The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1917-12-23

adapted to the work of the war will!
mention some of the things that 1 saw
in going through one of the plants. 1t
| is the largest plant in Detroit, and is
typical Of the work that many Of our
automobile establishments are now do
ing for ourselves and our allies. The
buildings of this factory are 900 feet
long and SEQ feet wide They are four
stories in height and they cover many
acres. Every square foot of them is
now nunming with work, and the ma
chimes go on day and night all the year
through. Standing in one building you
can overlook single room which has
100000 square feet of floor space. 1t ac-
tually covers more than 1e acres. and
this is filled with machinery of such a
nature that it looks like dense forest
of fast moving belts and whirIing wheels
grinding away. There are, in fact, so
miles of leather betting in the room. 1t
contains $500 different machines in actual
operation. and these represent an outlay
Of 100000. The machines use 2590 gal
Ions Of lnbricating oils every "a hours
and they keep busy thousands of men.
The machinery reaches as far as you can
see AS you stand in the center of the
room the walls are not visible and you
can hardly see the ceiling. There is q
shrieking of the cutting of steel upon
steel. buzzing of wheels like the
I swarmng of locusts, and here and there
at intervals are to be seen men in blue
oyeralls directing the machines.
The machinery of such factory is so
arranged that 1t forms enc continuous
process of construction The raw ma
terial in the shape of rough forgngs
and rough casting starts in at one end
of the department. and it passes through
ma chine after machine until it comes
out ready to be assembled into the car.
At the same time other parts are COM
ing along through other machines and
the result is that the raw material goes
in at one end of the factory and comes
out at the other end in ambulances, mo-
tor trucks and war vehicles of one kind
or another.
i The same methods are used in making
gas engines which will go to the avia-
| ton camps to be parts of the flying
machines made there or to the making
of other parts for the use in various
kinds of war machinery.
In the war work of today everything
/ is analysed and is tested to the thou
sandth of an inch to be sure that it will
fit the specifications and needs to which
| it is to be put This great factory
tests the steel before it goes into it's
/ furnaces and the materials are tested
/ aga II anu again until LneY come out
/ in the completed product. There is no
guesswor and the machinery of con-
struct'on is such that mistakes can be
| traced TO the exact department and to
! the man who makes them. Every motor
/ car that goes to the battlefield of
! France has its number. and if one breaks
down without cause in the midst Of a
battle, the number of the defective part
could be sent back here and the man
| who made if he traced
! As far as possible all sorts of war
work are being standardized. The gov
ernment wants it's supplies in vast num-
! bers, and hundreds OF men are engaged
| on the same part, turning it day in
and day out, all the year through This
| is so of gas engines, of cylinders of
various kinds. of magnetos and of all
the Parts that go to make up car.
| During my stay at this factory |
watched them paying the hands. About
p0O00 are paid every week and string
of employees, men and wgomen, of 100
different nationalities go by the pay
window all day long. Each gets his
money as he passes. and that in a little
pay envelope, half as big as those used
for ordinary correspondence. On the
outside is marked the mans name, and
inside are bills. I ran over some or
the envelopes and saw they were
marked $50 $780, and upward l
opened one envelope and the bills and
exact change We're inside. The amount