New Britain Herald Newspaper, May 21, 1918, Page 10

NEW BRITAIN DAILY HERALD, TUESDAY, MAY 21, 1918 RUISER VINDICTIVE, NOW BLOCKING THE OSTEND CHANNEL, AND HER T & Underoa: is is the old British cruiser Vin- dve which, filled with concrete, been sunk in the channel at Os- bottling up that German U-boat | base. after previous tend. The she photograph was taken had been battered in the raid on Zecbrugge and Os- Above are her gallant officers. Left to right: Surgeon Payne, Suf- geon Glegg, Commander Osborne, Captain Carpenter, Staff Surfieon Mc- Cutcheon and Senior Gunner Cobby. PNCRETE SHIP FAITH MAKES GOOD TIME IN HER TRIALS IN THE BAY OF SAN FRANCISCO e concrete ship Faith, first of fkind to be built at San Francis- here shown in the bay there ter her first trial run, in which she exceeded all expectations. She ave sed more than ten knots without fliculty and reached ‘a fourteen knots. lack of vibr: speed of There was a notable tion in the vessel. e Caidlices of Taha fo Declare Women of National Defonse Gomen aF work. 1» & i itish shell-filli Ffactory ftlioe An Eight-Hour Day, Satur- day Half Holiday, Ade- quate Meal and Rest Per- iods, Are Required to At- tain Efficiency. “In view of the urgent necessity for prompt increase in the volume of production of nearly every article required for the conduct of the war, vigilance is demanded of lzLI] }!1?50{;1; any way associated with indus Ies)t' the safeguards with which the people of this country have sought to protect labor should be unwisely and unnecessarily broken down. This sentence sounds the keynote of the industrial policy of the two great divisions of the United States Army,—today placing numberless contracts of fabulous size and value —_the Ordnance Department and the Quartermaster’s Department. In “General Orders N 13,” from which this sentence is quoted, is- sued not long ago by the Ordnance Department and later adopted by the Quartermaster General, are set forth in some detail the principles of this policy, and in no un‘r'cr(:nn words the rTeason for its existence. “It is a fair assumption,” it goes on to say, “that for the most part these safeguards are the mechanisms of efficiency. Industrial history proves that reasonable hours, fair working conditions, and a proper wage _scal"e are essential to high production. Enlightened patriotism, in oth Swords, demands not that the work- ers shall work long hours at top speed for the least possible wages, but that for the sake of output they ghall make a steady reasonable ex- * penditure of strength for reasonable Jength of time under proper condi- tions. We have long heard these things demanded for the good of the workers, but now a new p_artners'hln has been formed. Efficiency and humanity go hand in hand. From the time of our en(ran:ce in- he war, the importance of con- ts%r:’ing labor standards has been emphasized and re-emphasized by, important officials in the govern- ent. The President himself, in welcoming at the White House the British Labor Commission which visited this country last spring, said ihat “nothing would be more de- plorable” than ‘“to set aside;even temporarily the laws which have safeguarded the standards of labor anad of life.” when we are fighting in s cause which. “means the lifting of the standards ot life.” Secretur:\: Baker, as Chairman of the Council of Defense, in April of last year stated in = letter addressed to the governors of the states a resolution Dassed by the Council, “That the Council of Natlonal Defense urge upon the legislatures of the states, as well as all administrative agencies charged with the enforce- ment of labor and health laws, the great duty of maintaining the exist- ing safeguards as to the health and welfare of workers, and that no de- parture from such present stand- ards in state laws or state rulings affecting labor should be taken without the declaration of the Couacil of National Defense that |such a departure is essential for the WHCLL The Council has since reaffirmed this stand, and Committee of _the Council has taken, as its official standards for the employment of women, the standards issued by the Ordnance Department as part of General Orders No. 13. The De- partments of Women in Industry of the Woman's Committee through- out the country are doing and will do all in their power to put this en- dorsement Into practical effect, with the co-operation of the Department of Women in Industry of the ‘Woman’s Committee at Washing- ton. ‘What are these standards, and why are standards for working women of such ,rime importance to the nation at this time? Proper conditions of women’s labor have always been of peculiar importance to the state. In peace times the fense.” strongly the Woman's ) made to restrict the work of women to eight hours,” the Ordnance De- partment has in mind primarily the output of munitions. In urging the prohibition of night work, they state that “English investigators have found that night work for women involves proportionately larger costs for supervision and protection.” The human cost of night work has long been known to social {nvesti- gators. A world war has brought out its pecuniary extravagance. The Saturday half holiday—"an absolute essential for women under all conditions,”—adequate meal and rest periods, and one day’s rest in seven, also find place in this Govern- ment list of industrial standards. Even with the best will in the world, and despite the most ardent spirit of sacrifice, human beings cannot do continuous work without losing their efficiency. The English work- S omen anc Br?nsg %avar gard United State. Supreme Court held that, for the sake of future genera- tions, it was constitutional to limit the working hours of women to eight hours a day. Today in war tim~ lin.itation of hours is import- ant ror au additional reason. Mod- ern warfare is not fought in the trenches alone. The army at the front is helpless if the second line of defense, th. army In factories, ts not able to keep up production of |supplies. In emph. izing the neces- |sity of rigid enforcement of exist- ling legal standards, and urging that “even where the law permits a nine leffective pursuit of the national de- or ‘ten-hour day, effort should be S ers, who toiled such long hours at the beginning of the war, did so willingly for the sake of their sol- diers. In the words of Mr. J. H. Thomas, member of the Britisbh Labor Commission to this country: ‘“We got reports of our lads be- ing mowed down, unable to defend themselves, simply like rabbits in a hole, being mowed down all for want of munitions. You can quite understand that public sentiment was that we had to give them some protection, and our men and our women were Vvorking fourteen, six- teen, elghteen and all manner of hours, one hundred and twenty /Bean Derhauledy | "&,Bm' h Goormen echanics R Despite Most Ardent Spirit. Of Sacrifice, Human Be- ings Cannot Do Their Best If Continuously at Work. ¢ hours a weelk, not so much because they were compelled, don’t get that into your heads, but because the very circumstances, the moral in- fluence of doing something for these gallant lads to give them a chance compelled us all to forget hours and everything else. “Now as the war went on the sickness returns showed an alarm- ing increase. The general health of the people was going down. Holi- days you must remember were abandoned and the strain was be- ginning to be felt. The Government Set up a committee composea of employers, tri e union representa- tives and government officizls, an impartial tribuual. They came to the unanimous decision that long hours and Sunday labor were dis- astrcus, not only to the health of, the mey and women, but to the efficlency of the service and they were unanimous in condemning long hours. And we say without hesitation, having regard to that ex- perience, that it is uneconomical, it is unwise and it is bad management to work men .r women abnormally long hours because it does not pay in_the end.” Proper regulation o. hours alone,! however, will not solve the problem. The Ordnance Department knows that it will not heip production to Iimit hours if the men and women who work these hours are not se- cured in the fundamental neces= sities of life—if they are hungry, poorly clothed and {improperly | housed. Therefore, it is urged that / sta..dards of wages “already estab- lished in the industry and in the, locality should mnot be lowered,” “that minimum wage rates bear a constant relation to increases in the cost of living,” and that, in the case of replacement of men by, wor.ier, there should be equal pay, for equal work. In justice to our sol. iers at the front, the standards of the jobs they have left hchind must not be lowered by these new recruits, who will, in increasing nuiubers, take their places in the industrial army. British official estimates state that since the war began, some 1,-' 400,000 women have directly replac- ed men. and some 600,000 are em= ployed directly on munitions. The replacement of men by women has, comparatively, not been extensive in the United States as yet. But day, by day we hear of new occupations entered, and old ones extended. Women are the ‘reserve labor power of the nation, and, if the war goes on, will inevitably be called into in- dustry in greater and greater num- bers. Increasing demands will be made upon them, unwise sacrifices will without doubt be demanded, short-sighted attempts will be made to break down labor laws, But be- cause, in the light of England’s ex- perience, and of our own best in- dustrial practice. we know that ex- hausted workers mean decreased production,—and because in the case of women workers, they mean, too, a deterioration of the race, the people of the country must be on guard with that ‘vigilance” de- manded by its Chlef of Ordnance “lest the safeguards with which the people of our country have sought L. protect labor should bhe unwisely and unnecessarily broken down." _ LAUNCHING ONE SECTION OF WORLD’ S BIGGEST DRYDOCK | Launching the bow, the second sec- tion of the largest drydock in the world, at the Morse Drydock and Re- pair company’s yards, Brooklyn, N. X There are fqur still to be launched. When com- other sections { The record War Savings Stamp booth_ in the country is located in ‘Washington, in the main entrance of pleted the dock will accommodate the largest c/r:lft afloat. It will be 700 feet 46Tig and weigh-33,000 tons. the treasury department itself, where more than $800,000 worth of stamps have been sold since the campaign ‘began, Some-of:the~sales‘have-been. made through other branches of the treasury to local banks and depart« ment stores, but they are all cleared through this booth. Most of the ing dividual buyers are treasury em ployes. The booth is in charge of Miss Ivy M. Wentworth, who iy shown.- making a-sale, e