Vocational Training For Defense

A L M O S T I M M E D I A T E L Y fo l lowing the i n i t i a l an nouncement t h a t the country was going to embark on a defense program came simultaneous demands for workers f rom a l l parts of the country and f r om a great var ie ty of industries. A lmost overnight , some communities which were experiencing widespread unemployment found their supplies of certain types of workers exhausted. T h e i n i t i a l demand was not general, b u t rather directed m a i n l y to occupations i n the meta l trades and other skills which are peculiar to armament product ion. Supplies of such workers ore, even under favorable employment conditions, fa i r ly l i m i t e d . Because of the unstable character of the industries employing such workers, many had shifted from this type of work into other occupations. The machine-tool industry , for example, a "prince and pauper" among the durable-goods i n dustries, had not , except for the year 1937, operated at anywhere near capacity since the late 20's. The shipbui lding industry had been inactive for years, and shipbui lding workers had sought other outlets for their skills. The aircraft industry , oven though expanding prior to the defense program, was producing relat ively few planes, w i t h a handful of workers. Ordnance had not been produced for years in any quantit ies , and workers equipped wi th the skills uti l ized i n this industry had long since transferred to other industries. I n other words, the very industries which were expected to make the greatest contr ibut ion i n the way of defense materials were the ones i n which supplies of labor were l i m i t e d . Consequently, shortages of such workers as loftsmen, coppersmiths, i n s t r u ment makers, al l -around machinists, die makers, tool designers, ship f i tters , ship riggers, and a host of aircraft occupations, were bound to occur almost from the outset of the program. Under the circumstances, i t was obvious t h a t other means would have to be ut i l ized i n order to augment the supply of workers who m i g h t be obtained through ordinary recrui tment processes. This was recognized in the action taken b y Congress i n June 1940, when i t appropriated $15 mi l l i on , supplemented by $60.5 m i l l i o n i n October,