad Administra- tion, and aU other Government agencies, and the draft boards will be instructed to reject any claim of exemption based on your alleged usefulness on war pro- duction. Sincerely yours, Woodeow Wilson. DisTKicT Lodge No. 55, International Association of Machinists (and other striking workmen of Bridgeport, Conn.), 1087 Broad Street, Bridgeport, Conn. LETTER FROM HARTFORD MANUFACTURERS TO SECRETARY OF WAR. HAETroRD, Conn., September 7, 19X8. Hon. Newton D. Baker, Seoretary of War, Washmgton, D. C. T)MAS, Sir: As manufacturers engaged in important war production we are seriously concerned as to the attitude, of; your department toward the Smith & Wesson Co., of Springfield, because the principles involved tend to directly affect our ability to conduct our business efliciently. That company at no time 'submjltted to the jurisdiction of the National War Labor Board. The board, consequently, was not sitting as a hoard of arbitration, but merely as a board of mediation, without power to render a binding decision, but only to make recommendations. The Smith & Wesson Co., therefore, acted within its rights in declining to adopt the recommendations of the board. The wisdom of the action of the Smith & Wesson Co. would seem dependent upon the wisdom of those recommendations. As practical manufacturers of long experience ' we believe the recommenda- tion of the National War Labor Board that the Smith & Wesson Co introduce collective bargaining and shop committees to have been unwise. If maximum productivity is to be obtained each individual employee must be dealt with as an individual and rewarded in proportion to his individual efllclency, and not on the basis of a class average, or in proportion to his organized ability to interrupt production if unwarranted demands are not granted. The whole history of union labor, both in this country and abroad, has proved that the open or nonunion shop is far more efficient than the union shop, wherein collec- tive bargaining and shop committees exist. Bfiiciency demands one-man power. Your own department has recognized this. The Army in France is commanded by one man. You would not tolerate. APPENDIX. 87 for a moment, collective bargaining and soldiers' committees in the Army which would negotiate with the commander in chief of as to when and on what terms they would fight. Russia tried that experiment. The Provost Marshal General does not ask for the appointment of committees of proposed registrants to consider when and on what terms they will register or how they shall be classified. So in an industrial plant we know from long experience that the highest productivity can be procured only when the entire management is vested in a single responsible head with full authority to select his subordinates from the highest to the lowest in accordance with their individual fitness, and to reward each in accordance with his individual productivity. The correctness of our opinion is strikingly illustrated by the present con-' dltions in Bridgeport and Springfield. In Bridgeport all the suggestions of the National War Labor Board have been accepted by the manufacturers, including increased wages, collective bargaining, shop committees, and numerous Govern- ment examiners to carry out all details of the program; but production has been reduced almost to the vanishing point. In Springfield the suggestions of the National War. Labor Board have been refused by the Smith & Wesson Co.; but production continues in advance of contract requirements. We know that your department desires production of munitions of war rather than experimentation with new and radical theories of industrial management,' as recommended by the National War Labor Board in this case. If the enforce-' ment of the recommendations of the National War Labor Board were the pri- mary consideration, the next logical step might be to commandeer the Smith & Wesson plant and let committees of employees run It — as in Russia ; but production of pistols with which to fight the Germans being the primary con- sideration, we hope that the Smith & Wesson Co. will be permitted to dis- regard the recommendations of the National War Labor Board and to continue to manufacture pistols in accord with its own methods, the efficiency of which have been thoroughly demonstrated. We think the recommendation of the National War Labor Board is also unwise, in that it requires the reward and reinstatement of former employees who have broken their signed, vrrltten agreements with the company. If the sanctity of contract is not to be sustained then industrial chaos will be the logical result. Respectfully submitted, Colt Patent Fire Arms Co., by B. M. W. Hanson, vice president ; Underwood Typewriter Co., Chas. D. Rice, manager ; The Hart- ford Machine "Screw Co., by P. D. Gale, president; The Terry Steam Turbine Co., D. W. Thomson, president; The Merrow Machine Company, J. M. Merrow, president; The M. S. Little Manufacturing Co., by M. S. Little ; The Whitney Manufacturing Co., by C. E. Whitney, president; The Taylor & Fenn Co., by Charles L. Taylor, treasurer; Peter A. Frosse & Co. (Inc.), by A. B. Brion, president; The Sigoutney Tool Co., Bobt. H. Schultz, treasurer ; The Johns-Pratt Co., by E. B. Hatch, presi- dent; The Hart & Hegeman Manufacturing Co., Thomas Mor- ris, president; Royal Typewriter Co. (Inc.), Ch?is. B. Cook, vice president; Union Manufacturing Co., A. F. Corbin, presi- dent; The American Hardware Corporation, by C. H. Baldwin, vice president; The New Britain Machine Co., Robt. S. Brown,, secretary ; The Stanley Rule & Level Co., A. W. Stanley, presi- dent; The Stanley Works, W. H. Hart, general superintendent; The New Departure Manufacturing Co., De Witt Page, president. 88 WAS. DEPT. ACTIVITIES ^FIELD OF INDTJSTEIAL KELATIONS. REPLY TO HARTFORD MANUFACTURERS. Sbttembee 11, 1918. The Colt Patent Fbbeabms Co., Sartford, Conn. Gentlemen : In the absence of Secretary Baker in France, I have the honor to acknowledge your letter of September 7, signed by you and other manufac- turers, regarding the relations of this department with. the Smith & Wesson Co., of Springfield. In view of the importance of the question, not only intrin- sically but as an example of similar questions which are likely to be presented from time to time, I am very glad to have the opportunity of advising you of the attitude of this department. Some weeks ago, at a time when Smith & Wesson were engaged substantially to the extent of their capacity on contracts with the Government for essential munitions, a controversy arose between the company and its employees, in- volving a number of questions of considerable importance, and this controversy eventually ended in the strike of a substantial number of the employees of the company. The strike immediately involved an interruption of production of supplies for this department, which was too important for the department to overlook. In one at least of the contracts under which Smith & Wesson were manufacturing was a clause which provided that in such event the dispute might be settled by the Secretary of War. Representatives of the Secretary promptly conferred with the management of Smith & Wesson, and with repre- sentatives of the striking employees, with a view to arriving at an adjustment by peaceful means and to resuming as promptly as possible the processes of production. The course followed in the n^otiations differed In no respect from the course which had been followed by the department in other contro- versies of a similar nature and was along the lines which representatives of the department have discussed at length with the Connecticut manufacturers. It was found impossible to negotiate any settlement of the controversy which would be satisfactory to Smith & Wesson and to this department. As a mat- ter of fact, the department found it impossible to secure a negotiated settle- ment on terms which had met the approval of manufacturers at other points in contrpvetsies which were equally as difficult In Springfield, the contrac- tors insisted upon certain conditions which were not in keeping with the gen- eral policy of the department in such matters, and which had not been Insisted upon by other contractors under somewhat similar circumstances. Under these conditions, the department advised Smith & Wesson that it had only two alter- natives: First, to withdraw from negotiations and permit the contractor and its employees to fight out to a conclusion the difference which existed between them, with the consequent Interruption of production of munitions of war at a time when such Interruption was entirely Inconsistent with the public Inter- est ; or, second, refer the controversy to the National War Labor Board for in- vestigation, hearing, and decision. Before taking definite action, the depart- ment again advised Smith & Wesson of Its proposed course, so that they might have an opportunity of arranging negotiations with this office in adjustment on lines indicated by the department. The suggestion was declined by Smith & Wesson, who indicated no unwillingness to have the dispute referred to the National War Labor Board. It is, I assume, needless to advise you that the National War Labor Board was a result of prolonged conference between representatives of the American Federation of Labor and the National Industrial Conference Board, who united In a unanimous recommendation that the National War Labor Board be set up. This board is the highest board of appeal in industrial controversies. It Is APPENDIX. 89 maae up of men of unusual experience in industry and labor and Its decisions are made only by unanimous action. Such action was had in the case of Smith & Wesson. The assumptions on which your letter is based are, first, that the 'W^r La- bor Board was not sitting as a board of arbitration, and second, that the wis- dom of the action of Smith & Wesson is dependent upon the wisdom of the action of the board. From the facts which I have outlined, I am sure that you will agree with me that the Secretary of War, by reference of the controversy to the War Labor Board thereby made the War Labor Board's action In this case the action of a board of arbitration, to which the contractor had agreed by his execution of his contract with the War Department, containing the clause to which I have adverted. It is, I am sure, needless to point out that in our present judicial system the question of whether a litigant shall or shall not comply with the orders of the court does not depend upon 'the opinion of that litigant as to the wisdom or justice of the court's action in his case. If such were indeed the fact, we should be living in a state of anarchy, rather than a state of government. If employers who are Governn.'ent contractors, and whose cases are submitted to the War Labor Board, as was the case of Smith & Wes- son, are to determine under the decision of the board whether or not they will accept its recommendations, then a condition of industrial irresponsibility will arise, which is not deemed to be conducive to the public interest in the prosecu- tion of the war. The Smith & Wesson Co. have formally advised this Department of their re- fusal to comply with the decision of the War Labor Board, and of their will- ingness that the War Departn.'ent should commandeer their plant. This posi- tion has been taken by no other contractor for the Government since the out- break of the war. It is a position so serious in its implications that this de- partment urged the management of Smith & Wesson, and their counsel, to re- consider their action. This the management declined to do. ■ The question of the wisdom of the decision of the board is not one for this department to decide. The decision was reached unanimously by a board which Included representatives of industry of long experience with large affairs. It was reached after due investigation. It is accepted by this department. For the reasons which I have indicated, it is perhaps irrelevant to discuss the atti- tude expressed in your letter toward organized labor, or to comment upon the tone of your references to the established policy of the Government in dealing with questions of industrial relations. The department's attitude In both the Bridgeport and Springfield cases is the same. It expects compliance by both sides with the decisions of the duly established tribunals which have been set up by the Government for the purpose with the full concurrence of representa- tives of organized industry and of organized labor. It believes that the public sentiment of the country will not support either an employer in Springfield, or employees in Bridgeport, who assun.e in time of war and in the production of essential munitions, to set their individual desires above the needs of the Gov- ernment. May I not request that you will transmit the contents of this letter to your associate manufacturers who are cosignatory with you in the letter of Septem- ber 7. Respectfully yours, Benedict Cbowell, Acting Secretary of War. 90 WAB DEPT. ACTIVITIES FIELD OF INDUSTEIAL, EELATIONS. LETTER OF SECRETARY OF WAR TO NATIONAL WAR LABOR BOARD. « December 10, 1918. Hon. William H. Taft, Hon. Basil Manlet, Joint Chairmen, War Labor Board, Washington, D. G. . Gentlemen : I have received your letter of December 4, In which you tell me -the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners, District Council of New York, has appealed to your board to adjust differences existing between it and the War Department. At the outset of the great construction program of the War Department for war purposes, a memorandum of agreement was entered into between Mr. Samuel Gompers and me, under which a very definite theory was adopted for the determination of all wage questions and machinery established for the de- termination of the facts involved. This agreement is still In force ; it provides a tribunal for the settlement of all such questions and has been applied in so many cases that any departure from that agreement at this time would be prejudicial both to the interest of the workmen and of the Government. The machinery established under the so-called Gompers-Baker agreement has been recognized by all the union workers throughout the country from the beginning of the war, and covering contracts amounting to hundreds of millions of dol- lars. The United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners, District of New York, has also recognized that machinery by laying its dispute before the tribunal created under the agreement, and if any further evidence is to be heard by anybody it can be presented to the Board which has already taken cognizance of the matter. • Respectfully, yours, Newton D. Bakes, Secretary of War. Date Due fmi^ W=Wl^ =»^^ f) PRINTED IN U. S. A. Cornell University Library HD 5503.A38 1919 A report of the activities of the War de 3 1924 002 407 033