Woodrow Wilson to William Bauchop Wilson
Title
Woodrow Wilson to William Bauchop Wilson
Creator
Wilson, Woodrow, 1856-1924
Identifier
WWP25147
Date
1918 August 28
Description
President Wilson tells the Secretary of Labor that the administration needs to do more to set wages. Workers should be willing to wait.
Source
Library of Congress, Woodrow Wilson Papers
Publisher
Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library & Museum
Subject
World War, 1914-1918--United States
Wages and labor productivity--United States
Contributor
Danna Faulds
Language
English
Provenance
Document scan was taken from Library of Congress microfilm reel of the Wilson Papers. WWPL volunteers transcribed the text.
Text
My dear Mr. Secretary:
A conference which I had yesterday with the gentlemen who are charged with the responsible duty of trying to adjust wage questions in the shipyards brought afresh to my mind the necessity of coordinating all our efforts in the matter of the allocation of labor rates of wages to the many questions affecting the welfare of laborers which it has seemed right for us to take part in answering.
I write, therefore, to make this suggestion and request: that you call a conference of representatives of the War Labor Board, the Ship Labor Adjustment Board, the Cantonment Adjustment Commission, the Board of Railroad Wages and Working Conditions, and the Labor Bureau of the Fuel Administration, and urge upon them my hope and desire that they can by common counsel establish a common policy in regard to all these matters, and attempt a fair and equitable control over them which will give the working men of the country and the employers alike assurance of some degree of stability and of definite principles of action.
These several agencies are, I am sure, all working with the highest purpose, and when their conclusions are inconsistent with one another it is only because they are not in conference and have no method by which they can accommodate their actions to a single principle and understanding.
There are pending questions with regard to wages which are pressing and whose decision I do not in fairness to the workmen like to hold off, but I am sure that the workmen of every war industry will be glad to see a fixed policy arrived at, and therefore I count with confidence upon their willingness to await the outcome of the effort which I hope you can now make in accordance with these suggestions.
Cordially and faithfully yours,
[Woodrow Wilson]
Hon. William B. Wilson,
Secretary of Labor.
A conference which I had yesterday with the gentlemen who are charged with the responsible duty of trying to adjust wage questions in the shipyards brought afresh to my mind the necessity of coordinating all our efforts in the matter of the allocation of labor rates of wages to the many questions affecting the welfare of laborers which it has seemed right for us to take part in answering.
I write, therefore, to make this suggestion and request: that you call a conference of representatives of the War Labor Board, the Ship Labor Adjustment Board, the Cantonment Adjustment Commission, the Board of Railroad Wages and Working Conditions, and the Labor Bureau of the Fuel Administration, and urge upon them my hope and desire that they can by common counsel establish a common policy in regard to all these matters, and attempt a fair and equitable control over them which will give the working men of the country and the employers alike assurance of some degree of stability and of definite principles of action.
These several agencies are, I am sure, all working with the highest purpose, and when their conclusions are inconsistent with one another it is only because they are not in conference and have no method by which they can accommodate their actions to a single principle and understanding.
There are pending questions with regard to wages which are pressing and whose decision I do not in fairness to the workmen like to hold off, but I am sure that the workmen of every war industry will be glad to see a fixed policy arrived at, and therefore I count with confidence upon their willingness to await the outcome of the effort which I hope you can now make in accordance with these suggestions.
Cordially and faithfully yours,
[Woodrow Wilson]
Hon. William B. Wilson,
Secretary of Labor.
Original Format
Letter
To
Wilson, William Bauchop, 1862-1934
Files
Collection
Citation
Wilson, Woodrow, 1856-1924, “Woodrow Wilson to William Bauchop Wilson,” 1918 August 28, WWP25147, World War I Letters, Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library & Museum, Staunton, Virginia.