THE GREAT DISPERSAL

Evening Post, Volume XCVI, Issue 40, 15 August 1918, Page 11

THE GREAT DISPERSAL

PREPARATIONS FOR DISBANDING

THE ARMY

"THE .HUMAN TOUCH."

In the forefront of the great problems which will have to be met when the war is over stands industrial reconstruction— and especially that side of it which concerns the resettlement in a wage-earning capacity of millions of men taken from industrial life lo fight. The British Government Departments, and particularly the Ministry of Labour, have been planning for a long while hpw best to achieve this complex and difficult task.

A first essential is intimate co-opera-tion between military and civil officials in order to avoid the dispersal of men in such numbers as literally to swamp the employment market. What is aimed at is a process accurately adjusted to supply the requirements of industries as they swing over from war to peace activities. It is, to begin with, purely a civil problem, and is being treated as such by those on whom falls the duty of looking ahead in this matter. The War Office authorities have shaped their scheme for dispersing the men with admirable minuteness.

In the case of a citizen army_ such as ours it was a wiss step to register the occupation followed by every man. The Army is now classified in occupational groups, and the Labour Ministry, acting with knowledge of the ability of particular trades to absorb labour, will be able to indicate the moment at which men in any particular group should return to civil life.

In dispersing by drafts from different units according to industrial needs it is hoped, to avert to a great extent the evil of unemployment which it requires no gift of prophecy to foretell would inevitably result were men sent back haphazard in great batches without thought for their future. It will bo a Jiuge business, anyway, and it must be tackled not only scientifically, but sympathetically, unless chaos is to follow. Happily, from what one gathers, there is a wholesome desire to deal with the matter iri a spirit that will commend itself to everybody. The Army will have had the use of the men, and when they have finished their job it does not propose to turn them loose in a careless fashion to fare as best they can, but co-operating with the Ministry of Labour to return them as far as possible as they can be absorbed in civil empolyment. As the basis of the whole scheme is industrial reconstruction, the amount of assistance it will be possible for employers to render is incalculable. Every man who has work waiting for him will be brought home with the least possible delay, consistent with the priority of industrial requirements. There will be much to be gained, therefore, by co-operation nil round. The Army has been characterised as a soulless institution, but, as a matter of fact, in looking ahead at this problem, it appears to have been moved by very human considerations. For example, there is a desire to recognise the claims of the men who have been longest in the field—the old soldiers, who have no situations to which they can return. These men, ono is assured, will not be kept to the last, but will be dribbled homo early enough to give them a reasonable chance in the labour market, which is precisely what everybody would wish them to have.

Other examples might be given, but the^ above will be sufficient to allow that a "human touch" is present in the programme which has taken shape for the mightiest home-coming in. the long history of our land.

For the purpose of dispersal Englandl and Scotland will be divided into twelve areas, containing eighteen stations. The convenience of the men themselves will ba closoly studied. John Smith may be serving with a Highland regiment in France, but his home may be in London or somewhere else in England. So when the day arrives for him to make his exit from the Army he will not be sent to the dispersal station nearest to tlio depot of his regiment, but to the one nearest to the place where he wants to live on becoming once again a civilian. The idea is to deal with men irom France and men from the Home Commands or other theatres of war as nearly aB possible at the same rate. The arrangements for troops from the overseas Dominions will be made by their own Governments. Many of these line soldiers were promised when- they enlisted that they would lie given an opportunity to visit "London before they want back. There will probably be some of them who will look to have" ihat promise redeemed after the war.

Every man on leaving his unit will be provided with a dispersal certificate containing amongst other information, a record of his equipment. Ho will be required to leave his rifle and other Government property in a particular shed, where he will be furnished with a- new sandbajr in which to pack his private belongings./ Thereafter he will proceed to a hut labelled "Policy office," where h« will be handed an unemployment donation policy ensuring him a certain weekly sum if unemployed for a specific period after he leaves the Army. The rate, .and period are not yet settled. In another hut, which is the pay office, his protection certificate will-be stamped, and he will receive an advance of pay. A railway warrant will be forthcoming to carry him to his home, and, finally, he wiJl depart in uniform, plus greatcoat, on what amounts to twenty-eight days' furlough. At the end of that time he will bo out.of the Army. His uniform he will keep. His great-coat he will return, a. label having been provided, and will get a fixed sum from the Army for doing so.

There is good authority for saying that the- various documents necessary to provide for-Tommy's exit from the firfiting forces have been reduced to a minimum. Yet 45,000,000 forms will Be required, consuming 350 tons of paper.