Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1919-12-15
PRAISE WOMEN
FOR WAR WORK
Manufacturers Declare They
Were Big Help i'll Mills
During the Crisis

New York, Dec. ia survey
showing what the war has done for
women in industry, probably the
most comprehensive study of condi-
tions affecting women in industry
vet made is to be one of the final
contributions of the War Work
Council of the Young Womens
Christian Association to women in
dustrial workers.
This survey embraces reports from
nearly 5000 firms employing ap-
proximately two and one-half mil
lion people. coe-fifth of them wo-
men, and all of whom were enSas-
ed in what were termed as lndus-
tries essential to war-Varylng from
soda fountain apparatus and chlcheh
feed to the making of guns and mu-
nitions.
In all, % groups of industries,
each group made up of as many as
21 branches were investigated in the
compiling of this report. THESE ~
groups of industries include such
divisions as the iron and steel IN
dustries, having % branches, one
of them firearms and ammunitlons,
chemical and allied products; one
of the 10 branches of this industry
being explosives: metals other than
iron and steel Q5 branchss(;
lumber and timber products (lo
branches); electrical machinery, ap-
paratus and supplies; aeroplanes
and seaplanes; automobiles and
parts; rubber goods; sporting goods;
mems furnishings including branches
for the manufacturing of such
necessary things as belts and but
tons; textiles including everything
from balloon and parachute silk to
shoe and clothing industries of all
kinds; a miscellaneous group which
takes in mattresses and spring beds
soda fountain apparatus, chicken
feed and a long list of products
necessary to the furnishing, equip
ping and maintenance of an army.
Manufacturers, on the whole view
this scattering of women in industry
favorably.
Carried Two Boards
A prominent lumber merchant in
n southern state was forced by the
war to employ women in his yards.
lie is much in favor of keeping them
in the industry as he says that the
women carry two boards if they can
whereas no man who ever worked in
the yard would carry more than one
regardless of size and weight.
A furniture manufacturer who
was filling Government contracts
wrote in answer to this request for
material to be used in the Y. w. c.
A. report, I'VE feel that women
saved the day for us as they must
also have done in hundreds OF other
industries; so you can understand
n fool
most grateful to them" This man
employed women in all department
CT his factory, handling machines,
at cabinet making, finishing, up
holstering and trimming furniture.
The president of large recording
and computing machines company,
manufacturers of cameras, pro-
jectors, films, magnetos and such
things, says There is no depart
ment in which light machinery is
used where women cannot be train
ed to do the same work that men
have been doing and to do the work
better and get out greater produc-
tion. Success depends upon how
women are trained just as with men.
Half of our employees are women, all
of whom have been selected for their
work"
Will Keep Them on job
Women are very adaptable and
satisfactory as workers in one of
the largest electrical companies in
the United States, according to the
president, wherever the work is
suitable, he says, their output is
greater and that in electrical
manufacturing concerns the num-
Der of girls and women employed
is limited only by the supply.
One-fourth of the workers in one
of the largest plants of that COM
pany are women who receive the
same pay as men for equivalent
work and who, in practically all
cases, earn more than men on piece
work. This concern has special
training rooms for it's workers and
has employed women on 900 new
operations during the war period.
I'VE are also frank to say that
had we not been able to secure the
services of the women employed
by us during the war we would
have been unable to operate at all
or our operations would have been
seriously curtailed," states another
big manufacturer who announced
that women are to be retained in
his factory.