Sullivan republican. [volume] (Laporte, Pa.) 1883-1896, 1895-06-14
WOMEN TOILING IN IRON.
NEW DEPARTURE IN A PITTsBURG
ROLLING MILL,
An Experiment IN Manual Labor
That Cuts Out New Field foi
the Enterprising Woman;

AL EXperImCnC III Mduual bhOOI
That Cuts Out New Field foi
the Enterprising Woman:
0IX sturdy women in Pittsburg,
~ Penn, are cutting out line
of work for the sex that may
have interesting effects on the
wage.earning opportunities for men.
Up to this time when women Lave
boldly entered fields hitherto monop-
olized by men those lines OF work have
been chosen that call for comparative.
ly little physical effort. Or, to put it
in another way, the ambitions of the
new woman are intellectual rather
than physical. In tho iron mills at
Pittsburg intelligent women are do
ing work which heretofore has been
done by men or strong growing young
fellows, ''boys" they are called.
Mrs. Hattie Williams was the first
woman to make the experiment. She
is the wife of hard working Welsh
man, tinmaker by trade. She knew
something of the work before she be-
gan, for she had seen women working
in the mills and mines in Wales. Her
example was soon followed by five
other women.
The labor at which these women
spend their time is termed "opening,"
and the operators are known as "open-
ers." The duties consist in separat-
ing the sheets of thin, rolled iron Of
ter they leave the rolls and preparing
them for the process of timing or be-
ing soaked in molten tin. In rolling
out the iron sheets from which the tin
plate is made, the block plate, after
being given one pass through the
heavy rolls, is doubled and again sent
through, when it is once again
doubled, this being continued until,
when the plate is finished, it is made
up of eight sheets. These sheets af-
ter being sheared and then gradually
cooled, are separated or "opened. -
The work is accomplished by blows
from a hammer on an iron instrument,
shaped like chisel. Once this is
done the plates go to the timing de-
partment.
This is the only known instance
where women have worked right in
among the heavy machinery of the
sheet mills. To the women themselves
the labor is not disagreeable. Mrs.
Williams declared that she prefers the
work to scrubbing. 1t is not nearly
SO hard, she says, and while it may
seem rough, it really is not except on
the hands. In handling the thin tin
the fingers are often cut or torn by
sharp edges or ragged points.
The manager of the Monongahela
Tin Plate Company says that he has
had considerable trouble with the boys
formerly employed. They would go
out on strike for somo grievance, real
or imaginary. Not being able to en-
ploy other young fellows to take the
places of tho boys on strike he hired
the women for on experiment. lie is
satisfied so far.
President NJ. NJ. Garland, OF tho
Amalgamated Association of Iron and
Steel Workers, thinks the innovation
will not result seriously for men.
"There is," said Mr.. Garland to a
New York Press representative, emo
scale set for the work those women
are doing. We do not consider that
it comes under the heal of skilled
work and hence do not cover it in our
agreements. hardly think that tho
employment OF women as openers is
likely to become general in this couu-
try for the reason that there are few
women 30 situated domestically who
can find opportunity to do such work.
The work is so really unattractive that
it is hardly likely it will fipd favor. -
The dress worn by the women work
ing in the tin mill differ, from the or
dinary working garb only in the use
Of heavy leather apron to save the
clothes.