Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1917-06-13
WILL BUILD US.
SHIP ENGINES in
SUBURB OF CITY
Vast Westinghouse Plant at
Lester to Make
Turbines
VILLAGE TO BE BEEHIVE
,., . city Of Maglc-Philadelphia.

Tt's City or Maglc-fhlauelphlH
ordlnary little two.cylinder imaginations
nst we're good enough for anybody In the
tss .. before the war have gone to the scrap
o cAs now. Lineal descendants of the genial
Aladdin are remaking the nation, and
- .ates a twin-siX mind to understand
what's going on - 49,, ,,,.. -,
And here's a new tale of the City OF
Magic. A.. c,,,,. Hall .,d "a, IN
,,,ne rumbling yellow trolley car, rattle
w.. Woodland avenue, down through the
yv.odovs. across the southwestern edge of
~ city limits into Delaware County, past
,se W. swanps of the Government rife range,
and you're in Lester
BEEHIVES OF INDUSTRY
1oster has a few hundred Inhabitants.
,,..re's never been. much excitement there.
~ been a quiet little community like Es-
s,nqton a few rods beyond II.
put these quiet villages of yesterday
- the beehives of today. And so II
sarnens. that of all the stupendously big
.nings that are being done in America
,oday. none is greater than the work at
tnster. It's like a Panama Canal drama
nlaying a repeat performance.
Won read so much, in these busy weeks,
that YOU rather get to thinking, "Oh these
shings are all alike"
pne here is one that's not "alike." Here
10 factory plant worth $4,000 900, not
Sounting the land, that is being put to-
Sether in few months. Here, is an en-
,srnrise where the slogan Is: "Sbeed More
sneed And hang the expense 90 Here
Is a factory not yet built, that has orders
enough to rush 1. to capacity for four
years Here Is the factory that will turn
ant all the turbines to run the Goethals
deet of merchant ships that is to break the
back Of the Kaiser's submarine war.
ULTIMATELY FOR GOVERNMENT
Here is mill yard of n thousand acres,
stretching a solid mile along the Delaware.
Here is an enterprise that will give work to
$4,000 Here is the beginning of a model
town that will house $4,000 Here Is an in
dustry that prophets say marks the begin
ming of the most magnificent fleet the world
has ever seen---the United States merchant
marine.
Now as far as outward appearances go,
this huking big business belongs to the
Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing
Company, which is famous alike for its own
prowess in making electrical apparatus and
because of the Willie Westinghouse" of the
Sunday comics But as a matter of fact,
the plant is just about as much n Federal
Government proposition as the navy yard at
League Island is, The men lin the know"
admit IL.
The S1OOO0,000 beauty Is being built
BY Westinghouse, Church, Kerr & Co, q
subsidiary of the Westinghouse Electric ant
Manufacturing Company. Ostensibly the
factory is TO be the property of the mar
Westinghouse corporation. But 1t is ad
mitted at the plant that this is only on the
surface--that the factory is being built fol
the United States Government on the wal
terms of cost plus 10 per cent" 1t /!
asserted that the Federal Treasury will
pay Westinghouse, Church, Kerr & Co ou
Of funds to be appropriated for the GoethalI
merchant marine ships.
There is doubt as to how the turbin,
factory will be run, but the belief is tina
II will be leased to the Westinghouse Elec
trio by the Federal Government for opera
ton under Government direction. Plans TO
getting workmen are based on this con
clusionL
They say" meaning Westinghouse offl
cials, that when the War Department draft
its soldiers from the millions of men whit
registered last week it will send to th'
new factory enough men to make all of thu
turbines that General Goethals needs fo
his fleet. So they're not worried about get
ting men, They seem to know what they'r
talking about.
The plan is to start work on the first tur
bne a month from now ard to finish 1t ol
New Years Day.
How many can you make in a year?
you ask the Westinghouse people. The,
don't know "A turbine a day would b
Ideal" they say, but it isn't probable"
Well, call it 200 year Each turbin
develops from 1000 to 5000 horsepower
force to drive a ship Of from 10000 t
$4,000 tons The output, then, would ac
count for from 100000 to 100000 ton
Of ships year.
LESTER ALREADY HUMMING
Stand in the middle of the Westinghous
ground at Lester and as far as your eye
will reach you'll see thousands of mer
busy as ants, digging and scraplng an
driving nails and pounding rivets. You
see motortrucks humping around over tn
hillocks; a dozen "dinky" engines putin
along tiny railroads. You'll see a quartz
Of steam shovels that work under the su
by day and under carbide lights at might
ceaselessy choppng out dirt from the hig
places and dumping 1t into the swamp'
You'll see where two canals are being Gu
In from the river; the beginning Of eigf
miles of tunnels high enough for men [
walk in; the foundations of six or seve
huge structures that are to be factories.
At one end you'll see where they're fiji
ishing the first two buildings-structures {
concrete and steel as spacious as the Wild
ner Building. For a mile to the south al
the hillocks and hummocks and the tireles
toilers that look like pygmies against III
yellow dirt On the horizon is the blue ri
bon Of the Delaware. And overhead you
hear the strumming motors Of a covey {
arplanes-craft from the Essington schoo
mat dart over the panorama like swl
blackbirds.
1t is Industry and it is War-two force
united