688 State Papers and Addresses

tification, in naming this Board, to find all sections of organized labor united
in a determination to lay aside distinctions of any kind in a desire to evolve
plans that would guarantee the greatest unity of action, and the most complete
efficiency in production. The first meeting of this Board, held in our office at
Annapolis, gave unqualified assurance of the desire of the people of Maryland
to exert every effort in the furtherance of the war effort. The members of the
Commission pledged their whole-hearted determination to advance every in-
terest for all-out production, and to throw their strength against any efforts
towards work stoppage in defense undertakings.

As a result of the first meeting of the Maryland Labor Victory Board I was
able to assure Donald M. Nelson, Director of the War Production Board, that
Maryland was all out for production and that we proposed to report to him,
periodically, concerning the increases in production that would be forthcoming
as a result of the more complete unity to be achieved through the efforts of the
Labor Victory Board.

Interesting, too, in connection with the first meeting of the Labor Victory
Board, was the suggestion advanced that individual production soldiers who
have displayed unusual efficiency might be rewarded with some insignia, just
as their brothers in the armed forces are given merited recognition. This
suggestion was given a hearty welcome by the War Production Board, and I
am informed that the Board now has completed a plan to make individual
awards to war production workers, much in the same manner suggested by us.

The fundamental idea of the plan is that men at work in the war plants
can contribute to increase production through suggestions for improvement
of manufacturing processes and for conservation of materials and effort. The
plan will include a number of awards to be made for suggestions that actually
improve production. Consideration is also being given by the War Production
Board to other means of recognizing outstanding contributions by the men on
the production line.

That there is the utmost reason for every last ounce of effort that the
Production Soldier can put forward, is clearly evident to everyone who con-
siders for a moment the condition of labor not only in the conquered countries1
of Europe but even in the Reich itself. There, conquered and supposed conquer-
ors alike, have found their every right pre-empted by the militarists who are
making their final desperate bid for domination of the world. While they
have lost every vestige of rights and privileges, here in America the cause
of labor is steadily advancing, and even under the necessities of war there
is little real threat to the preservation of any of the gains that labor has made.

Ask Hitler's workers what will be their compensation if they find them-
selves unable to continue to perform the tasks assigned to them. Contrast
conditions there to those in our own State where, for instance, we have paid
out from the Unemployment Compensation Fund to date 3, 072, 477 checks,
totalling $29, 026, 326. 52 in benefits. There are now covered under the Maryland
Act approximately 13, 000 employers and more than half a million employees.
During the first quarter of 1942, collections to date were $5, 300, 000 and the