The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1918-07-01


got on the job.
In another ship building center
there was a mysterious outbreak of
disease. Fifty ship workers came
down with it at the same time, with
temperatures running up to 1O3 or
more. There were rumors of pois-
oning by German spies When ship
ping board health officers investiga-
ted, however, they found that mosqui-
toes were to blame, and took steps to
drain nearby swamp land in cooper
alton with the local health authori-
ties.
Battle Against the Mosquito
Mosquito work will probably play
part in ship building this summer
the country over, as it did in the
building of the Panama canal In
several dozen localities active drain
age campaigns are being carried out
by communities working with the
shipping board One of the notable
projects in that line is the work at
the big Hog Island yard, near Phil
adelphia, where $35O,OOO is being
spent in permanent ditching which is
intended to rid that locality of mos
quitoes for all time. The state of
Pennsylvania has contributed $75,000
the city of Philadelphia $4,000 and
manufacturing interests have also ap-
propriated money
The work of the department of
health and Sanitation covers much
more than the cleaning up Of un.
healthy conditions. The comfort and
convenience of workers is also i'm
portant. Every shipyard is required
to have medical and hospital facili-
ties, and these are inspected, and in.
formation gathered about disease,
epidemics and accidents. The living
quarters of shipyard workers are in
vestigated and Recommendation
made for their convenience and
comfort in bunk houses, homes. trans
portation to and from work, and rec
alton. Lunchroom and kitchen facili-
ties are studied with view to seeing
that men get nourishing food, in
clean surroundings, at reasonable
prices. This involves investigation
of milk, meat and ice supply, food
storage facilities, cooking and dish
washing equipment, and so forth.
There was a shipyard on the Great
Lakes which had difficulty last fall
in keeping working force of 1000
men. Its labor turnover was very
large. Investigation showed that the
yard had grown so fast that too lit.
, tie attention had been paid to provid-
ing for the comfort and convenience
of ship workers. The lunchroom was
inadequate, the food poor, it was diff
ficult for new workers coming In to
find good living quarters and there
was little in the way of bathing facil-
tiles or recreation.
Today this shipyard is fully
manned, and has little trouble in
keeping good workers. The expen.
sive item of labor turnover has been
reduced until 1t is practically neg
ligible. The company purchased an
old passenger steamship, brought 1t
to the shipward and converted 1t into
a floating hotel. First-class kitchen
equipment was installed, with toilets,
Mushrooms and other conveniences,
providing good meals for two or
three hundred men. A large dormi-
tory was built near the yard, with a
clubroom at one end where men
could read, write, play pool or cards,
have music and visit and smoke. The
sleeping rooms In this dormitory
were warmed by hot air last winter,
and the piping system is to be used
this summer for blowing cool air
through the corridors. With these
conveniences for making their work
pleasant the employees organized
"Shipbuiders' Service Club" elected
officers and arranged for baseball,
bowling and basketball games, with
dances and other social affairs among
themselves.
1t is now becoming a matter of
pride among ship workers in that
yard to serve for the period of the
war, and arrangement have been
made whereby every man who re-
. mains in the mploy of the company
until the end of the war will receive
certificate, showing that he not only
served In the fight for democracy,
but that he stuck at his post until
the fight was won.