The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1918-07-29
TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
INF 20 r M A TION
Blu RE AU
FREDERIC J. HASKIN, Director.
Washington. D. c.
GOVERNMENT BUREAU FOR
WOMEN WORKERS.

been created for the benefit of the
American working woman. It is known
as the woman's division of the de-
partment of labor, and it came into
being last week when Miss Mary Van
Kleeck and Miss Mary Anderson
moved from the large wooden shack
that houses the ordnance division to
the labor department building.
These two women. have been rum
ming the woman's branch of the in
duStria1 division of the ordnance de-
partment for the past year and they
were successful in settling many diff
flcut problems arising from the en-
ployment of women in the government
arsenals. Now, under the new wom-
ans division, they will have a sort of
worker on war contract. They will
| investigate and study her industrial
| life, her health, her social diversions
and her future, not from any senti-
| mental desire to help the working
woman herself, but from a practical
desire to help her win the war.
Both Miss VanKleeck and Miss An
derson are particularly well fitted for
this work Before her appointment to
the ordnance department, Miss VAN
Kleeck was with the Russell Sage
foundation. She is inclined to view
| the whole labor situation with an I'M
prejudiced eye. She says, for exam
when it opposes the introduction of
| labor-saving devices. 1.-The introduce
| ton OF labor-saving machinery has
never failed to mean an increase in
jobs" she declares. Machinery means
| the expansion of an industry, and the
| expansion Of an industry means the
employment of more workers.
Capital she regards as blind to its
own interests when it opposes the
payment of a wage that will insure
healthy living conditions for workers
ponds upon the efficiency of it's en-
ployes. and the efficiency of it's en-
ployes depends upon the state of their
health. as Miss Vankleeck is ready to
prove by an overwhelming amount of
| evidence.
| Miss Anderson has gained her ex-
| tensiye knowledge of labor conditions
thru first-hand experience. OF Swed-
ish birth, she came to this country at
an early age and entered a Chica go
| shoe factory, whef- she stitched shoes
for eighteen years. The greater part
| OF this time she was president of the
local Boot and Shoe Workers union,
| in which capacity she drifted into
| larger labor circles and became famii-
| lar with industrial conditions in all
parts of the country. Miss Anderson
| declares that conditions in shoe fac
tories are especially good-that wages
are high and the workrooms pleasant
but she has not the same to say for
| other industries.
The greatest problem the new wo-
mans division will have to deal with
Is that OF securing equal pay for equal
work by men and women she says.
I'm scores of factories women are now
dong mems work for less than men
are paid We must focds attention
| on such things as this And on the
ten hour shift that prevails in some
| factories, both day and night" For
| this reason Miss Anderson believes
/ that the governments labor standards
should be written into all government
contracts.
AS the war progresses. an amazing
number OF women are being absorbed
into industries which formerly en-
ployed only men. Thousands of wo-
| men employed on war contracts, for
| many concerns filling government or
| ders, have made it a special practice
to advertise for women workers-pref-
erably women with relatives a. THE
| front. This is where the governments
interest begins, 1t has been found
| that the employees in certain factories
are much more efficient, producing a
much greater quantity and a higher
| quality of work than those in other
! factories. superficial investigation
indicates that factory conditions,
|
Tor this difference in output. For ex-
ample, factory in Cleveland, which
| works its employees eight hours a day
for only five days a week, is filling its
war orders with much greater rapid
ity than other factories having much
longer hours of work. The excellent
cafeteria maintained in connection
| with its workrooms and a recreation
park established for use during the
noon hour are also believed by ex-
perts TO nave something to do with
this factory'S tremendous efficiency.
Now if the conditions existing at
TINS cleveland factory are those which
| DrlnS the greatest production, then
the government is interested in seeing
| those conditions established in eyery
factory filling war orders. The ;,ov-
eminent cannot enforce such condi-
TONS 1t can only advocate them by
persistent propaganda and thru the
cooperation of state labor depart
| ments. This is how the new woman's
division hopes to improve labor condi-
tons for women.
But, fortunately for the rapid terni-
nauon OF the war, manufacturers are
themselves awakening to certain mis-
takes that have been made in en-
pIoy1ng women. At the beginning, for
example, a manufacture was apt 20
exclaim: 1--WE can't get the men so
Wen just emplo-- 500 women for this
job. And thereupon 800 women. of
all ages, nationalities and varying
working capacity would be brought
IN and put to work in the sanguine
belief that by some marvellous faculty
they could perform jobs that men, of
much greater strength and years of
experience, had done. Foremen spent
whole weeks in training female re-
crults for work to which they were
obviously pnsuited. Large quantities
OF valuable material were wasted
Ihen, and only then, did the manu-
1acturers come TO see the error OF
their ways.
Now, in most factories, women are
employed only after careful examfna
| tlon- An employment manager ex-
amines them as to their mental quail
. 1catlons, and they are given a physi-
cal examination by the factory medi-
cal inspector. After which. sthey are