The medical department of the army with its hospitals is equipped with curative workshops, for occupational therapy which is to be employed while the man is still a patient; the Federal Vocational Education Board is then charged with training the men for the new occupations for which they are best adapted and with maintaining them at public expense until they have been so trained as to be self-supporting in their new occupations; it is also the purpose to find suitable occupation for them as the occasion demands. We thus have a very comprehensive and commendable program on the part of the government, one which is deserving of great praise if it is effectively carried out. There seems to be every reason for believing that it will be. I should have this personal criticism to make of the plan as it exists; that there is an unnecessary and undesirable hiatus between the work of the hospitals as a part of the medical department of the army and the work of the Federal Vocational Education Board, in so far as the latter begins its activity on behalf of the disabled soldier only after his discharge and the army loses its control and opportunity for continuous observation of him at this same time. To my mind, the work of the Federal Board should go more deeply into the hospital period than is the case and the duty of studying the man from a vocational point of view should be charged to it, rather than to the medical department of the army; the work of the medical department of the army, on the other hand, should follow the soldier beyond the confines of the hospital. I feel that the sharp delimitation of the spheres of these two agencies is both undesirable and unnecessary.

There is another thought upon which I would dwell, for a moment and in conclusion. The result of all of this planning and effort in behalf of the crippled soldier should be a distinct addition to our social assets; we should be put in possession of a well tried mechanism by which the disabled industrial worker should be helped in a similar manner in time of peace. We have gone through a dreadful war experience. An exact account of the casualties which our army has sustained is not yet accessible but the figures are large. Approximately one hundred and twenty thousand wounded men, still requiring hospital care, are on the other side of the Atlantic waiting

to be brought back here for further treatment; not less than three thousand men have suffered amputations of consequence. We feel this keenly, for these are our own brethren and they have made great sacrifices in behalf of our common cause. So does the industrial worker, however, who is disabled at his peace-time job make a similar sacrifice. The number of our countrymen who have been disabled by war within the last fifty years will not compare in the least with the number whose working capacity has been destroyed or seriously impaired by peaceful industry within our borders during the same period. The case of these men does not appeal to us with the same force; we rightly place the sacrifice of patriotism very high. Surely we must recognize, however, that the well-being of the industrial workers of the nation is a matter of utmost concern from a viewpoint both economic and humanitarian as well. The disablements resulting from industrial casualties are astonishingly like those of war in their end results, however dissimilar they may be in cause; by this token, they call for the very same kind of agencies, looking toward the restoration of men to industrial and social usefulness and independence. Even more in the case of the industrial cripple than in that of the war cripple, however, the program of reconstructive helpfulness assumes a magnitude and economic importance which places it beyond the scope of private and individual enterprise; it does not assume a practical aspect, for this reason, until we view it as a function of society in organization, therefore of the government.

I wish to conclude, therefore, by expressing the hope that as the result of the great endeavor which the nation is making in behalf of its war mutilés, we shall see clearly our duty toward our industrial mutilés also and that we shall do it while. the urge of patriotic endeavor is strong upon us, for this too is a high order of patriotism.

[298]

EFFECT OF WAR CONDITIONS ON NEGRO LABOR

C

GEORGE EDMUND HAYNES

Director of Negro Economics, U. S. Department of Labor

OMING as I do from life and work in the South for a number of years and having seen much of Negro life

in northern centers, I count it no small privilege to have an opportunity to speak in the interest of the millions of struggling, aspiring Negro wage-earners who themselves have little means or opportunity of expressing their needs.

In speaking upon the "Effect of War Conditions on Negro Labor" the subject should be divided into three main parts: (1) The change in the relation of Negro wage-earners to white employers, North and South; (2) the change in the relation of Negro wage-earners to white wage-earners and (3) the change in the Negro himself.

To discuss first the change in the relation of the Negro wage-earner to white employers, the point divides itself into two parts: namely, the change in relation to employers in the North and the change in relation to employers in the South.

Preceding the war period, Northern employers in industries, on railroads and in mines had very little contact or experience with Negro labor. With few exceptions, it might be said that Northern industrial employers as a whole had almost no relations with Negro labor. The experience, therefore, of these employers during the war was largely experimental and with results varying according to the wisdom of their methods.

To illustrate: During the first stages of the migration of Negroes to the North in the years 1915 and 1916, one railroad system went indiscriminately into the wholesale transportation of thousands of Negro laborers to work alone its lines. The result was not satisfactory because many of those transported had little or no interest except to secure free transportation North. In contrast to this, another railroad system, because of careful selection, had satisfactory experience in retaining for a considerable period more than three-fourths of the men they brought from the South.

Again, a clothing manufacturer in Detroit, partly as a philanthropic enterprise and partly as a possible profitable business venture, opened a factory and carried through to a successful conclusion an experiment of using Negro women and girls in garment making. He told me that his greatest difficulty was the timidity of the women and their lack of belief that they could gain the facility necessary to earn as large a weekly wage as that drawn by white workers operating power machines. But after one or two of the Negro girls had succeeded in earning such wages for one week, the hardest difficulty of the experiment was removed. Some publicity about this experiment brought inquiry from other clothing manufacturers. The result was that additional openings were made for Negro women in garment trades in Detroit and Chicago.

To deal with such problems in the mobilization of Negro wage-earners for winning the war, the Department of Labor formed Negro Workers' Advisory Committee in ten states. These committees by states, counties and cities are made up of representatives of Negro wage-earners, of white employers and, wherever possible, of white wage-earners. These committees have served as connecting links between employers and many organizations such as churches, lodges, women's clubs and betterment agencies through which Negro workers are influenced. Thus these committees helped to bring employers and white workers into such touch with Negro workers that all sides received satisfactory impressions during the first steps of introducing Negroes into industrial plants. In a number of cases in Ohio, Illinois, Michigan and New Jersey the facts about the success of employing Negro workers along several lines, especially the employment of Negro women, have been brought favorably to the attention of employers who had heretofore given no consideration to the matter. These illustrations indicate the fact that these first experiences of Northern employers with Negro labor were largely experimental. In a number of cases they frankly said they did not desire to have the Negro, but were taking him under the pressure of extreme war-labor needs.

But, let me emphasize that wherever as in Detroit, in Chicago, in Cleveland and in other places, there has been intelligent guidance so that the first experience of the employer

has been satisfactory to him and wherever there has been intelligent guidance for Negro workers, the experiment has usually been successful. Northern employers have testified. that they have received a favorable impression of the capacity of Negroes, of their readiness to learn, and of their responsiveness to good wages and fair treatment.

A number of private welfare agencies have been of great service in this connection both to employers and to the Negro newcomers to Northern industrial centers. Without such intelligent guidance, employers have given up as a hopeless attempt their experiment of using Negro labor.

Taking next the change in the Negro's relation to employers in the South, perhaps the most far-reaching effect of the war conditions has been the decided change in the estimate placed upon the Negro as a factor in the productive life of the South. Preceding the war and the migration north there was such a surplus of Negro workers in many localities that when one worker dropped out or departed it was an easy matter to secure another to fill his place. After the migration north had developed and after there was a considerable increase in war demands for the building of cantonments and munitions plants in the South, a shortage of labor followed inevitably. Because of this shortage, there arose a revaluation of Negro labor. The Southern employer began to attach a new importance to the Negro wage-earner.

In the second place, while in some localities attempts were made to use compulsory measures to force workers to stick to their tasks, in a majority of localities the larger view of persuasion and better treatment has prevailed. The result is that such reasonable measures as increase of wages, the improvement of working conditions and the enlargement of educational and other community facilities have gained headway. Thoughtful representatives of both races have met in many localities to discuss their problems. In these ways better understanding, greater contentment and increased production on the part of Negro workers have been promoted. Public opinion as expressed in the white public press has been more favorable toward the Negro, and the desire for meting out justice to him has found increased expression. May I again venture to refer to the special work of the Department of