CHAPTER XVIII

PREPARING FOR WAR

IMMEDIATELY after the severance of diplomatic relations between our Government and that of Germany, February 3, 1917, Secretary Wilson proceeded to adapt all its appropriate facilities to war service. When on April 6, 1917, the issue of war was formally joined between the two countries, its organization had been so far adapted to this work as to enable it to assist other branches of the Government, and contractors under them, with growing efficiency and effect. Some of the functions so utilized were distributed among the bureaus for execution by them under the Secretary's direction and supervision. Others were lodged in the Office of the Secretary.

Among the bureau activities in connection with war work were those of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which gathered facts regarding war experiences abroad. The Bureau of Immigration, besides adapting its regular functions to unusual administrative activities caused by war conditions, assisted in the internment of enemy aliens unlawfully in the country, but not technically prisoners of war; and through that bureau's Division of Information the Secretary extended the United States Employment Service of the Department to deal with war necessities on the industrial side. The Children's Bureau undertook to conserve during the war those standards of life and labor, affecting children and mothers, which had been

established before the war, and to promote after-war protection for both. The Bureau of Naturalization, in addition to extra work imposed by an unprecedented number of applications for naturalization induced by war conditions, gave attention to securing naturalization rights to unnaturalized declarants who entered the military service of the country.

Through the office of the Secretary the industrial relations of workingmen to the war were administered by means of the United States Employment Service under the general powers of the Department to conserve the interests of wage earners, and by means of the Division of Conciliation under the specific power of the Secretary to act as mediator in labor disputes.

Mediation of labor disputes calling for Government mediation increased suddenly and enormously with the beginning of the war. A majority of the employers and employees involved in industrial controversies evinced a keen desire to secure the good offices of the Department of Labor through its conciliators, and to take advantage of the machinery created under that section of the organic law of the Department, the purpose of which in this field of its activities had been the fostering of industrial peace on a basis of industrial justice. During the four years' existence of the Division of Conciliation, a method was developed for assisting in the quick adjustment of such disputes. It had been demonstrated that the intervention of an impartial third party in the person of a conciliator by the Department invariably expedited the settlement of a dispute which had culminated in a strike or lockout. In a large number of instances the conciliators were able

not only to bring about agreement in cases of existing difference often arising from misunderstanding-but to avert the threatened strike altogether.

Requests for conciliators came to the Secretary from governmental agencies as well as from unofficial employers and employees. These applications increased fourfold in an amazingly brief period following the declaration of war. The encouraging element developed in almost all these controversies was the sincere desire evidenced on all sides not to proceed to such extremes as would result in an embarrassment to the Government. The Department's representatives fostered this spirit to the utmost, and thus were able to render vital services at a critical time.

The excellent work of the conciliators in this respect stimulated requests for the good offices of the Secretary in constantly increasing numbers. It was not unusual to receive separate appeals from the employers and employees at the same plant or industry, nor was it at all uncommon for the Department to receive a joint request to assign a representative to settle the dispute. Many of these difficulties, a considerable number of which developed into strikes while others were "impending," caused the deepest concern to the Government and to the country at large. The efforts of the Department—always directed toward the adjustment of disputes without stoppage of work-thus increased in necessity, value, and importance. The experience gained by Secretary Wilson in all kinds of trade disputes during the preceding four years proved of inestimable usefulness at this juncture.

In the hundreds of cases handled by the Secretary visible success did not always crown the efforts at adjustment. But even in such cases the value of the Department was made clear to all concerned, largely by the removal of misapprehensions-hitherto held in certain quarters-regarding the influence and the neutrality of the Department in labor matters. It was the policy of Secretary Wilson not to endeavor to impose his viewpoint upon either the worker or the management in any dispute that might arise, but rather to find some basis mutually acceptable even though it might not be mutually satisfactory. In other words, the work of mediation is not a judicial work; it is not a judicial function; it is not to hear both sides and then determine the rights and wrongs of the situation, or to pass judgment and then enforce its decision. The work is diplomatic rather than judicial, and it is in that spirit the problems of conciliation in labor controversies are approached. No man in the nation understood this underlying principle as well as did Secretary Wilson.

In line with this purpose the Secretary often was able to remove the barriers which prevented employers and employees meeting on common ground. Thus the way was paved for more friendly relations and a broader grasp of their respective rights. The fact is brought home that there is another side, and even in the absence of immediate success the seed is sown which bears fruit in some modification of working conditions with a greater consideration for the human rights of employees or a better understanding of problems which harass employers. Labor has discovered that it has a standing in the Government ma

chinery of its country whenever its demands are based on its industrial and constitutional rights. Employers, on the other hand, have found in the Department a defender against unreasonable exaction.

It would be impossible to estimate in money value what the services of Secretary Wilson saved to the country during the war. The tremendous aggregate of the contracts for foodstuffs, clothing, material, and general equipment of the Army and Navy in connection with further contracts for the construction of buildings for the military and naval branches and for additional buildings for other Federal departments, together with the problems presented by the transportation of coal, ore, lumber, and many forms of raw material, required the employment of a vast army of skilled and unskilled labor. The necessities of the Government were imperative that all supplies should be provided speedily and that the construction work incident to the public needs at this period should be expedited.

With Government activities in the construction of ships and with the unprecedented demand upon productive agencies for the materials needed in the work, it became of vital importance that the Secretary of Labor exert special efforts to adjust all controversies that might hinder or retard the Government. In a majority of the cases presented for mediation a fine spirit of co-operation was evinced by both employers and employees. Notwithstanding the limited force of conciliators available, the experience gained in their previous handling of negotiations as representatives of the Department proved of immense utility to the plans of the General Government.