Mobilizing Man Power.

President Wilson's order for the reorganization of the Department of Labor means that the United States has learned one great lesson in the war. The Government now recognizes that this successful prosecution of the military campaign requires the mobilization, distribution and conservation of workers. It is a lesson we should have learned from the experience of other nations; indeed, we did have a value notion of the importance of intelligent supervision of labor when we entered the struggle. But the actual necessities of the case were not comprehended until our own errors and mistakes enforced them on us.

What the President has called on Secretary Wilson to do is tore-form his department and align it with the needs of the army, the navy, the nation. The new establishment will include a countrywide system of labor exchanges, all under one direction; a plan for the adequate training of workers, as agency to direct the supply of labor to the industries essential to the public welfare, instruments for the adjustment of disputes and machinery to safeguard workers at their tasks and in their homes.

Through the intervention of the Department of Labor it will be possible to prevent the waste that now occurs because men of one trade are idle when they might be employed at another, and because industries hampered by lack of workers are uniformed of the Market in which their wants could be met. The extravagant idleness characteristic of seasonal trades can easily be modified, if not done away with. There are may occupations now producing luxuries that can be diverted to necessaries with profit to employers, employees and the country.

Only now are some citizens awakening to the fact that in this war the whole power of the nation must be exerted. We cannot win victory in the conflict unless every atom of our energy is directed to one end. Mobilizing man power means more than putting armies in the field. It means that in all forges and shops, on all transportation lines, on all farms, the unified strength of every American will be exercised under competent guidance to the achievement of a common purpose. --New York Suy