The daily star-mirror. (Moscow, Idaho) 1911-1939, 1917-04-18
SHELLMAkING AS
seen BY NOTED
BRITISH AUTHOR
Arnold Bennett Describes Visit to
One of Many Projecti|e Fac
tories in Britain.
WOMEN WORKING With MEN
Six-lnch and Nine-Inch Death Dealers
Are the Product-Present Output
Is Monument to Brains and
Energy of Country.

London.-Here is an article written
by Arnold Bennett, with the approval
OF the ministry of munitions, with the
object of inspiring the British public
to still greater exertions in the manu-
facture of munitions of war. The ar
t1cle, entitled, IN. P. F.: Working
Example of the New Phenomena" fol-
lows:
BY ARNOLD BENNETT.
You see these letters on the doormat
of the office. They stand for National
Projectile Factory. I know not how
many N. P. F.'s there are in Britain.
Perhaps Mr.. Montagu, the minister Of
munitions, knows. This particular
factory is very large one. 1t has over
IL acres beneath a single roof. A
farmer can visualize a ten-acre field
but to the man in the Industrial street
an acre is mere term. Imagine an
area of one mile long by hundred
feet broad. That is roughly the area
OF the factory, though naturally it's
shape is much nearer a square. Over
5000 "hands" (the more spiritual Rus
slams would say "souls') are employed
there, and of these very considerably
over half are women, of whom a large
part are young or youngish and
attractive, and possess husbands in
the army.
Now, you can observe a N. P. F. in
various aspects. There is the human
aspect of it's picturesque adjuncts. For
instance, the canteen (under it's own
separate roof, with a prodigious
veranda for the al fresco), SURPRISING
town halls in size and supplying all
the diverse cooking and eating accom-
modations which young women who
know on which side their bread ought
to be buttered require. There are the
Women'S dressing rooms and lavatories. |
I never saw before and do not hope |
to see again so many white faience |
basins with hot and cold water, rows |
and rows and rows, and scores in a |
row. There is the ambulance station |
with every Device and a nurse always |
waiting in the secret expectation of |
major" case and rarely getting any
thing better than a scratch or a cut.
trolling the overhead travelling cleo
trio cranes that command every foot
of the floor space. Each has a rope
to slide down by in an emergency, and
for practice sake she is obliged to slide
down that rope at least once week.
There are the other women who drive
the electric carriages on the floor it.
self-miles of line-sitting in a sort
of easy chair and tickling levers. (Six-
inch and nine-inch shells are not to be
lightly thrown about. The latter
weigh more than a man, and it takes
either electricity or two men to shift
them to and fro; electricity does 80
per cent of the shifting).
There are still other women in peg
top trousers. These last piquant crea-
lures start with two minute points
near the ground and very often finish
near the top with an elaborate white,
lacy corsage or a flowing, glowing
scarf. The phenomenon looks queer
in a factory. 1t ought not to look :
queer. 1t ought to be far more preva-
lent. l liked to see girl checker deli
cately rolling a nine-inch shell over
with her fashionable glace-kid boot
that peeped out beneath the yellow
overall. These things, happily, will
peep out. So will the vase of flowers +
and the strange personal belongings in
the wire cage cupboard of which each
machiniSt has one near her machine r
There are the long queues of women
in variegated street attire at the pay
desks. ("Pay from 65O1-7O2O' is one
Of the signs.) There are the war saw
ngs desks-astutely placed next to the
pay desks. "War Savings Certificates.
They are subscribed today in THE
section. Are YOU subscribing?" Well,
is rule, she was.
The Manufacturing Aspect. r
So I might continue with the human
picturesque aspect, but I must turn to
he manufacturing aspect; for, after
III, this fast rumbling maze of wheels ;
md women and men exists for shells. Is
IND, like the men, all these women,
lowever nice and happy, are conscious .,
Y engaged in the preparation of the ~
neans of destruction and slaughter.
Steam is at the bottom of this affair U
"a row Of boilers and furnaces. Step
inside the power house and, behold, the
team has been translated into cleo D
ricity-three units of 750 kilowatts I
ach and three more of $50 kiloWatts
ach. A little further, and much of :
ne power has become hydraulic. You %
an see the huge hydraulic accumula-
)rs rising and falling according as
he creation Of power here overtakes
r is overtaken by the dissipation of
over in the factory.
HAVING urocpoI thic Won mo " or+o,. |