"MARY R."

This appeal was instantly responded to and large sums were subscribed.
A very representative Committee of Women was established, with Miss
Mary MacArthur, the well known Trade Union leader, as Hon. Secretary
and the Queen was in daily touch with its work.

In the dislocation of industry which had caused the committee's
formation, it was found that there was great slackness in one trade or
a part of it and great pressure in other parts of it or other trades.
The problem was to use the unemployed firms and workers for the new
national needs.

The committee considered it part of their work to endeavor to increase
the number of firms getting Government contracts, and they created a
special Contracts Department, under the direction of Mr. J.J. Mallon,
of the Anti-sweating League. They, as a result, advised in regard
to the placing of contracts and they undertook to get articles for
the Government, or ordered by other sources, manufactured by firms
adversely affected by the war or in their own workrooms. They worked
with the firms accustomed to making men's clothing and now unemployed,
and found that they could easily take military contracts if certain
technical difficulties were removed. They interviewed the War Office
authorities, modifications were suggested and approved and the full
employment in the tailoring trade which followed gave a greatly
improved supply of army clothing. Contracts were secured from the war
office for khaki cloth, blankets, and various kinds of hosiery, and
these were carried out by manufacturers who otherwise would have had
to close down.