Organization Development 1914-1917. The war in Europe at once made itself felt in America. Immigration dropped off to a marked degree, and the demands of the belligerents for food and munitions created new opportunities for labor at every turn.

The result was a steadily increasing demand for workers, while the supply was static. The registration, transfer, and placement problem grew more pressing day by day.

The favorable results in the field of farm and industrial labor placement under the Division of Information had established confidence, developed a nucleus of trained employment specialists and created a more or less stabilized technique. Hence, plans were formulated for the organization of federal employment exchanges upon a national scale.

The Zone System. Employment zones were laid out to cover the country, each zone to include numerous sub-branches under control of an immigrant inspector.

The consummation of the idea came on January 8, 1915, when, by order, the enlarged system for registration and placement was put into effect.

The country was divided into eighteen administrative zones. Branch offices were opened in the more important cities of the country and sub-branches established in each zone.

The work in each of said zones was placed under the immediate supervision of a branch of the division, such branch being known as the headquarters of the zone in which it was located. In some of the zones offices other than headquarters were established, and these were known as sub-branches of the division. The sub-branches were placed under the supervision of the branch office or headquarters of the zone in which they were located, and the division retained general supervision over all of the offices, though dealings with the subbranches were, except in special cases, directed through the headquarters of the zone. The entire distribution service was coördinated with the immigration field service. Immigration officers were designated at each branch and sub-branch to take charge of distribution work; some were assigned to this work in connection with their regular immigration duties, and some were directed to give their entire time and attention to the distribution and employment of labor.R

'The work obviously still bore the aspect of alien placement rather than general employment exchange service, if the above is to be taken as an indication.

Department of Labor, Annual Reports, 1915, pp. 271-72.

establishment of the Women's and Girls' Division. The aims, purposes and organization closely paralleled those of the division. mentioned, the distinction lying only in the sex to which they applied. This branch of the work, too, had little time for accomplishment previous to the declaration of war.

Industrial Employment. While the technique of farm placement had been developing, industrial placement had not been neglected. A test of the possibilities of the latter came with the Salem (Mass.) fire on June 25, 1914, which threw a large number of shoeworkers out of employment. Since both homes and factories were burned, the need for transfer and relocation of the workers was pressing.

After adequate inquiry had been made these workers were directed to positions in New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, and New England with encouraging results. Mexican Refugees. During 1915 and 1916 conditions in Mexico had become acute, and numerous refugees were finding their way across the border into the United States. Notice of the need of these people for employment was sent to the proper officers, with the result that by fall (1916), all but three of the migrating group who had applied for work had been placed.

Returning Guardsmen. In January, 1917, arose one of the last of the pre-war problems: the registration and placement of National Guardsmen returning from the Mexican border. These men were being discharged from the federal service and returned to their homes.

Instructions were issued January 22, 1917, to all field officers of the Employment Service to coöperate to the fullest extent with military authorities and public organizations in finding places for those men having no positions awaiting them. At the same time service was given in finding profitable employment for wage earners in the families of guardsmen still serving on the border.

Of the returning guardsmen (some 50,000 in number), over 20,000 registered for employment and 15,000 were directed to jobs. The procedure developed proved valuable later in the placement of returning World War veterans.

Summary. Such in brief outline were the special conditions arising between 1914 and 1917 which had to be met by the service.

The meeting of the problems connoted, or better, demanded, a parallel series of changes in organization. These were numerous.

Organization Development 1914-1917. The war in Europe at once made itself felt in America. Immigration dropped off to a marked degree, and the demands of the belligerents for food and munitions created new opportunities for labor at every turn.

The result was a steadily increasing demand for workers, while the supply was static. The registration, transfer, and placement problem grew more pressing day by day.

The favorable results in the field of farm and industrial labor placement under the Division of Information had established confidence, developed a nucleus of trained employment specialists and created a more or less stabilized technique. Hence, plans were formulated for the organization of federal employment exchanges upon a national scale.

The Zone System. Employment zones were laid out to cover the country, each zone to include numerous sub-branches under control of an immigrant' inspector.

The consummation of the idea came on January 8, 1915, when, by order, the enlarged system for registration and placement was put into effect.

The country was divided into eighteen administrative zones. Branch offices were opened in the more important cities of the country and sub-branches established in each zone.

The work in each of said zones was placed under the immediate supervision of a branch of the division, such branch being known as the headquarters of the zone in which it was located. In some of the zones offices other than headquarters were established, and these were known as sub-branches of the division. The sub-branches were placed under the supervision of the branch office or headquarters of the zone in which they were located, and the division retained general supervision over all of the offices, though dealings with the subbranches were, except in special cases, directed through the headquarters of the zone. The entire distribution service was coördinated with the immigration field service. Immigration officers were designated at each branch and sub-branch to take charge of distribution work; some were assigned to this work in connection with their regular immigration duties, and some were directed to give their entire time and attention to the distribution and employment of labor."

'The work obviously still bore the aspect of alien placement rather than general employment exchange service, if the above is to be taken as an indication.

"Department of Labor, Annual Reports, 1915, pp. 271-72.

Again, the entire emphasis of the work had changed. The establishment of widespread facilities for placement (originating in the farm labor service), the steadily increasing use thereof, and the stoppage of the immigration flow all contributed to this result. The change was from a purely alien distribution service to a citizen placement agency.

Origin of Title. Beginning, therefore, in 1914 the term " Employment Service" and later "United States Employment Service " had come into use as a designation for the work of non-immigrant registration and placement.

No specific order was issued at this time establishing the service separately, and the title seems to have come about as a natural

a These years represent the period when the work had begun to function in the broad sense.

growth or through the acceptance of a necessary function under a distinguishing name. In 1915 official reports for the first time used the title "United States Employment Service."

The Employment Service as such (in distinction to immigrant distribution) and under that title is generally accepted, however, as having originated in 1914, the actual germ from which the mature organization developed being the office established in New York under the Division of Information of the Bureau of Immigration.

Organization. In spite of general recognition of the Service at this time as a separate organization, it maintained its connection with the Bureau of Immigration. The administration of the service was technically cared for directly by the Secretary's office through the agency of the Division of Information.

Readjustments. Development toward the new service continued through the fiscal year 1916, when for the first time, the number of citizen applicants for placement exceeded the aliens. While this was partially due, no doubt, to the stoppage of immigration, it illustrates clearly the swing from an alien information service toward a countrywide citizen placement agency.

This growth is shown in Table 2 (page 12), which includes figures from the inception of the alien information and distribution work to the entry of the United States into the war.

Such, briefly, were the special problems and the developments and modifications of organization occurring previous to the war. With our entry into the struggle came changes ranging through all phases of the work: special services, types of labor handled, organization, personnel and volume.

On April 6, 1917, a state of war with Germany was declared to exist, and demands for man power immediately began to make themselves felt.

War Developments. Few of the pre-war, specialized services retained their identity in scope or name during the struggle. One of the exceptions to this rule was the work of recruiting agricultural labor. This continued, unchanged in procedure and name, but largely increased in volume, due, first, to the requirements of the Allies for food, and secondly, because of the departure of farm labor to the army and to factories and shipyards.

Farm Labor. In 1917, as in previous years, coöperation with the granger states was maintained before and during the harvest period and the usual aid was extended. Later, in the fall, workers were directed to the cotton-growing region in the Imperial Valley, California, to the apple, peach, and grape districts of western New York and to the potato fields of Maine.

One of the first tasks undertaken in the new year (1918) was to supply labor for the truck farm and gardening work of the east coast of Florida. To this end a permit was secured in March, admitting 1500 Bahamans into the country.

In April, a serious labor shortage developed in the beet-sugar fields and later in the cotton and fruit belts of Texas, Arizona, and California followed by a similar shortage in the maintenance-ofway work of the railroads.

L