Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1918-03-24
Copyright. 1918. By Frank C. Carpenter.)
SOMEWHERE IN AMERICA.

Copyright. 1918. By Frank G. Carpenter.)
SOMEWHERE IN AMERICA.
- HAVE just returned from a visit to
one Of the largest munition plants
in the United States. 1t might be
- in any one of a dozen locations, for
We are making> munitions all over the
country. I will only say it has been in
existence since the war in Europe be-
gan, and that it has furnished hundreds
Of thousands of steel shells and many
millions of shrapheL which have been
showered down on the Germans.
The great establishment was created
almost in a night by one of the big in
dustrial plants Of the United States The
parent company had long been engaged
in other work in iron and steel and it
added this plant to satisfy the demand
for munitions on the part Of the aKies.
It put up great buildings of glass and
steel covering something like fifteen
acres of ground. and started thousands
Of men and women to work. The most
Of the men were skilled mechanics. ac-
customed to dealing with tools of the
most intricate and accurate nature
Many of them were, expert machinists,
and under the high wages offered they
100 SVoa tdi ming Oul -tHfSS-InCN Sn6llS
by the hundreds of thousands a month.
+
The women were not skilled, but they
were weeded out from the standpoint of
efficiency. and today some of them sur
pass the men in certain branches of the
manufacture. About one-fourth of the
force is now made up of girls. There
are 5000 of them. and they are as regu-
lar. or even more regular, in their at
tendance, than the 5000 men who work
with them In many of the depart
ments the men and women work side
ny side A large part of the industry
Is on piece-work basis. and one of the
women who produce more than men
who are engaged on the same job. One
woman, for instance. has been earning
30 day in a certain department of the
snrapnei shop. while one of the men in
the same department, and doing exact
~ the same work. does not earn more
than half that amount The two are
pald by the amount of work they do.
and the output of the woman is double
that of the man. This is so only as to
certain classes Of work.
was interested in watching the
women as they handled these deadly
Is nothing warlike about them. They
are bright-eyed. healthy, rosy-cheeked
girls. differing from the, ordinary
american industrial workers only in
their costumes This Is a suit Of khaki
consisting Of blouse and overalIs. the
latter cut very full In addition, MANY
OF them wear caps of the same ma.
teflaL which cover the whole Of the
mead. excepting the face, over which a
long visor falls
As to the different classes of work
Done by the women. these include the
handling of intricate machinery and
most OF the processes employed in
the making of shrapnel. 1 saw them
pouring bullets into the steel shells
measuring them out In cups and pass,
ing them to men who pour in the melt
ed resin. which holds the balls in place
until they are ready to fly out in
Ieaden rain on the enemy. 1 saw them
holding the tools against emery stones
until their edges were shaped to ex-
actly Mt the gauges, which they ap-
piled now and then as the grinding
went on. i saw girls measuring and
gauging the size of the shrapnel, every
thing connected with which must be so
accurate that 1T fits to thickness one
third that of a single hair of your
head This means that almost every
part must be measured and tested again
and again as IL goes through the
process of manufacture. Women are
experts in making such measurements,
and they measure not only the steel
shells which contain the bullets of the
shrapnel. but also the brass contain
ers behind. in which the powder is
stored. eq-
Women aid in making the primers.
and they measure out the, powder of
the shrapnsl. I saw some who were
Weighing smokeless powder and putt
ting II into the brass jacketA This