The War Labor Policies Board (WLPB) (1918-1919) was a temporary agency of the

United States Government The federal government of the United States (U.S. federal government or U.S. government) is the national government of the United States, a federal republic located primarily in North America, composed of 50 states, a city within a feder ...

to support American military actions during the end of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

; future president Franklin Delano Roosevelt was a member.

History

Following the United States declaration of war on Germany in early April 1917, the U.S. "War Labor Administrator" (Secretary of Labor)

William Bauchop Wilson William Bauchop Wilson (April 2, 1862 – May 25, 1934) was an American labor leader and progressive politician, who immigrated as a child with his family from Lanarkshire, Scotland. After having worked as a child and adult in the coal mines of ...

established the War Labor Policies Board (WLPB) on May 13, 1918. According to the Bureau of Industrial Labor, "It was the purpose of this Board to consider and to formulate labor policies affecting the production of war industries, both those directly under Government control and those industry controlled through the contract-letting power, etc... The National War Labor Board was a court of appeal where principles of the Labor Administration were involved in dispute". An early act was to adopt principles and policies of the National War Labor Board. Frankfurter also had a seat on the

War Industries Board The War Industries Board (WIB) was a United States government agency established on July 28, 1917, during World War I, to coordinate the purchase of war supplies between the War Department (Department of the Army) and the Navy Department. Because ...

. The board formulated unified policies regarding labor administration during World War I. It also promoted improved housing for workers during World War I. After the

Armistice of 11 November 1918 The Armistice of 11 November 1918 was the armistice signed at Le Francport near Compiègne that ended fighting on land, sea, and air in World War I between the Entente and their last remaining opponent, Germany. Previous armistices ...

, the board reviewed how to cancel government contracts and demobilization. It also studied wartime labor conditions at home and abroad, plus US postwar labor policies. Despite numerous recommendations from a member,

Mary van Kleeck Mary Abby van Kleeck (June 26, 1883June 8, 1972) was an American social scientist of the 20th century. She was a notable figure in the American labor movement as well as a proponent of scientific management and a planned economy. An American of ...

, who headed the Women in Industry Service group, the Board did not take action to address wage disparities between male and female workers during World War I. The board had only one labor case referred to it by the National War Labor Board. The board ended in March 1919.

Organization

Departmental members

The following departments and organizations had representatives on the board.:

Board committees

Committees of the board included:

Board members

The following people served as executives of the board. Hasse came to the board through

Walter Weyl Walter Edward Weyl (March 11, 1873 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania – November 9, 1919 in Woodstock, New York) was a writer and speaker, an intellectual leader of the Progressive movement in the United States. As a strong nationalist, his goal was ...

, who wrote on her behalf to Max Lowenthal.: At the time, Frankfurter was serving as Assistant to the Secretary of Labor.

Legacy

In the immediate aftermath of WWI, the Bureau of Industrial Research assessed the War Labor Policies Board as follows:

Secretary of Labor Wilson was appointed by the President to act as War Labor Administrator, a power which he subsequently exercised in large measure through Mr. Frankfurter... Thus Mr. Wilson combined in himself a dual authority... ... While created as a division of the Department of Labor, with a seat in the Labor Cabinet, this Board had virtually become the leglislative body of the National War Labor Administration and may thus be treated independently...

Among other things, the WLPB cemented a friendship between Roosevelt and Frankfurter, who had already met in 1906 and had continued to meet occasionally at the Harvard Club. Lowenthal lived with Frankfurter in Washington, DC, at that time. The United States National Archives and Records Administration houses the records of the WLPB. These records have "the distinction of being Record Group 1 because its records were the first records received by the National Archives in the mid-1930s. The records measure a mere 12 cubic feet, and there are only 7 record series."

References

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External sources

Library of Congress
Felix Frankfurter papers, 1846-1966 Government agencies established in 1918 1918 establishments in the United States 1919 disestablishments in the United States Labor relations boards Defunct independent agencies of the United States government History of labor relations in the United States Agencies of the United States government during World War I