The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1919-08-12
INDUSTRIAL TRAINING. TO
REDUCE COST OF LIVING

A plan, nation wide in scope, has
been inaugurated by Colonel Arthur
Woods, assistant to the secretary of
war, for factory owners and indus
trial corporations throughout the
country, 10000 in number, to under
take industrial training for their
workers at the same time that they
pay them a sufficient living wage dur
ing the period of apprenticeship.
This plan originates In the difficult
situation in which the country now
finds itself because of the high cost of
living and the geenral industrial un-
rest. 1t is felt by the Office of the
assistant to the secretary of war that
cost of living lies in an increase of
production; and that industrial train
ing at the same time that it accom-
pIishes this result, will also make eve
ry worker, whether skilled, semi
skilled or unskilled, feel that he has
real opportunity for advancement
and for an increase in his earning
power.
Investigation by Colonel Woods Of
fee shows that American factories
are running at a very low level of eff
6ciency. In New England, for ex-
ample, experts state that the factories
are not more than 60 per cent. efic-
lent. 1t is estimated that six million
men are being used today to do the
work that four and half million men
could do if they were properly train
ed. The average worker, according to
these figures, never attains an output
of more than 35 per cent of his best
efficiency, simply because he has never
been trained to do his work properly.
Even a slight increase in this level of
efficiency will mean a great increase
in the national production and a cor
responding decrease in the cost of
living.
Those employees who have already
been approached with this project,
and particularly those who have al
ready tried the scheme, are thorough
ly confident of its feasibility and ire
mendous possibilities. 1t is found
that not only is the productive power
OF these men increased, but that they
actually pay for themselves at the
same time that they are learning and
that by the increase in their individual
efficiency a fund of labor is created
from which experts in technical and
managerial capacities can be recruit
ed. Some factories report a doubling
Of the mems output as result of in
Gustrial training. One shoe. factory
in Brooklyn reports that a number of
apprentices recently taken in at SIS
Per week to learn the work are now,
after three to six weeks of careful
training, earning as high as $40 per
week.
The plan appeals equally to the la
Dor leaders before whom it has been
laid and who have seen it tried out. 1t
means that the individual laborer
need no longer enter upon his work
haphazard or feel that he has no op-
pOrtunity for escape or advancement
from his own particular task. By this
system of training men can be put on
that work for which they are best fit
ted and each man benefits by the con-
sciousness of his own individual op-
portunity for increasing his skill and
improving his condition by an increase
in his earning power.
The Office of the assistant of the
secretary of war is now in communi-
cation with some of the leading indus
trial and manufacturing concerns in
the United States and urges all man
ufacturers who wish to learn further
about this plan to communicate di-
rectly to $50 Madison avenue, the
New York Office.