special arbitration tribunals, (a) to deal with differences in the
matters mentioned above, and (6) to advise the Minister on
questions referred to them affecting such matters.
This order-making power was assumed by the Minister of Munitions as an indispensable preliminary to securing dilution. It is important to note that the orders, so far as women were concerned, were of two classes: the first, and for this purpose the less important, were those which dealt with women engaged on what was previously men's work; the second with women on women's work. These orders, dealing as they did with practically unorganized trades, for the first time in general industry, intro- duced an effective underpinning minimum. The first order fixed 2os. per week as the minimum, representing in itself a 6s. to 8s. advance over the average wage previously enjoyed by women in industry. From that time, with the steadily increasing cost of living, the women's rate mounted steadily till it reached the neighbourhood of 353. There are those who maintain that these last rates were excessive. There are none, however, who dare pretend that the pre-war level was adequate. The action of the Ministry of Munitions had destroyed the old standards, which never returned, for the Wages (Temporary Regulation) Acts, temporarily, and the Trade Board Act, 1918, permanently, stepped in to uphold the standard thus fixed. When, therefore, the wages policy of the Government is criticised, it is only fair to remember that the women's wages orders of the Ministry of Munitions opened a new era in women's employment.
But, if these orders can be defended, it will be more difficult to find those who would accept a defence of the order giving the 12^% bonus in the autumn of 1917. Yet when this order is criticised, the stages that led up to it should be remembered. The introduction of the automatic machine and mass production had afforded unprecedentedly high wages to semi-skilled and unskilled workers employed on piece-work. Side by side with those working on operations which, because of their delicacy, could not be performed on a piece-work basis, were the skilled men, whose wages had by no means advanced at an equal rate. Not only, therefore, had the relative wage superiority of the skilled man not been maintained, but in many cases the less skilled worker -who had often been taught by the skilled man was receiving a higher wage than his teacher. This grievance which was generally known as the skilled man's grievance had been noticed by all the commissions on industrial unrest appointed after the May strike of 1917 under the general chairmanship of Mr. Barnes. They were unanimous in declaring that it should be remedied, but not unanimous as to the means. The 12 J% bonus given on the advice of the labour side of a mixed committee appointed to consider the matters was the means adopted by the Government. Designed to remove the disparity between skilled and unskilled, it was ultimately extended to time and piece- workers skilled and unskilled alike. It is clear that it did not achieve its object of removing the disparity; that it was extremely expensive, and that during the days when it was first imposed it led to much confusion and grave irritation. But what is not dear is whether, if it had not been granted as an earnest proof of the Government's sincere determination to remedy a labour grievance, other troubles of a deeper and more formidable sort, of which angry signs had already appeared, might not have developed. Admittedly, only an acute emergency could justify the attempt to regulate the general wages of the country by central order. (H. Wr.)
II. UNITED STATES
Before the World War there was no national American system of labour placement. There were thousands of employment agencies of every type (commercial fee-charging agencies, philanthropic offices, union, employers' and commercial associa- tion offices, Federal, state and municipal agencies), competing, duplicating and working at cross purposes. War-time demands for labour soon overstrained the existing facilities. The flow of immigrants stopped; the draft drew off large numbers of men; war industries bid against each other in competition for workers; there was little contraction of non-essential industries. By the
spring of 1918 the surplus had been absorbed, and war labour needs had reached the total of 3,928,956 workers. The problem was one both of distribution and training. To meet the war emergency, the U.S. Employment Service and the U.S. Training and Dilution Service were established.
The first plan to establish a Federal employment service was inaugurated by the Bureau of Immigration in 1907 for the purpose of placing immigrants on farms. In Jan. 1915 it was extended to cover all occupations and all classes of workers, and effort was made to cooperate with state bureaus. A special division of " reserves " (public service reserves and boys' working reserve) was created to enroll skilled workers and to enlist boys between 16 and 21 for vacation work. In Jan. 1918 the Secretary of Labor ordered the separation of the employment service from the bureau of immigration and a few months later when the Department of Labor was reorganized, the United States Employment Service was made one of its eight new divisions. Two million dollars was granted to it from the President's emergency fund.
The service passed through several stages of reorganization. In its final form it consisted of five divisions: (i) the control division, which was in charge of general correspondence, statistics and research, expenditures and accounts; (2) the field organiza- tion division, which supervised the employment offices; (3) the clearance division, which handled reports on labour supply and distributed unfilled requests for help; (4) the< personnel division, which dealt with the selection and training of help and worked out standard classifica ions of occupations; and (5) the informa- tion division, which published the U.S. Employment Service Bulletin and had charge of all publicity work. Responsibility for organization was centred in a Federal director in each state. State advisory boards, consisting of representative employers and workers, were organized, as well as community labour boards. Dependence of employers on the service was further increased when, on Aug. i 1918, by Presidential proclamation, all em- ployers engaged in war industries, who employed more than 100 persons, were required to hire their unskilled labourers through the service. By Oct. 1918, 832 offices had been opened, covering every state, the District of Columbia and Porto Rico. Special divisions were organized for woman labour, railway labour, farm labour, shipyard labour, longshoremen, negro labour, mine labour and engineers.
Following the cessation of hostilities a plan was worked out for the placement of ex-soldiers and war workers. Lack of adequate funds, however, forced the service to curtail its work, and by Oct. 1919 all of the offices were closed except those which the states and municipalities took over. These were granted a small sum of money and remained in cooperation with the Federal office. During the period from Oct. n 1919 to June 30 1920, 269 such offices were in operation in 41 states and the District of Columbia, supported mostly by state and municipal funds.
Though the service had many weaknesses and shortcomings, due mainly to the fact that it was created under pressure to relieve a disorganized labour market, it accomplished remarkable results, as the following table shows:
Activities of the U.S. Employment Service and cooperating Pub- 4ic Employment Offices, Jan. 1918 to June 1920, inclusive.
Help Wanted
Registra- tions
Referred to Positions
Placements Number
Per cent of Regis- trations
1918 . 1919 . 1920 (6mos.)
8,929,005 4.857,264
1,496,819
4,225,451 4,367.190
1,138,773
3,969,579 3,807,448
1,152.162
3,091,821 2,920,839
833,368
73-2 66-9
73-1
Credit for its success must be given, also, to some of the well- organized state services which had existed for several years.
As in other countries during the war, the labour shortage was overcome in part by the increased employment of women, who entered industry in large numbers, particularly after the second draft. In a study recently made from Ohio statistics, it has been shown that there was no marked increase of employers' demands for women until March 1918, but that from then to
