Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1918-11-06

ployed extensively on turbine work so
wide Is the scope of women : capabilities,
MIR, l\ellawav stated recently, that
prominent engineer has expressed his
conviction that. given two more wears of
war. he would undertake to build a bat
tlcshil from keel TO aerial III all It's com
plcN detail entirely by womcn's labor.
And again TO watch young girls hard Mt
work lor II hours Il d,y, working on
shells, libricating bullets. handling cor
ditc. making. inspecting and gauging
fuses. examining work where the th0uS-
andth part of an inch Is vital matter,
running their machines dcftly and easily,
and spending their days IN the danger OF
buildings among explosives with rs LITTLE
fuss as II they were knitting socks. brings
a realization of that which hes behind The
list of operations on which women arc
engaged today
COMPLICATED PROCESSES.
Nomcns skill on complicated processes
has been acquired with a rapdlty which
has caused astonishmcnt 60 experts.
Before the war an apprenticeship ot five
or six years was considered necessary
amongst trades unions for gaining mastery
Of some of the processes which women
have learned in a few months or even
weeks In measuring their achievement,
however, il must never be for9olt ten what
n debt Is owed to British organized labor,
which surrendered up m the hour ol
national crisis many of the legal rights
and privileges established only after
wears III effort and controversy
The women munItIon workers OF today
have come from allr nks OF society. from
every corner OF the empire, many 81 them
entirely unaCcuStOmed To industrial life
or manual labor. and many unacquainted
even with life IN England An incident
IN one munltion works may be recalled as
typical ol tho rest W Working side by side
recently on the machines in a certain
factory were a soldiers wife from n city
tenement, a vigorous daughter Of the
crnpirc from q lonely Rhodcsian farm,
graduate from GIrton, and "A scion ot one
0f the old ariStocTatIc families oi England
War has indeed proved powerful solvent
of social barriers, and one OF the dis
tinctivc features Of factory life in num-
tion areas is the excellent leadership Of the
educated women Who have entered the
works Typical Of TINS class Of munitlon
workers are Lady Mary Hamilton.
daughter Of the Duke Of Ahcrcorn and
Miss Stella Drummond, daughter Of
kEtnfTAl IjIultlUibitl- l HEST iN'' - t'ifl~s
girls iii years. but soldiers IN spirit. de-
tcrmined in the early stages of tho war to
serve their country hy making munitions
Accordingly they applied for work as
ordinary "hands' in Il munItion factory
and for some SIX months were employed
on repetition work ln a she'll factory
Lady MARY Hamilton has stated that she
and Miss Drummoud mastered the pro-
ccSses on which they were engaged IA 4
few weeks. hut admitted that d victory
over the prcJudicCS Of tho factory em-
plo,cs, inclined t. resent the intro
ductiOn Of "~wcllS. was 4 IFngth hICr task.
Soon the skill OF the two friends attract
ed the attention Of those III authority
and thcv were selected FOR training IN more
advanced work They were admitted into
the factory school for skilled work. and
after FIVE weeks OF this training they pro-
ceeded TO the government school AT BrIX-
ton, London There they followed a nIne
weeks course in such advanced work as
tool-making and tool-sctting-tas which
would not have been considered possible
for women workers IN pre-war days.
RESPONSIBLE FOR OUTPUT
After successfully completing their
training. Lady MARY Hamilton and Miss
Drumnoud were allocated to a factory,
where they were eventually placed IN
charge of eight machines each Wells
Turret Capstan la;hes They were then
entirely responsible for the output Of
their machines. which involved rcspona-
ibilitv for the workers employed on them
In this shop both boys and girls were
employed, and the new chargc-h nds or
tool-setters had TO make good with the
mixed staff They were entirely success
ful. not only IN tho setting ot the five OF
SIX requisite tools IN each machine and ia
the making and grinding Of their own
tools, but IN producing an output which
was accurate to within 4 Z00th part of a
lniIlimetre 80 popular were they as
leaders OF their staff. hat when lady
Mary Hamilton recently resigned her
post before her marriage ard Miss Drum
Inond's services were transferred 10 vel
fare supervision under the Ministry Of
Munitions, The regret expressed by the
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