East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1915-12-22
WAR ORDERS DEVELOP
HUNDREDS OF WOMEN
MACHINISTS IN us.
INVASION OF FIELD THREATENS
TO VIE WITH CONDITIONS
Is EUROPE.
Weaker Sex Are at Work Manipulate
ing Giant Sted IAthes Punches
and Drills-Condition Is An Indus
trial Innovation In Amcrica-La-
Dor Shortage Cause.
Omitted Press Correspoudencel

Omitted Press Correspondence
CLEVELAND, O. Dec. 22.-So
many hundreds of women machinists
ana mechanics have been developed
in this and other American industrial
centers since the European war
doomed business and cut off immi-
grafton that the American woman's 5
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
women mechanics manipulating 81.
ant steel lathes, punches. drills. trim
ming presses and other heavy ma,
chinery, is believed to oe an indus
trial innovation in America,
This at least is true in Cleveland
which, with other cities is riding the
crest Of the prosperity wave started
by huge war orders from the allies
The cause is two-folc: there is a la
Dor shortage and women are mora
efficient in certain mechanical work.
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 Ed
gar E, Adams, superintendent of .
Cleveland hardware manufacturing
company, one of the largest of its
kind in America, He declared today
that women mechanics have begun a
permanent invasion of mems places
in factories
AS women and girls nave supplant-
ed men at typewriters behind depart
ment store counters and in the tex
tile ana canning industries, so will
they take mems places at all ma
chimes where dexterity and consider
able is needed Adams believes. At
first these women workers will be re-
cruited mostly from those immigrant
races whose women are accustomed
to manual labor in the fields.
Due to the labor shortage here
where 5000 skilled mechanics are
needed, and to the decrease in imml-
grafton. Adams declared he was EN-
ploying as fast as he can find them,
women constitutionally fitted to op.
crate machines; and that other en-
ployers were doing the same At
drilling punching and trimming
presses, Adams company now en-
ploys 100 women They are running
machines formerly operated by men
and doing better work, Adams said
These women, recruited from the
ranks of Polacks, Lithuanians, Slays
and Hungarians, average $1.75 per
day for eight hours work. Some Of
them are married and their husbands
are working in other parts of the
shops Others get married and keep
on working, Their average age is
about %.
Inspection of the rooms where the
women were employed showed good
light, heat and ventilation. Foremen
were close by to adjust any machine
that might get out of order.
Comparing conditions surrounding
the women employees at the heavy
machines, with a hundred stenogra-
pliers in a nearby office, Adams said
women tradesworkers got a greater
financial return for their efforts be.
cause, unlike the stenographers, they
had no social standard 10 maintain
Every employer takes away
part Of the wage he pays stenogra.
pher, because he requires her to dress
neatly and properly Adams said.
we don't care how our women ma
chinists 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"