Denver labor bulletin., 1915-12-25
men REPLACED BY
WOMEN in SHOPS
Cleveland Factory Says There
is a Derth Of Help
Machinists Threatened With New In
ilux Of Cheap Labor Recruited From
Immigrants Who Have Heft


lists and mechanics have been developed
in Cleveland and other American indus
trial centers since the European war
doomed business and cut off immigra-
| ton that the American woman's invasion
| of the mechanical trades threatens to vie
| with the invasion OF the same field by
women in Europe.
Thousands of women have been en-
ployed for years on light mechanical
tasks in this country, but skilled wom-
en- mechanics, manipulating giant steel
lathes, punches, drills, trimming presses
and other heavy machinery, are believed
to be an industrial innovation in Am
erica.
This, at least, is true in Cleveland.
says a Limited Press report, which, with
other cities, is riding the crest OF the
prosperity wave started by the huge war
orders from the allies. The cause is two
fold; there is labor shortage and wom-
en- are more efficient in certain mechanl-
cal work, says this dispatch.
Will Be Factor for Future.
Whether women will continue their
invasion of Jobs formerly filled by men
is, many manufacturers say, one OF the
big factors to be reckoned with after
the war is over.
Such is the belief expressed by Edgar
+. Adams, superintendent of a Cleve-
land hardware manufacturing company,
one of the largest of its kind in America.
He declared that women mechanics have
begun a permanent invasion OF mems
places in factories.
As women and girls have supplanted
men at typewriters, behind department
store counters and in the textile and
canning industries. so will they take
mems places at all machines where
dexterity and considerable muscle are
needed, Adams believes. At first these
women workers will be recruited mostly
from those immigrant races whose wom-
en- are accustomed to manual labor in
the fields.
Are Looking for Women.
Due to the labor shortage in Cleve-
land, says the press dispatch, 5000
skilled mechanics are said to be needed,
and to the decrease in immigration. Ad-
dams declared he was employing as fast
as he could find them, women constitu-
/ tionally fitted to operate machines, and
that other employers were doing the
same. At drilling punching and trin,-
ming presses, Adams company now em-
ploys 100 women. They are running
/ filhcnluts tpt''t'b ny ihth N'o
doing better work, Adams said
These women, recruited from the ranks
OF Polacks, Lthuanians, SlaN and
Hungarians. average sl.75 per- dHy for
eight hours work Some of them arc
married. their husbands working in Other
parts of the shops. Others get married
and keep on working. Their average age
is about 25.
Inspection of the rooms where tho
women were employed showed good
light. heat and ventilation. Foremer
were close by to adjust any machine
that might get out of order.
Boosts Female Machinists.
1 Comparing conditions surrounding tho
women employees at the heavy machines
with a hundred stenographers at a near.
by office, Adams said women trades
workers got n greater financial return
for their efforts because. unlike the stem
ographers, they had no social Standard
to maintain.
Every employer takes away u part
of the wage he pays a stenographer, be-
cause he requires her to dress neatly
and properly, Adams said. I'VE don't
care how our women machinists dress
However, they dress very well as a class
| their standard of living is not low. and
many of them have very respectable
bank accounts.
"Stenographers do well to keep clear
of the credit man.
.