WISCONSIN BLUE BOOK


State Government Activities in Support of the War Effort
    In avoiding the admonition to do as I say and not as I do, the
 state government itself sought to gear its own operations to con-
 form to the war effort. Not only did state employes participate
 in war bond purchases, but more than $50,000,000 of the state's
 funds were thus invested. The state employes reduced their
 travel mileage by more than 11,000,000 miles in one year, thus
 saving more than a thousand tires and 750,000 gallons of gasoline.
 Hundreds of state employes did yeoman service as volunteers in
 many drives and many held additional jobs. Strenuous efforts to
 save light, heat, paper, and other supplies were made.
 Evidences of Public Support
   No one will ever compile all the evidence of public support of
 World War II. We do not know how many people used less
 butter and sugar; restricted their driving; kept their old cars
 rather than seeking to buy new ones; donated scrap of one kind
 or another; conserved electricity; donated phonographs, records,
 books, magazines, radios, and other things to army camps; aban-
 doned vacations; worked extra hours; contributed to the many
 campaigns; and provided volunteer services. Some measuring
 sticks of the public effort do, however, exist. For example, re-
 stricted driving both in terms of distance and speed reduced high-
 way accidents in spite of heavy commercial and military travel.
 The number of strikes and the man-hours lost were drastically
 cut. The percentage of the labor force employed rose. War bond
 quotas were met and there was great response to the pleas for
 the many drives.
 Training of Production Workers
   One of the many phases of war activities in which Wisconsin
excelled was in the training of war production workers under the
federally sponsored and financed war production workers pro-
grams. The reduction in the labor force caused by the expansion
of the armed forces, the increased production demands, and the
development of new products required trained workers. Because
it was impossible to train skilled machinists and other craftsmen
in the short time allotted, many processes were broken down into
a series of tasks for which people could be trained quickly. The
vocational school system of the state was admirably suited to this
task of training and it is generally conceded that Wisconsin was
producing trained employes who were on the job before most
states had established a plan for training.
  Wisconsin with Oregon led the nation in the development of
apprenticeship programs, a function assigned to the Board of
Vocational and Adult Education.
  Of equal significance was the food production war training pro-
gram which gave instruction in the use of farm machines, in-
creased food production, conservation of food, and distribution
of foodstuffs.


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