The object of the army scheme, which -was to get men to the place where they could be employed as rapidly as possible, formed also the first part of the civilian demobilization scheme. The questions of civilian demobilization were considered from this point of view partly by the Civil War Workers' Committee, appointed by the Ministry of Reconstruction, which issued five reports during 1918, partly by the Ministry of Labour, and partly by the Labour Resettle- ment Committee set up by the Ministry of Labour. The recom- mendations of these various bodies are arranged not in the order in which they were actually made, but in relation to the order of the events with which they dealt.
The first point to be considered was the order of discharge from munitions works, just as the first point to be considered in army demobilization was the order in which men should be released from the colours. On this it was recommended by the Ministry of Labour and the recommendation was accepted by the Cabinet that the order of discharge should be as follows :
(a) That adequate notice of discharge should be given to each individual worker.
(6) That adequate notice of the discharge ought to be given to the local employment exchange so that the exchange might be able to find employment for the worker.
(c) That the order of discharge should be: first, workers not dependent on industrial employment for a livelihood ; second, workers brought from a distance; third, workers who could be readily absorbed in their previous occupation or in one of the staple indus- tries of the district.
It was regarded as of paramount importance that the previous industrial experience of the workpeople who were to be dismissed, and the demand for workpeople of their experience elsewhere, should be adequately considered by factory managements in consultation with the officials of the Ministry of Labour before the selection of the individuals to be discharged was made.
In order that persons discharged should be able to travel to their homes at the earliest possible moment, or to their new places of employment, it was recommended in the fifth report of the Civil War Workers' Committee that free railway passes should be issued to those persons who had changed their place of residence for the pur- pose of taking up work on munitions or on naval or army contracts, and who might be displaced from such employment owing to the cessation of hostilities. In such cases the worker should have the option of having his or her fare paid either to the usual place of resi- dence, or to some other place at which work is available.
After the question of the order of discharge there was the question to be considered of the actual machinery for bringing workers into touch with possible employers. On this the following recommenda- tions were made by a committee of the Civil War Workers' Com- mittee : (a) Steps should be taken by the Government, through the machinery of the employment exchanges, to assist war workers to return to their former employment. In addition joint industrial councils and similar joint bodies for individual industries should be taken into consultation. (6) Steps should be taken as soon as there was a reasonable prospect of peace to ascertain where war workers would be required, (c) Workers should be encouraged to register their requirements. Proposals were also made as to limiting the flow of juvenile entrants into the rank of wage earners by means of pro- longing the school age, and further schemes were proposed for watching the placing of young persons in industry.
Action on these recommendations was possible during the pre- Armistice period only in so far as it would not disturb the munitions output by giving workers the impression that peace was in sight before the facts justified this belief. It was therefore not possible until immediately before the Armistice to take full advantage of the proposals for bringing employers and workpeople into touch.
It was universally agreed that the machinery for demobilization must be found in the employment exchange system. It was, how- ever, suggested that the employment exchange machine might break down under the heavy strain imposed upon it unless it were supple- mented. The Minister of Labour had appreciated this aspect of the problem and in 1917 had appointed a series of local employment committees to advise and assist exchanges. These committees (see UNEMPLOYMENT) consisted of equal numbers of employers and em- ployed presided over by a chairman nominated by the Minister of Labour. A committee was attached to each principal exchange area and its duties were generally to advise upon the work of the exchange and particularly to help in the task of the demobilization of civilian workers. The various schemes prepared by the Ministry of Labour were circulated to these committees, so that when the period of actual demobilization came they were fully prepared to handle them. In addition a central committee known as the Labour Resettlement Committee was set up by the Minister of Labour to advise the Ministry nationally, just as the exchanges were advised locally.
In the next place the actual machinery necessary to effect the rapid demobilization and transfer of workers was elaborated in detail by a Departmental Committee set up by the Minister of Labour. This committee divided its report into four parts: (i) registration of workpeople under notice of discharge; (ii) distribution of completed forms of registration to exchanges or other local offices; (iii) negotia- tions with the previous or other employers of the workpeople in order that there may be no avoidable interval of unemployment
after discharge from war employment; (iv) placing of workpeople in employment after their discharge.
Under these four heads the committee worked out in detail the registration forms and cards which would be necessary for an effective indexing of the workers. They worked out the system of interchange between the exchange at which a worker was dis- charged and the exchange at which he was to be reemployed. They suggested a method by which, upon interchange of the forms, the exchange in the neighbourhood where the man sought employment put itself into touch with the employer, and notified the result of this communication to the exchange of discharge. Finally, they made proposals by which a worker previously engaged upon war work, seeking employment, could be traced so that he could be fitted into the general scheme.
Apart from these preparations for action to be taken upon the cessation of hostilities, certain action was being taken in respect of men returning, disabled or unfit, from the colours. This work was undertaken as a result of the recommendation of the* Resettlement of Officers Committee under the chairmanship of Sir Reginald Brade, which recommended that "an Appointments Board for officers and men of like standing should be established under the control of the Ministry of Labour to operate with the existing University Appoint- ments Boards or other approved bodies." There had been two departments dealing from different points of view with this problem. In 1915 a special department of the Ministry of Labour had been set up, known as the Professional and Business Register, whose work consisted in finding appointments for persons of the classes covered by its title. During the earlier years of the war its duties principally consisted in finding war employment for persons of the professional classes who were either unable to pursue their pre-war occupation owing to war conditions or who wished to be used upon national service. In addition there was established early in July at the Minis- try of Munitions an organization known as the Officers' University and Technical Training Classes. These provided the means by which unfit officers and professional and business men in the ranks could attend universities, technical institutions and other centres of instruction during their period of convalescence. Candidates so trained, if still unfit for active service, were utilized to meet the immediate demands of Government departments.
Following upon the report of the Brade Committee it was con- sidered convenient to combine these two departments under one control, and the Appointments Department of the Ministry of Labour was established in April 1918. Previous to the cessation of hostilities the department performed two functions: (i) the training of the convalescent serving officer, and (ii) the placing in employment of officers, whether trained or untrained, as well as of professional men. The training of the convalescent serving officer was in opera- tion for more than 12 months previous to the Armistice. Some 4,000 cases passed through the training scheme. The officers received training for practically every professional and higher commercial appointment. At this stage, while demands still far outran supply, no considerable difficulties in placing the trained men arose.
These proposals affected officers. The placing of workpeople remained with the exchanges, but the question of the training of disabled members of the forces was also receiving attention. Joint committees were formed by the Ministry of Labour for dealing with this problem for a number of trades. These committees were generally on a national basis and devoted themselves to laying down conditions upon which trainees could be admitted into industry. Both as regards officers and men these two schemes, which formed the foundation of the large schemes, were operated after the Armistice by the Appointments and Training Departments respectively.
(b) The Rapid Turnover from War to Peace. The proposals on this head may be considered under two aspects:
(a) Proposals as to the way in which the Government should treat its contracts with a view to reducing the dislocation consequent on the change from war to peace to the lowest possible point.
(b) Proposals for development of industries in peace with special reference to the lessons learned during the war.
So far as munitions contracts were concerned there had to be considered (i) termination of contracts for the supply of muni- tions, (ii) disposal of stores, stock and material, machinery, etc., in the possession of the Government, and (iii) the arrangements for the disposal or post-war use of national factories with their plant and equipment.
With regard to contracts it was plain that to continue manufacture of munitions for a moment longer than the military situation required was in the highest degree uneconomic. At the same time regard had to be had to the fact that a sudden cessation of all contracts would lead to unemployment on a hitherto unexampled scale, and would, moreover, with regard to such munitions as guns and tanks, lead to the abandonment of manufacture at an advanced stage in the process. It was recommended by the Ministry of Munitions, and accepted by the Cabinet, that the manufacture of munitions should be terminated at the earliest possible moment, subject to discretion both as regards creating excessive unemployment and with regard to
