Annual Report of the State Board of Conciliation and Arbitration Volume 33

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated.1919 Excerpt: ... THIRTY-THIED ANNUAL EEPOET. To the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled. During the campaign of 1918, when skilled labor had passed in large numbers to the camp and battlefield, and the'industrial void was occupied in part by non-combatants of both sexes unaccustomed to their allotted tasks, the Federal government, in controlling the factories and plants which produced the munitions and machinery of war, or the food and clothing to supply our armies and relieve the people of friendly nations, became the organizer of industry and the greatest patron of labor. Managerial skill, raw materials, capital and financial acumen were drawn from the manufacture of civilian goods. The manifold activities of free competition submitted with unanimous consent to the simple discipline of a business that had no rival. The accumulated wealth of prolonged prosperity was cheerfully placed at the government's disposal; business concentrated; new machinery, special tools and unparalleled operating expenses entailed heavy indebtedness; the prices of commodities rose rapidly, and increasing wages and bonuses were granted wherever labor's demand had not been satisfactorily anticipated. With every stimulus to prompt production, the shortage of labor and its constant demands imperilled the timely performance of government contracts in the earlier months of the year. The latter part of the year brought new and additional cares. An epidemic caused a month's delay in the delivery of orders at a time when supplies were needed to sustain military operations. While endeavoring to recover lost time by lengthening the work day with hours borrowed from the night, a suspension of certain orders led some manufacturers to believe that military stores had been overstocke...