division for estimating the extent to which material was disseminated was an absorption check through clippings. The clipping service maintained by the division covered 150 papers, with a daily circulation ranging from 20,000 to 400,000, in cities ranging in population from 32,000 to 5,000,000. Based upon these figures an average circulation of approximately 12,000,000 readers per day was attained.

Information Division.-The Information Division was created to give effect to that portion of the President's memorandum of January 3, 1918, which provided for "the function of developing sound public sentiment." The basic thought back of this division is well stated in the words of the chairman of the War Labor Policies Board: "Production is vital to the winning of the present battle and for the winning of the war uninterrupted maximum production. Production means supplies for the fighting forces and production is wholly dependent upon labor. There may not be an adequate labor supply wisely distributed to meet the needs of the war industries; there must be sound and just conditions under which labor is employed." To bring home this statement to patriotic citizens generally and to employers in particular was the task assigned to the Public Speakers' Section. The tremendous turnover of labor supply added to the abuses occuring out of competing employment agencies as well as to the unwholesome and inadequate living conditions surrounding wage earners and their families in many of the large industries made it essential to increase the production, as well as in justice to the employees that the Government should do everything possible to better conditions. It was especially intended that employers should be made to realize their responsibilities along these lines. Consequently a small but efficient force of staff speakers was organized. In the period from July to December they made 378 addresses in 41 States. At least 100,000 representative business men heard their message. In addition the division secured capable volunteer speakers to the number of 400. They were constantly supplied with material as to policies and facts and were urged to seek in their home communities every suitable opportunity to encourage right relations in industry. Reports from 50 of these volunteers show they made more than 1,200 addresses. The general tenor of the messages delivered was as follows:

Maximum efficiency means no jumping from job to job, no idleness, no desultory work; but constant, determined, efficient effort every minute until the war is over. Every shift of a worker is a loss of efficiency that can never be regained. Investigate causes for shifting. Save man power over here.

The strain of the war must be borne by industry as well as by the soldiers in the Army. With 2,000,000 men overseas we must not only make up for their lost labor, but we must increase our prewar output. We must produce faster than war destroys. Chaos in the employment field must be replaced by system and efficiency. The

United States Employment Service has been created to replace competition with cooperation. The waste of labor turnover must be eliminated.

The Government will not allow the unpatriotic worker or unpatriotic employer to ' block necessary output. Workers and employers alike are assured a square deal when they apply to the Taft-Walsh Board. Let the War Labor Board decide the differences. In the meantime keep on showing the boys we are with them.

The "slacker" in industry, the firm which poaches on your help, the employer who offers alluring inducements to entice away employees will not be tolerated. The Employment Service will be glad to assist the employer in getting necessary workers, but he must not trespass on equal rights of other industries. Failure to heed requests from the War Labor Board will bring down upon the offending employer the condemnation of America.

The employer must realize as a leader in the Nation's industrial army that he and his workers are partners in the struggle for democracy and liberty. This cooperation must extend on the part of the employer to his working in close understanding with the United States Employment Service. To safeguard the rights of workers, employers must understand such basic labor policies as the eight-hour day in war industry; that for the sake of our industrial and economic future child-labor legislation must be upheld for the protection of our Nation and the workers of to-morrow; that where the necessities of our essential industries draw women into places left vacant by the men entering our ever-expanding Army the jobs must be suited to the women. Health and sanitary conditions must be made fit. Where jobs are by their very nature unsuited for women, women must neither be called upon nor allowed to volunteer. Where work is too heavy, machinery must simplify it. The guarding of these principles was committed to the Woman in Industry Service, while the Information Division spread the message.

There must be a new vision in industry. The dollar vision must disappear. Not what we have got but what we have done is what the public will demand of us. Our work must be our patriotic offering.. The worker must feel not that he is merely enriching his boss, but that he is a real fighter in the cause of democracy. The road to victory lies through every citizen being determined that our Army must be fed the best and have the best guns. Money alone won't produce these things, but work will.

All engagements were made and details arranged by the Washington headquarters. Schedules were arranged for a number of speakers who undertook tours reaching every State in the Union. Staff representatives for the field were constantly kept informed through bulletins and correspondence.

Conference of speakers.-Responding to a call issued by the director of the division there was organized early in the fiscal year an interdepartmental conference of the different agencies of the Government using the spoken word as a means to increase morale and stimulating production of war material. Some eleven agencies of the Government were regularly represented at weekly conferences. The avowed objects of these weekly meetings were such matters as medial assistance in the exchange or borrowing of speakers, response to emergency calls or medial assistance where specialists were needed for concerted campaigns, exchange of information as to field conditions or reports. upon sentiment in particular localities, cooperation in the regulation of policies of speakers, and advice to each other as to different schedules in order to avoid duplication or oversaturation in any one section

or district. This conference met regularly and was continued throughout the war. It was doubtless of great value in standardizing and correlating speakers' activities.

Motion pictures.—In furthering the policies laid down, early advantage was taken of the popularity of motion picture films to interest and instruct the public generally in industrial and labor policies so vital to increase war production. This work was conducted in cooperation with the Committee on Public Information and with the principal motion picture companies. The latter cooperated heartily in developing special films illustrative of the various war needs. One of the first produced was a film directing attention to the necessity for farm labor. Two films were sent out each week which dealt with news alone and many special feature pictures were developed for various bureaus of the Department of Labor, including one for the Bureau of Naturalization, which was part of a campaign in the public schools for Americanization. This section also served as a coordinating agency through the formal weekly conference in which were included representatives of nearly all Government departments utilizing films as a means of publicity or propaganda.

Industrial Plants Division.-The Industrial Plants Division was created July 25, 1918. Its function was to carry the message of the Information and Education Service to the workers in the industrial plants themselves by way of supplementing the work being done by the other divisions through the intricate mediums of the spoken word and the printed page. Its plan of organization contemplated functioning through war industries committees in individual shops or plants. Such of these committees as were formed consisted of five representatives of the employees and one representative of the employer. The function of the committee was to supervise patriotic work in the plants. They were not permitted, however, to assume under the pretext of war necessities any functions which were normally carried on by other committees or representatives either of workers or employers which had to do with the industrial relations between worker and employer and the working conditions of wage earners. Special attention was devoted by this division to the maintenance of production through the elimination of the personal causes of inefficiency. Absenteeism or unnecessary tardiness which tended to disorganize or retard production were in particular discouraged, as were also unprofitable shifting from one plant to another so as to create an unnecessary labor turnover and retardation of production as an economic weapon.

Through the committees above mentioned contacts were established directly with hundreds of thousands of workers. Weekly letters were written to each committee chairman keeping him informed as to the

progress of governmental work and advising him as to special governmental necessities. Particular emphasis was placed on the necessity for industrial peace and cooperating particularly with the Industrial Labor Service of the Department. Through the contacts hasty action on the part of the workers was frequently eliminated and grievances between them and their employers referred to the Labor Adjustment Service for such assistance as it was able to render or to the War Labor Board for final adjudication when conciliatory methods failed. Division of Economies.-The work of this division was largely of an advisory character. It was particularly concerned with the labor policy of the several departments of the Government and with the assembling of information for the advice and assistance of the other divisions of the service. No attempt was made to build up or develop an independent division for administrative work. The division secured information concerning the policies set forth for the various bureaus of the Department of Labor, the purport of the decisions of the War Labor Board, the labor adjustments of the Shipping Board, the Quartermaster Division of the War Department, and like agencies involving industrial relationships. Memorandums summarizing these decisions and policies were prepared for the use of the other divisions of the service; in particular a typical analysis of the decisions of the War Labor Board was made as rapidly as decisions appeared. Some effort was made to compile the experience of Great Britain in its labor policy. Attention was given to the opinion of labor as reflected in labor papers, in order, if possible, to remove friction and forestall objections which might be made.

Poster Division.-The function of this division is amply indicated by its title. Beginning with a number of small posters distributed among a limited number of manufacturers in April, the Poster Division grew until in the month of November it was distributing upward of 700,000 posters monthly to business concerns throughout the country. The growth of the poster distribution is a proof of its value, for it must be recalled that this service was not granted to any firm except upon its own request.

RECONSTRUCTION.

Up to the time of the signing of the armistice the work of the Information and Education Service was devoted to getting the attention of the country fixed on war industries. Its subsequent efforts were to assist in restoring peace conditions as rapidly as possible. In particular the problem of unemployment was of vital importance. Prior to the armistice a severe shortage of labor had been felt. The release of workers in vast numbers from war industries was not accompanied by an immediate revival of normal peace-time industries. The result was widespread unemployment, temporary in nature it is

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true, but nevertheless serious. It was particularly serious in view of the fact that the armistice was signed at the beginning of winter. One of the happy circumstances of history is the fact that the Civil War had ended in the spring and men stepped practically from the battlefield to the furrow. The armistice, on the other hand, was signed at the time when normal unemployment is most pronounced. Under such circumstances the Department turned as a means of relief to the stimulation of certain industries the product of which had been greatly diminished in volume as a result of the war. Notable Notable among these were the related activities of public works construction and private building. It was, therefore, determined to focus on building in particular as a specific activity and to conduct a general campaign to stimulate buying so as to assist manufacturing in general. Hence, the last few months' activities of the Information and Education Service were used to stimulate building and buying. For the purpose of supervising such activities as related to building in its relation to better employment, a special division was created known as the Division of Public Works and Construction Development.

Special sections were organized to deal rapidly with the materials needed for a quick, effective campaign. Economists who were familiar with the conditions of the industry were summoned from various parts of the country. Under their supervision there was gathered a considerable amount of data on the forces and methods of supply of real estate loans, on building material, on wages of the building trades as compared with general wages, on the cost of living, on general conditions of labor in the building trades, and on the amount of private and public construction during the war years as compared with normal construction. The results of this investigation have been published separately. Under the supervision of the Statistical Section no fewer than 26,000 questionnaires were sent out to determine the amount of building suspended during the war and the reasons why the work was not resumed after the signing of the armistice. Upward of 7,000 replies were received showing a total amount of suspended building of nearly $2,000,000,000. Of this amount more than two-thirds was for public works and the remainder private construction. A supplementary questionnaire in two parts dealing with real estate was also prepared. The purpose of this questionnaire was to collect reliable information reflecting the investigation status of typical improved properties throughout the country from 1914 to 1918, inclusive. It was sent to 125 secretaries of real estate boards throughout the country who in turn formed representative committees to collect the data.

As a means of carrying out the main purpose of the campaign, a section was instituted to interest the Nation in home owning. Campaigns were projected in 92 cities and actually organized in 78. Cor