Imagens da página
PDF
ePub

as laborers for harvest, etc. Early last year when it seemed certain that labor would be a limiting factor in the increased production of food, plans for a state-wide labor bureau system to bring farmers and employees together were mapped out, and local labor bureaus were established in all parts of the state. These bureaus were to list all available labor and all calls for labor, bring idle men in touch with farmers, and report any excess or deficiency to a county labor bureau which was to be directed by some county organization. The county bureau in turn was to canvass its labor situation and report to the State Labor Bureau at Lincoln. By arrangement with the Governor and the State Department of Labor, all labor bureau work of the state was to be handled through the state bureau at Lincoln. The United States Department of Agriculture and the United States Department of Labor each furnished additional help to conduct the labor bureau work at the Lincoln office. Speakers were sent out upon request of the extension service to explain the labor bureau system to organizations in county seat towns and help in the organization of local labor bureaus. The Burlington railroad also sent out several men to organize towns along their lines through their agricultural department at Chicago.

On account of the winter wheat being badly winter-killed over the greater part of the state, corn acreage was greatly increased, which called for a considerable number of extra workers. However, this had the effect of extending the work over a greater period, so that the labor shortage was not nearly so great as had been expected or would have been, had there been a good wheat crop. Later in the season, the corn crop being greatly in excess of former years, demands for men to husk corn became imperative. A survey was made at the Nebraska State Fair in September, 1917, to ascertain the help situation direct from the farmers, which resulted in the conclusion being reached that outside help in great numbers must be had if the corn crop was not to go to waste. News items stating Nebraska's needs were inserted in newspapers of wide circulation. These brought a quick and generous response from other states where there was a surplus of help at this. season. Thousands of men were induced to come to Nebraska so that plenty of help was secured.

The Lincoln office gathered accurate and reliable information of the needs of the different parts of the state and workers were directed where they wre most needed.

From the experience gained during the past year, we have come to the conclusion that during the coming year we will endeavor to centralize the labor bureau system so as to have an active bureau located at the most strategic railroad points throughout the state and to handle labor more by districts adjacent to the central bureau rather than by local bureaus in every town. That no disastrous labor shortage occurred in Nebraska during the past year, we feel that full credit should be given to the various local organizations throughout the state. We wish

especially to acknowledge the services of Prof. C. W. Pugsley and Mr. E. L, Rhoades of the Agricultural Extension Department of the University of Nebraska.

In pursuance of the policy announced, bureaus have been established at Hastings and North Platte, in addition to the ones already established at Omaha and Lincoln. This has resulted in a closer centralized work, and has been the means of filling the labor demand throughout the entire state more quickly and satisfactorily than for the year 1917. In times of great labor demand, it is not only necessary to have labor, but to have it quickly, and this is the key-note of the organization for 1918 to meet the labor needs throughout the state.

A comparison of the following tables will show the great increase of labor placed in 1918 over 1917:

[blocks in formation]

In addition to the above the U. S. Employment Service and the U. S. Public Service Reserve shipped out of the state over 23,000 skilled mechanics of all kinds and common labor east and west for ship yards and other manufacturing industries for the Government and railroad work.

GEO. E. NORMAN,

State Director U. S. Public Service Reserve.

PART V.

A History of Labor

"God bless our splendid men,

Send them safe home again,
God bless our men;

Keep them victorious,
Patient and chivalrous;

They are so dear to us—
God bless our men."

In this time of storm and stress, when the United States is engaged in a titanic struggle to help put down once and for all the fell ideal of a military autocracy, many new and perplexing problems are presenting themselves as a by-product of this same struggle. While the nation has surprised the world in her ability to organize her forces and put men in the field, yet it has also revealed to thinking people many weaknesses in our social fabric.

Not the least of these problems is that of securing labor when and where it is needed most. Not only official Washington, but the public generally, have come to recognize as never before the important place labor occupies in our life. We cannot help but feel that this will result in a more careful study of labor and its problems and this is precisely what we wish to see come. In the past and even at present time capital and labor have been arrayed against each other in bitter struggles and these have come to have great social significance.

Crimination and re-crimination are more often than not a result of misunderstanding, and if the parties concerned would stop and look at things soberly it would be much easier to get together and settle differences. The early labor organizations were a failure and committed egregious blunders because the laborer, inexperienced in organization, and ignorant of conditions, was no match for capital. They were chiefly successful in arraying public opinion against them, and retarded the progress of their cause for years. However, labor has been an apt pupil and it is today developing men of ability and capacity who are able to lend dignity to the labor movement and to secure a favorable hearing before the public.

When we have put aside the failures and mistakes of labor we find that it has for the most part been patriotic and public-spirited throughout our entire history, and has stood for some of the most salient features of our national life. It has been instrumental in bringing progress to our educational system and has generally stood for those things which mean social betterment.

There is no surer way to learn the truth about a movement than to study its history. By this means we are able to get at the truth of the matter and weigh the evidence. The importance of labor is so great that no one should be ignorant of what it has done in the past, what it is doing today and its possibilities for the future. There is little excuse for anyone not to acquaint himself with the truth about labor. In order that we may do our bit in getting the people to study labor and its problems, we herewith offer a review of the book entitled "A History of Labor", by Professor John R. Commons and associates. It is worthy the careful perusal of everyone and we hope that it will result in a desire to learn more of the fundamental facts of the labor movement in this country.

"The History of Labor," Professor Farnam points out, "was originally in charge of Carroll D. Wright, who secured the preparation and publication of considerable monographic and documentary material which

he expected to use in writing the history, but who did not live to complete the work," to which Professor Commons has succeeded. The spirit in which the present work is undertaken is reflected in Professor Farnam's statement that "The United States has always been fertile in social experiments, in societies for the propagation of fads, in periodicals and books written to aid a cause or a doctrine destined in the minds of the few to whom they were revealed to bring in a new era for the human race. Many of the theories advanced have been crude and fallacious and have died with, or even before, their authors. Many of the reformers have failed to realize their plans. Yet this intellectual ebullition has left a certain deposit of sound ideals and practical methods. These have had to compete with traditional convictions, with vested interests, and with existing law, and the resultant of these often antagonistic forces has determined the color and character of our social history."

Professor Commons in his introduction states that "The labor history of the country is here treated as a part of its industrial and political history. It is the story of how, in the course of three centuries, the wage-earner, as a distinct class, has been gradually, even violently, separating himself from the farmer, the merchant, and the employer, and coming to feel that his standing and progress in society depend directly on wages and not directly on prices, rents, profits or interest."

Part I of the work, "Colonial and Federal Beginnings to 1827," is written by David J. Saposs, who first traces the industrial development of the American colonies through Government loans or bounties for the encouragement of iron and textile manufacturing, fishing and seafaringand monopolies granted to the first manufacturers. Later protective duties were imposed by the colonies themselves before the establishment of independence. "These instances indicate," says the author, “that the protective policy of the early colonial period was intended to benefit the country at large and to make it self-sufficient. The second period of protection on a national scale began with the organization of mechanics and tradesmen following the Revolutionary War. Here originated the two slogans, 'Patronize home industry' and 'Protect infant industry' which eventually served to lift the master mechanic to the level of the capitalist." Employers and employees in our early history joined frankly and heartily in support of the protectionist policy favored by Washington-as indicated in this letter written by the New York Mechanics and Tradesmen's Society in 1787, to the Associated Mechanics of Boston:

We are sensible that long habit has fixed in the mind of the people an unjust predilection for foreign productions, and has rendered them too regardless of the arguments and complaints with which the patriotic and discerning have addressed them from every quarter. These prejudices have become confirmed and radical, and we are convinced that a strong and united effort is necessary to expel them. The Legislature of our State, convinced of the propriety of cherishing our manufactures in their early growth, has made some provisions for that purpose, and we have, no doubt, but more comprehensive and decisive measures will in

« AnteriorContinuar »