Report

For Release Sunday Papers, March 31.
The following report and recommendations are presented by the WAR LABOR CONFERENCE BOARD, representing employers and employees, appointed in accordance with the suggestion of Secretary of Labor William B. Wilson, to aid in the formation of a National labor program for the period of the war:
Washington, D. C., March 29, 1918.
Honorable William B. Wilson,
Secretary of Labor.

Sir:
The Commission of representatives of employers and workers, selected in accord with the suggestion of your letter of January 28, 1918, to aid in the formulation, in the present emergency, of a National labor program, present to you, as a result of their conferences, the following:
(a) That there be created, for the period of the war, a National War Labor Board of the same number and to be selected in the same manner and by the same agencies as the commission making this recommendation:
(b) That the functions and powers of the National Board shall be as follows:
1. To bring about a settlement, by mediation and conciliation of every controversy arising between employers and workers in the field of production necessary for the effective conduct of the war.
2. To do the same thing in similar controversies in other fields of national activity, delays and obstructions in which may, in the opinion of the National Board, affect detrimentally such production.
3. To provide such machinery by direct appointment, or otherwise, for selection of committees or Boards to sit in various parts of the country where controversies arise, to secure settlement by local mediation and conciliation.
4. To summon the parties to the controversy for hearing and action by the National Board in case of failure to secure settlement by local mediation and conciliation.
(c) If the sincere and determined effort of the National Board shall fail to bring about a voluntary settlement, and the members of the Board shall be unable unanimously to agree upon a decision, then and in that case and only as a last resort, an umpire appointed in the manner provided in the next paragraph shall hear and finally decide the controversy under simple rules of procedure prescribed by the National Board.
(d) The members of the National Board shall choose the umpire by unanimous vote. Failing such choice, the name of the umpire shall be drawn by lot from a list of te suitable and disinterested persons to be nominated for the purpose by the President of the United States.
(e) The National Board shall hold its regular meetings in the city of Washington, with power to meet at any other place convenient for the Board and the occasion.
(f) The National Board may alter its methods and practice in settlement of controversies hereunder, from time to time as experience may suggest.
(g) The National Board shall refuse to take cognizance of a controversy between employer and workers in any field of industrial or other activity where there is by agreement or Federal law a means of settlement which has not been invoked.
(h) The place of each member of the National Board unavoidably detained from attending one or more of its sessions may be filled by a substitute to be named by such member as his regular substitute. The substitute shall have the same representative character as his principal.
(i) The National Board shall have power to appoint a Secretary, and to create such other clerical organization under it as may be in its judgment necessary for the discharge of its duties.
(j) The National Board may apply to the Secretary of Labor for authority to use the machinery of the Department in its work of conciliation and mediation.
(k) The action of the National Board may be invoked in respect to controversies within its jurisdiction, by the Secretary of Labor or by either side in a controversy or its duly authorized representative. The Board, after summary consideration, may refuse further hearing if the case is not of such character or importance to justify it.
(l) In the appointment of committees of its own members to act for the Board in general or local matters, and in the creation of local committees, the employer and the workers shall be equally represented.
(m) The representatives of the public in the Board shall preside alternately at successive sessions of the Board or as agreed upon.
(n) The Board in its mediating and conciliatory action, and the umpire in his consideration of a controversy, shall be governed by the following principles: