William Bauchop Wilson to Woodrow Wilson
Title
William Bauchop Wilson to Woodrow Wilson
Creator
William Bauchop Wilson
Identifier
WWP22389
Date
1918 June 1
Source
Library of Congress, Woodrow Wilson Papers, 1786-1957
Text
My dear Mr. President
I have read with a great deal of interest the paper attached to Dr. Walcott's letter. The Department of Labor has been pursuing the policy recommended in Mr. Nunn's communication. I have believed that the workers of the United States were inherently patriotic, intelligent and efficient, and that more production could be obtained for the great cause we are engaged in by presenting and interpreting the facts to them than could be obtained by physical or mental repression.
Personally, I have gone into all kinds of meetings of union and nonunion workmen, commercial bodies, associations of manufacturers and professional men, and pointed out to them that if the purpose of the Government had been to promote the interests of capital, allowing it to profiteer to the fullest extent, we would have remained out of the war and permitted our business men to extort the highest price for their goods which the needs of the European belligerants compelled them to pay; that our entrance into the war changed the situation so that it became necessary for us to inaugurate a policy of price fixing, thereby limiting the profits of employers, and that in doing so there had been no attempt made to fix a maximum wage for labor; that in addition it had resulted in our increasing income taxes and imposing an excess profits tax; that consequently this is not a capitalistic war.
That the action of the German Imperial Government in sinking our vessels at sea without warning and without giving the passengers and crew an opportunity of reaching points of safety, its destruction of our factories by the use of explosives, murdering our workmen while they were following their legitimate occupations, and then forbiding us to engage in ocean commerce with our neighbors with whom we were at peace, while audaciously granting us permission to send one vessel a week, demonstrates the purpose of the German Imperial Government to impose its will upon us, and that therefore this is a war for democracy, for freedom and for humanity; that it does not mend matters to assert that passengers should not have been permitted to travel upon these vessels, thereby endangering the peace of their country. There could be no passengers if there were no seamen to man the vessels. We either had to abandon our overseas trade altogether or protect these seamen in their right to earn their living in their usual way. That the seamen were just as much entitled to protection as any millionaire who happened to be a passenger and the Government decided to protect them. That even in normal times employers and employees have a mutual interest in securing the largest possible production with a given amount of labor, having due regard for the health, safety and proper opportunities for rest and recreation of the workers, and that their interests only diverge when it comes to a division of that which is produced; that if nothing is produced there will be nothing to divide, and with a large amount produced there will be a large amount to divide; and that the wise course for them to pursue when it comes to the point where their interests diverge is to sit down around the council table and work the problem out on the most equitable basis that the circumstances surrounding the industry will permit; that notwithstanding the dark spots here and there in our industrial and social life, the American worker is the best paid in real wages and has the highest standard of living of any wage worker in the world; that this is due to the fact that the American working man produces more than any other, notwithstanding the boasts that have been made about German efficiency; and that efficiency in production becomes more essential in time of war; that we have taken millions of men from productive enterprise and in defense of our institutions have assigned them to destructive enterprise; that our standards of living are dependent upon the efficiency of the balance; that the more we now produce the longer we will be able to maintain our standards of living, which in any event must be materially changed before the conflict is over.
That the philosophy of the I. W. W. that reducing production through striking on the job, sabotage or any other process will eliminate the profits of employers, destroy the value of their property and enable the workers to take over the plants and operate them themselves collectively, is a fallacy clearly demonstrated by the historical facts that prior to the development of modern industry, at a time when nearly everything was produced by hand, the productivity per individual was very much less than anything that could result from the widest system of sabotage that the I. W. W. could possibly inaugurate, and even in those days there were profits for the employers, the effect being that the standard of living of the workers was much lower than anything in existence today, and if the I. W. W. succeeded in carrying its policy into effect the injury would fall upon the workers themselves in the form of lower living standards.
That the turnover of labor means a tremendous economic loss. Aside from the loss of time incident to finding one man to take the place that another has left, no man can reach his highest efficiency until he has become familiar with his shop, his machine, his associates, his foreman, the methods of routing and otherwise handling the work, and the hundred and one other things that go to make up his shop surroundings; that the turnover represents the individualistic strike. It is the nonunion or union man dissatisfied with conditions unwilling or unable to interest his associates in a collective protest. It is nothing unusual in normal times to find establishments having two hundred or three hundred per cent turnover per annum. In these times in some congested localities where housing conditions are bad the turnover is frequently much greater. We discourage strikes because they interfere with production at this critical period. They attract attention and are items of news because they affect large bodies of men at the same time, but the economic loss resulting from the tremendous turnover of labor is greater by far than all of the strikes of union labor and spontaneous collective protests of non-union workers combined. The remedy is twofold:
(1) Make the conditions for the workmen such that they will have no just cause for complaint, and
(2) in view of the unusual conditions caused by the rapid concentration of industry to produce material for the national defense a spirit of forbearance is necessary on the part of the workmen. It has also been necessary to allay the uneasiness created in the minds of the workmen by various drives made for conscription of labor by taking the stand that there should be no conscription of labor for private employers even though the private employers may be engaged on public work; that if the demand for war material makes it advisable for us to conscript labor it should also include a conscription of the plants in which the labor is to be employed. I have been ably assisted by my official staff in presenting this and similar thought to the American wage workers and their employers.
In January last, I came to the conclusion that it was necessary to organize a Speakers' Bureau to more rapidly reach the workers than we had been doing. The only fund we had available to meet the expense was the Immigration fund, but as many of the people we had to reach were aliens under the care and jurisdiction of the Department of Labor, I assumed the responsibility of using part of the fund for this purpose. Since then we have had fourteen or fifteen men taken from the ranks of labor presenting these thoughts to the union and nonunion workers at noon and evening meetings in the industrial centers throughout the country. I am sending you two photographs indicative of the manner in which this work is being carried out.
In addition I am having posters prepared from time to time which are being widely distributed with the hope that they may assist in creating and maintaining the proper attitude of mind towards the whole industrial problem as it affects the winning of the war. I am sending you a few samples of these.
You will therefore see that I am in hearty accord with the suggestion contained in Mr. Nunn's letter.
Faithfully yours,
William B. Wilson
Secretary.
The President,
The White House.
I have read with a great deal of interest the paper attached to Dr. Walcott's letter. The Department of Labor has been pursuing the policy recommended in Mr. Nunn's communication. I have believed that the workers of the United States were inherently patriotic, intelligent and efficient, and that more production could be obtained for the great cause we are engaged in by presenting and interpreting the facts to them than could be obtained by physical or mental repression.
Personally, I have gone into all kinds of meetings of union and nonunion workmen, commercial bodies, associations of manufacturers and professional men, and pointed out to them that if the purpose of the Government had been to promote the interests of capital, allowing it to profiteer to the fullest extent, we would have remained out of the war and permitted our business men to extort the highest price for their goods which the needs of the European belligerants compelled them to pay; that our entrance into the war changed the situation so that it became necessary for us to inaugurate a policy of price fixing, thereby limiting the profits of employers, and that in doing so there had been no attempt made to fix a maximum wage for labor; that in addition it had resulted in our increasing income taxes and imposing an excess profits tax; that consequently this is not a capitalistic war.
That the action of the German Imperial Government in sinking our vessels at sea without warning and without giving the passengers and crew an opportunity of reaching points of safety, its destruction of our factories by the use of explosives, murdering our workmen while they were following their legitimate occupations, and then forbiding us to engage in ocean commerce with our neighbors with whom we were at peace, while audaciously granting us permission to send one vessel a week, demonstrates the purpose of the German Imperial Government to impose its will upon us, and that therefore this is a war for democracy, for freedom and for humanity; that it does not mend matters to assert that passengers should not have been permitted to travel upon these vessels, thereby endangering the peace of their country. There could be no passengers if there were no seamen to man the vessels. We either had to abandon our overseas trade altogether or protect these seamen in their right to earn their living in their usual way. That the seamen were just as much entitled to protection as any millionaire who happened to be a passenger and the Government decided to protect them. That even in normal times employers and employees have a mutual interest in securing the largest possible production with a given amount of labor, having due regard for the health, safety and proper opportunities for rest and recreation of the workers, and that their interests only diverge when it comes to a division of that which is produced; that if nothing is produced there will be nothing to divide, and with a large amount produced there will be a large amount to divide; and that the wise course for them to pursue when it comes to the point where their interests diverge is to sit down around the council table and work the problem out on the most equitable basis that the circumstances surrounding the industry will permit; that notwithstanding the dark spots here and there in our industrial and social life, the American worker is the best paid in real wages and has the highest standard of living of any wage worker in the world; that this is due to the fact that the American working man produces more than any other, notwithstanding the boasts that have been made about German efficiency; and that efficiency in production becomes more essential in time of war; that we have taken millions of men from productive enterprise and in defense of our institutions have assigned them to destructive enterprise; that our standards of living are dependent upon the efficiency of the balance; that the more we now produce the longer we will be able to maintain our standards of living, which in any event must be materially changed before the conflict is over.
That the philosophy of the I. W. W. that reducing production through striking on the job, sabotage or any other process will eliminate the profits of employers, destroy the value of their property and enable the workers to take over the plants and operate them themselves collectively, is a fallacy clearly demonstrated by the historical facts that prior to the development of modern industry, at a time when nearly everything was produced by hand, the productivity per individual was very much less than anything that could result from the widest system of sabotage that the I. W. W. could possibly inaugurate, and even in those days there were profits for the employers, the effect being that the standard of living of the workers was much lower than anything in existence today, and if the I. W. W. succeeded in carrying its policy into effect the injury would fall upon the workers themselves in the form of lower living standards.
That the turnover of labor means a tremendous economic loss. Aside from the loss of time incident to finding one man to take the place that another has left, no man can reach his highest efficiency until he has become familiar with his shop, his machine, his associates, his foreman, the methods of routing and otherwise handling the work, and the hundred and one other things that go to make up his shop surroundings; that the turnover represents the individualistic strike. It is the nonunion or union man dissatisfied with conditions unwilling or unable to interest his associates in a collective protest. It is nothing unusual in normal times to find establishments having two hundred or three hundred per cent turnover per annum. In these times in some congested localities where housing conditions are bad the turnover is frequently much greater. We discourage strikes because they interfere with production at this critical period. They attract attention and are items of news because they affect large bodies of men at the same time, but the economic loss resulting from the tremendous turnover of labor is greater by far than all of the strikes of union labor and spontaneous collective protests of non-union workers combined. The remedy is twofold:
(1) Make the conditions for the workmen such that they will have no just cause for complaint, and
(2) in view of the unusual conditions caused by the rapid concentration of industry to produce material for the national defense a spirit of forbearance is necessary on the part of the workmen. It has also been necessary to allay the uneasiness created in the minds of the workmen by various drives made for conscription of labor by taking the stand that there should be no conscription of labor for private employers even though the private employers may be engaged on public work; that if the demand for war material makes it advisable for us to conscript labor it should also include a conscription of the plants in which the labor is to be employed. I have been ably assisted by my official staff in presenting this and similar thought to the American wage workers and their employers.
In January last, I came to the conclusion that it was necessary to organize a Speakers' Bureau to more rapidly reach the workers than we had been doing. The only fund we had available to meet the expense was the Immigration fund, but as many of the people we had to reach were aliens under the care and jurisdiction of the Department of Labor, I assumed the responsibility of using part of the fund for this purpose. Since then we have had fourteen or fifteen men taken from the ranks of labor presenting these thoughts to the union and nonunion workers at noon and evening meetings in the industrial centers throughout the country. I am sending you two photographs indicative of the manner in which this work is being carried out.
In addition I am having posters prepared from time to time which are being widely distributed with the hope that they may assist in creating and maintaining the proper attitude of mind towards the whole industrial problem as it affects the winning of the war. I am sending you a few samples of these.
You will therefore see that I am in hearty accord with the suggestion contained in Mr. Nunn's letter.
Faithfully yours,
William B. Wilson
Secretary.
The President,
The White House.
Original Format
Letter
To
Wilson, Woodrow, 1856-1924
Files
Collection
Citation
William Bauchop Wilson, “William Bauchop Wilson to Woodrow Wilson,” 1918 June 1, WWP22389, World War I Letters, Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library & Museum, Staunton, Virginia.