672 State Papers and Addresses

all too many that selfish question "What can I get out of it ?" Until we get to
the point as a Nation, that our question is "How much can I do, what else can
I give?, " we will not have achieved anything like the all-out cooperation that is
absolutely necessary.

It is somewhat easy to account for the state of mind in which many of our
people find themselves. Steps are being taken to correct the condition that has
militated against general participation by all our people in the war effort. In
the weeks since Pearl Harbor many of our older people, and many women who
have passed the age of 35, have been most anxious to offer their services in one
way or another, and quite generally their efforts have come to naught. We hear
at the State House almost every day, for instance, from some women who have
been attempting to secure employment in war industry and have been unsuc-
cessful. After applying to the Employment Service and to several industries,
they become disheartened and feel that there is no place for them. Then,
when they read in the newspapers of the great need for additional manpower
they become bewildered at the situation.

Yet there is ample need and plenty of room in industry for all, men and
women, who want to work. Again, we have a state of mind that is changing
and that must be changed much more completely before we attain maximum
war production. In England they tell us that 40% to 50% of the airplane
workers are women. Here in our Country one plant has approximately 15%
women workers; a monster airplane plant has about 5% women workers, and
many of the other plants have none at all. It is being recognized fully, how-
ever, that in many types of precision work particularly, women are much more
efficient than men. Paul V. McNutt, recently appointed Chairman of the War
Manpower Board, has announced that 1, 000, 000 additional women will be re-
quired in industry this year. So we may look, without any doubt, to a tre-
mendous change in the balance between male and female workers in the war
plants before many months have past.

In coming before a PTA group, such as yours, it would seem in order to
discuss some particular functions and responsibilities of parents in this emerg-
ency. Not only do they have a tremendous responsibility, but also they have the
tragic role to play in that they will be called upon to send their loved young
men into the Service, and many of them may later hear the sad news that their
loved ones have made the supreme sacrifice.

Parents, in such a time as this, have an opportunity to influence to a tre-
mendous extent the attitude of the young people of our Nation and to direct
this attitude into correct channels. The young man who is called into Selective
Service, for example, will go to his duty in the proper frame of mind if those
at home, particularly his parents, adopt the sensible, patriotic attitude. When
this young man has arrived in camp, the spirit with which he enters into and
performs his duties there will depend to a great extent on the news he hears
from home and the inspiration he is given by his parents and family.

On the home front, the question of cooperation in necessary war regula-
tions will depend top, in large measure, upon the parents. As a case in point,
reference is made again to the necessity for conserving tires and gasoline.