On This Day, 19 November 1918

Birmingham Mail

Tuesday 19 November 1918

PEACE PREPARATIONS

TRANSITION FROM WAR CONDITIONS IN BIRMINGHAM

THE PROBLEM OF WOMEN LABOUR

A week has now elapsed since the armistice was signed, and peace practically, if not theoretically, declared; but so far as Birmingham is concerned it is difficult to realise that the city, and its people are, from a casual outside appearance at any rate, not living in the same atmosphere as a fortnight ago. Life on the surface shows little alteration. The munition girls still make their noisy way to the factories, office girls still predominate on the trams in the early mornings and evenings, fires are still so tiny that warmth is almost absent, economy in gas is still urgently necessary, and prices of meals and clothes are still a nightmare to those with small fixed incomes.

War conditions, apart from the great fact that fighting has ceased, still exist, and must exist for some time to come; but there are signs that those in authority are not letting the grass grow under their feet, and that some aspects of life recently existing, if they do not cease to exist, continue on a very different scale. Female labour will soon be subject to extraordinary changes. Thousands of girls have already received plain intimation that their services will not be required much longer. Many—the young married women, and those who only entered the factory from patriotic motives, especially—will be pleased to return to home duties and a more leisured life. There will be vacancies for a great many in aircraft building, and new industries it is anticipated will absorb enough of the remainder to prevent any acute distress.

The problem of the office girl will not be so easily solved. The Corporation has formed a special committee, consisting largely of the chairman of the spending committees of the Council, to determine to what extent temporary war labour will retained, and it is apparent that, although a number of women clerks will kept on, a large number will have to be dismissed, and as in other public and private offices make room for the men who wish to return to their old occupations.

The heads of the big business firms who have been engaged upon war work have not, generally speaking, been caught unprepared by the peace development. The problem of the reorganisation of their works to peace conditions has been discussed and settled, and during the past three months new machine tools have been made to meet after-war requirements and trade. Such preparation should do much towards absorbing labour which might otherwise be at a loose end.

Shopkeepers are also anticipating the days when rations no longer exist, when goods of all kinds will be plentiful, when there will once more be competition and a desire to please customers. In other words, there is a slight thawing of the attitude of those behind the counter, and civility, on the pre-war basis, may soon be expected. The prices of luxuries are also showing a tendency to fall now that money will not be quite plentiful. Street lighting has already vastly improved, and can almost be described as brilliant after the gloom of the past three winters, and now that restrictions have been removed the inside lighting of shops and houses help to give the city and suburbs a more cheerful appearance at nights.