Manpower Mobilization Research Articles

Channeling Government Contracts Into Depressed Areas

THE PROBLEM of chronic and persistent unemployment has been a constant specter on the American scene since the depression of the 1930's, except during the period of preparation and industrial mobilization in World War II. While the Full Employment Act of 1946 placed the responsibility of assuring general employment on the federal government, specific action was not taken until 1950, the beginning of the Korean conflict. The threat of a major war forced those responsible for industrial mobilization to make a realistic appraisal of the current utilization of manpower which disclosed large pockets of trained workers in industrial areas without steady employment. The problem was how to utilize their skills without dislocating the industrial production of the economy and placing a heavier burden on housing and schools. The decision finally made was to place more government contracts in the surplus labor sectors. This experience over a decade ago is useful today, since as recently as the spring of 1961 over one hundred out of one hundred and fifty major areas were classified by the Department of Labor in surplus labor groupings. Twenty of these areas have had persistently high unemployment for several years. The same listing gives one hundred and eighty-four smaller areas of substantial labor surplus.' During the Korean military action the new program was launched by the Secretary of Defense, George C. Marshall, in a directive to the secretaries of the military departments to broaden the industrial base.2 This action was strengthened by a presidential directive on manpower mobilization,3 and by the Office of Defense Mobilization Policy No. 1, Implementation of National Mobilization Policy with Respect to Procurement and Production Scheduling.4 Within the National Production Administration, which was created by Congress to mobilize industries for the Korean conflict, was an Office of Labor which was the focal point of pressure from depressed areas. In the summer of 1951 requests for help in channeling contracts to areas of heavy unemployment were re-

Not Without Honor: The Life of John H. Reagan (review)

Book Reviews215 As general-in-chief Halleck strove to increase the army's professional competence . He resisted attempts to include the army in the spoils system, improved the system for appointing volunteer officers and the system for mobilization of manpower, and helped reduce the size of die wagon trains of the field armies. "When die South finally conceded die struggle, she conceded to the finest army the United States had ever put in the field. Halleck, as much as anyone else, made that army" (p. 103). When Grant superseded Old Brains as general-in-chief, die latter loyally stepped down and took the new post of chief of staff. In this he performed the same duties diat he had as general-in-chief, and also acted as a channel between Lincoln and Grant, and between Grant and the department and field commanders. He processed and condensed a great many papers and relieved Grant of a heavy burden of detailed work. Halleck, concludes Professor Ambrose, was not a great captain, nor even a good field commander. Where he shone was as manager, planner, coordinator. This was Halleck's contribution, but it partly explains his unpopularity. To the Civil War generation, a general was still a romantic leader on horseback , not an office worker. The twentieth century can appreciate HaUeck better than his own generation. John Miller, Jr. Department of the Army Not Without Honor: The Life of John H. Reagan. By Ben H. Procter. (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1962. Pp. xiv, 361. $6.00.) John H. Reagan was one of the many Tennesseans who migrated to Texas in the early days, some to take part in the revolution against Mexico and to become outstanding leaders in die state and nation. Reagan arrived in 1839, fought in the Cherokee War, engaged in farming, studied law, became a judge and legislator, and was elected to Congress and served as a Representative from 1857 to 1861. Though having hoped to see die Union preserved, he finally resigned and joined the secessionists in Texas and went as a delegate to help organize the Confederate States of America. He was prevailed on by President Davis to accept die position of Postmaster General, and near die breakup of the Confederacy he served also as Acting Secretary of die Treasury. As Postmaster General he probably did as well as anyone could have done; but his difficulties were insurmountable, and die miserable postal service began early to undermine die public morale. Though not asserting himself as a military strategist, he strongly, even passionately, opposed the Gettysburg Campaign, and wanted Lee's army moved to save Vicksburg. At die end of die war he was arrested and imprisoned in Fort Warren for a few montiis. Advocating in a letter written in prison die acceptance of the results of die war (die freeing of die slaves and even if necessary Negro suffrage) , he returned to Texas to receive public scorn. Soon regaining his popularity, he helped redeem die state from Radical control. In 1875 216CIVIL WAR HISTORY he entered Congress again as a Representative and served continuously for die next dozen years; re-elected for another term, he resigned to accept election to die U.S. Senate. In 1891, he resigned to accept membership on die Texas Railroad Commission, of which he was chairman until 1903. Such in brief was the career of this outstanding Texan, who has waited until now for a biography—and well he might, for Ben Procter, of Texas Christian University, has written one (whedier definitive or not) which should be good for die next century. Procter writes widi skill and scholarship, and with a deep perception of his subject. No one can truthfully say that Reagan the man, as well as the statesman, fails to appear in these pages as a living figure. Reagan was able, honest, and courageous, and if Procter found littie to condemn in him, he was merely writing true to the record. Without belaboring the point, he shows that Reagan was the main force in Congress to keep alive the fight for railroad regulation, which finally resulted in the very significant Interstate Commerce Act of 1887. This book is heavily documented...

Intergovernmental Committee for European Migration

The Council of the Intergovernmental Committee for European Migration (ICEM) held its eighth session in Geneva from May 7 to 13, 1958. The session opened with the unanimous election of Marcus Daly as Director of ICEM to succeed Harold H. Tittmann. In his report on ICEM activities in 1957 Mr. Tittmann announced that during the year ICEM had moved 194,000 migrants and refugees, bringing the sixyear total to 775,000. The retiring director suggested that the future program of ICEM should include 1) consultations between the emigration countries of Europe and the immigration countries overseas with regard to the planning of migration programs; 2) the closest possible relationship between ICEM and the European Economic Community, and the free trade area if it were set up, which were concerned with the mobility of manpower within Europe; and 3) efforts to make effective activities of ICEM other than transport which helped develop and improve migration and to assure stable financing for them. It was announced that an estimated total of 126,000 migrants would be moved by ICEM in 1958, representing a decrease of twenty percent below the total previously estimated and a decrease of 67,747 from the number of migrants moved by ICEM in 1957. The decrease was ascribed to reductions in immigration programs and stricter selection requirements imposed by receiving countries as the result of economic retrenchment. ICEM expected to spend $34,575,767 in effecting the movements.

Dental Manpower Mobilization and the Cold War

Dental Manpower Mobilization and the Cold War

Current problems in military psychiatry.

The Korean conflict and the partial mobilization of military manpower in the United States have caused military psychiatry again to be faced with difficulties similar to those encountered in previous wars. Fortunately, valuable lessons derived from our experiences in World War II were preserved by their incorporation into both the training and operational doctrines of military medicine. This policy has, to a considerable extent, made possible the elimination of the time consuming and costly trial and error methods that characterized the initial efforts of psychiatry in World War II. In the Korean campaign, effective forward or up-front psychiatric treatment was instituted within six to eight weeks after the onset of hostilities, as compared to the almost two year delay that occurred in the previous armed conflict. Despite advances in war psychiatry, many defects in our knowledge remain, as demonstrated by experience with current military activities. It is the purpose of

Book Review: Wartime Manpower Mobilization

Book Review: Wartime Manpower Mobilization

Mobilization of scientific, engineering, and medical manpower: an interim report.

Mobilization of scientific, engineering, and medical manpower: an interim report.

Role of Labor Market Analysis in Man Power Mobilization

This country, perhaps for many years ahead, is deeply committed to a program designed to achieve national security and to safeguard the peace. Already the dimensions of this program are subjecting our national economy to substantial strains as we seek to increase defense production and control inflation. Civilian demands for goods and services are competing with defense requirements for materials and man power. Under these circumstances, the government has been compelled to initiate various program actions to increase its revenues, curb inflationary trends, and assure required military production both in regard to quantity and dates of delivery. To these ends, taxes have been increased, credit restrictions introduced, and allocations and export controls of scarce materials undertaken. Current indications are that further actions will be required to attain defense program objectives. (Author's abstract courtesy EBSCO.)

Role of Labor Market Analysis in Man Power Mobilization

Role of Labor Market Analysis in Man Power Mobilization

Role of Labor Market Analysis in Man Power Mobilization]: Comments

Role of Labor Market Analysis in Man Power Mobilization]: Comments

Mobilization of Manpower

Mobilization of Manpower

C.G.P.A. COMMITTEE REPORTS ON MANPOWER UTILIZATION

A statement of general principles for the effective utilization of manpower in the defense program and certain specific proposals for the coordination of guidance and personnel services in manpower mobilization were transmitted to the principal government officials concerned with manpower aspects of the defense program late in January by the CGPA Committee on Manpower Utilization. The statement and proposals are printed here for the information of Occupations readers.

TRENDS

WITH the war situation and the mobilization of medical manpower taking a prominent position in legislation directly affecting the medical profession, very few of the unprecedented number of health bills introduced into the 81st Congress have been enacted into law. But one piece of legislation which has been passed is of particular interest to the pediatric group since it provides for a large expansion in the grant-in-aid program of the Children's Bureau. The 1950 amendment to the Social Security Act (H.R. 6000) has nearly doubled the federal funds available for maternal and child health services, crippled children's services, and child welfare services. The remarkable growth in this program is brought into clear focus by the increases which have been made in the allocations to the Children's Bureau since the enactment of the Social Security Act in 1935. Under the provisions of the original act an annual budget of $8.17 million was allocated for grants-in-aid; $3.8 million for maternal and child health services, $2.87 million for crippled children's services, and $1.5 million for child welfare services. Each of these categories was increased in 1939 to a total of $11 million, increased again in 1946 to a total of $22 million and now to $41.5 million.

The Deferment Problem

THE resolution of the Board of Directors of the AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY which was concurred in by a unanimous vote of the Council, calling upon President Truman to act at once to prevent a disastrous waste of scientific manpower in the current international crisis has been endorsed by several leading newspapers of the country. The Washington Sunday Star under the title Scientists and the Draft editorialized as follows: The American Chemical Society has called the President's attention to a problem which needs immediate consideration as the mobilization of manpower picks up speed. The problem is how to prevent the waste of knowledge and skills implicit in the drafting of men without regard to their special scientific or other qualifications. Such waste occurred in both world wars, despite belated efforts to assign men to jobs for which experience and education fitted them. In the rush and confusion of mobilization, many technical experts ...

Washington Letter

The tenseness of the international situation is reflected along the Potomac in the accelerated attention being given to mobilization problems. Mobilization of manpower is being considered by the Congress in the proposed Selective Service-Universal Militar Training Bill. Two agencies, the Munition Board and the National Security Resources Board (created by the National Defense Act of 1947) are studying measures for mobilizing industry and resources.

Mobility of Man-Power in Britain

Mobility of Man-Power in Britain

Functions of Works Managers

IN his speech in the House of Commons on July 22 on the work of the Factory Department of the Ministry of Labour and National Service, Mr. Ernest Bevin paid a well-deserved tribute to works managers. The works manager, he asserted, deserves more recognition than he had yet received, and the country owes much to him in this War, as well as to the mines manager, for overcoming problems which no Government department, scientific worker or technician could have foreseen. There is a very close understanding between the Factory Department and the works managers, who have much in common, being trained, to a very large extent from the same personnel and thus understanding not only each others' problems but each others' approach to the problems. He drew a distinction, which he thinks industry will have to face in the future, between what he called the working directorates who understand the actual operations of the job and he put these working directorates in the same category as works managers. He also emphasized the value of the newly established Factory and Welfare Board as a safeguard against rigid bureaucratic methods. It gives industry and public service a proper place in this branch of administration, and Mr. Bevin thinks that a board of this character will remain a permanent feature to enable us to surmount the changes and difficulties which will arise in our industrial system in the vexed and difficult times ahead. Referring to the Department's policy in encouraging the establishment of personnel managers in the larger factories, he believes that too much is often imposed on the works manager in receiving deputations and like matters and being expected to run the works as well. Much specialization is essential in handling such problems, and the personnel manager as part of the executive is a great asset in large works. Referring to hours of work, Mr. Bevin said that production and mobilization of manpower have now reached a point when matters can be tightened up in respect of hours of work, and the trend of his speech indicated a welcome determination to deal firmly with the question of excessive hours, which are so important a factor in absenteeism and in low production.