Problems of Labor Productivity in Wartime
| DOI | 10.1177/000271624222400118 |
| Date | 01 November 1942 |
| Published date | 01 November 1942 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
110
Problems
of
Labor
Productivity
in
Wartime
By
WENDELL
LUND
LANTS,
materials,
management,
Pand
labor
(13,000,000
men,
with
more
each
day):
these
are
the
basic
elements
from
which
a
great
national
enterprise
is
being
built.
It
is
an
enter-
prise
operated
for
every one
of
the
citi-
zens
of
the
Nation.
On
its
success
rests
the
fate
of
things
people
hold
more
precious
than
life
itself.
These
are
simple
facts;
they
must
be
gripped
and
held
to
appreciate
the
significance
of
this
fateful
undertaking
in
which
we
are
engaged.
When
war
threatened,
we
looked
to
an
economy
that
had
been
racked,
shaken,
and
twisted
into
such
fearful
shape
that
many
had
been
kept
in
dire
want
while
land
and
machines
lay
idle.
There
was
an
abundance
of
the
stuff
for
making
machines
and
of
goods
to
consume.
There
were
men
with
&dquo;know-
how&dquo;
and
men
willing
to
work,
some
50,000,000
of
them.
But
the
people,
in
their
extremity,
were
forced
to
capi-
talize
on
their
good
faith
in
the
Nation,
and
the
Government
spent
large
sums
to
employ
men
and
stimulate
private
enterprise.
A
few
then
criticized
the
Government.
They
accused
the
Government
of
&dquo;mak-
ing&dquo;
work
for
people
and
so
depreciating
the
value
of
an
&dquo;honest
day’s
work.&dquo;
Yet
the
people
ate
and
bought
shoes
and
learned
the
never-to-be-forgotten
lesson
that
the
right
to
work
is
funda-
mental
to
the
right
to
live.
Moreover,
private
enterprise
began
to
take
on
new
life
so
that
public
funds
in
such
great
quantities
were
no
longer
needed
for
priming.
This,
in
brief,
was
our
eco-
nomic
state
when
war
threatened.
MOBILIZATION
OF
INDUSTRY
FOR
WAR
The
threat
of
war,
and
then
war
it-
self,
caused
vast
changes
in
the
entire
economic
structure.
No
longer
was
there
need
for
the
Government
to
pay
men
so
that
they
might
exist.
Nor
was
it
of
deepest
concern
to
the
people
that
goods
be
produced
so
that
profits
might
be
made.
The
gigantic
new
enterprise
which
had
arisen
was
operated
by
the
Nation,
and
it
was
motivated
by
the
necessity
of
winning
a war.
Big
and
small
industries
were
built
or
converted
for
the
production
of
war
material
and
equipment.
Business
started
to
work
for
the
United
States
Government.
This
new
employer
has
a
revolution-
ary
attitude
toward
the
production
of
goods.
There
is
virtually
no
limit
to
the
quantities
of
the
articles
of
war
which
he
seeks.
He
has
told
his
plant,
the
war
industries
of
the
Nation,
that
it
must
constantly
raise
its
sights
for
production.
Gone
is
the
old
brake,
the
demand
at
the
&dquo;optimum&dquo;
price.
The
only
ceiling
that
remains
is
the
ultimate
capacity
to
produce:
the
limits
in
the
availability
of
plants,
materials,
man-
agement,
labor,
and
the
skill
with
which
these
factors
are
applied.
What
has
this
giant
corporation,
with
its
unorthodox
greed
for
unlimited
pro-
duction,
done
to
the
economy
of
busi-
ness
and
industry?
How
has
it
affected
management
and
labor?
The
effects
upon
private
enterprise
engaged
in
war
work
are
profound.
With
the
release
of
the
brakes
on
pro-
duction,
the
practice
of
price
competi-
tion
has
been
severely
modified.
The
Government
contracting
agency
nego-
tiates,
asking
first,
&dquo;Can
you
produce
what
we
want
when
we
must
have
it
at
a
price
which
will
not
be
a
flagrant
misapplication
of
taxpayers’
money
1
1
There
are,
of
course,
other
considerations
gradually
assuming
a
high
order
of
impor-
tance
which
will
radically
modify
the
tend-
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