South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1917-10-14
WOMEN IMP ROVE
WAR CONDITIONS
Employers Have Greater Re-
SponSibiIity-0ne Plant
Hires 1900 Women.

Driven by the necessities Of the
great war hundreds OF industries
have opened their doors 70 women
for the first time-womer are every
where doing the work hitherto done
exclusively by men. With this
change in the economic schSne has
come a change in the social life OF
labor. a change that in many cases
was unforeseen. but which has proved
in every case 70 be a betterment of
existing conditions. Just as the
women have shown Increased effic-
iency in the work so has the social
atmosphere OF the great factories
been improved.
Men. working side by side with
women. have been ashamed of rude
behavior and finding keen compeu-
zion from the women. have attended
more strictly to business. AS one
works manager said recently. The
boys have cut the rough stuff and
are digging hard-the girls have got
EN- scared the way they mind their
knitting"
Greater Obligations on Employer.
Employers. however, find that
with the employment of women
comes greater obligations TO their
working forces and most OF them
have risen 10 the occasion. The
shops are being made light and
airy; rest rooms. baths and dressing
rooms are being installed and the
living conditions are generally being
improved. No sooner are the women
provided for than the employer
realizes that similar accommodations
should be given the men and the
result is that all gain.
A good example OF how the
women are taken care OF is shown
by the new $1,000, 900 plant of the
Standard Aero corporation in Eliza
beth, y. j., where 1900 women are
soon TO be employed. This plant is
the largest in this country where
the entire airplane is made and the
women are employed in the wing
making departments and in other
departments where the labor is
light and requires def fingers.
Harry Bowers Mingle, president OF
the Standard, was the first airplane
maker in this country to employ
women and he did so as soon as
he realized that they were better
than men in the more delicate work.
Women Make Airplnnes.
At the Standard plant there Is a
rest room more than 100 feet long
by so feet wide, with windows on
three sides. 1t IS comfortably
furnished, so comfortably in fact,
that it is more like a club room
than anything else. Then there are
dressing rooms, shower baths and |
modern toilet arrangements. In ad- |
dition a dining room Is being built |
where the women may either eat
the lunches they have brought from |
home or be served by the chef of |
the plant Every effort is made to |
make the women's work pleasant |
and TO give them pride In what |
they are doing, for they are soldiers |
Of the shops" and are assisting in |
building airplanes that will train |
airmen for European service. Like |
soldiers. these women wear uni
forms, pale blue piped with red and |
soon they are TO be organized In |
fashion, starting with pri-
Yates and ranking up TO captains
The Standard regiment OF the |
women's new industrial army Is
going TO be a well-drilled and most /
efficient unit and the men will have
20 hustle 70 keep up with them.
Other large corporations employ
ing women are preparing to follow
Standard Dlan as they find il makes /
better and more productive workers
in addition to promoting the physic-
al and mental well-being Of their
employees