Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1919-01-27
DIVISION USED
1926 WOMEN TO
REPLACE MALES
More to Be Employed Than
During Pre-War Times;
Some to Go

The middle division of the Penn
sylvania Railroad, had a total of
1926 women in its service on jan
uary /, reports just issued by off,
cials tell These figures are believed
to represent what will stand as the
high water mark on the division
for the emergency created by the
war. Few women had either been
added or removed for more than a
month previous to that time. and no
more are now being employed.
OF the total number of women
employed on the division, the
Various offices and shops of the AL
toona shop departments had 629
women employed on January l..
This included 4S5 clerks and typists,
forty-tive storehouse employees, fifty
nine laborers, thirty-one messengers
four mattresses, three tinsmith
helpers and two upholsterers.
The remainder of the middle
division has S97 female workers,
divided as follows: Clerks and
office girls, SOS; storehouse attend
ants, go; car cleaners, AZ: mes
sengers, 10; crossing watchwomen,
q; mattresses, 81; shop laborers,
"a; maintenance of way laborers,
23; sweepers, 13; matrons. g.;
printing machine operators, s.: tie
phone operators, "a.
Not Good Track Workers
The number of maintenance of
way laborers has been steadily de
creasing from month to month, as
none have been employed for sew
eral months and as a rule those who
were thus employed did not remain
at the work very long. Some negro
women have stuck to this work bet
ter than the white women. Rail-
road men generally agree that this is
no work for women, no matter how
willing they may be for the emplov-
ment. There is much of the worl, in
inns connection which is too heavy,
Ior q woman; about the most that
can be expected of them is to clean
up around the tracks. In the other
positions they have usually gotten
along very we'll
since the signing of the armistice
OH november IL, very few women
nav oeen employed by the company.
iiune PROBABLY in laboring capacity.
MhIe e on the other hand, there has
oNSt Ns'SS III lHe mum Der. n l.
thouSh no general orders have been
ISSUED for their discharge; thew have
oeeh cropped in cases by the opera
tlon OF the seniority rule. The re-
turning men from the front and the
various army camps. most of whom
go pack to railroading, will make
1t necessary to displace the women
under this rule.
retain More Than nafo,o
Nhlle the number of women on,
ployed on the division will drop now
that the supply of male labor is he
coming larger, it is a certainty that
more women than formerly will find
places on the payroll of the division
some of the women have made
themselves so efficient that the
heads of departments are exceedin {,
ioath to part with. them, and man1
OF them will be retained. Then The
general adoption of the eieht-bour
oay VIII do much in finding positions
Tor others. When the war began
the twelYe-hour day was in vogue to
large extent, but since then
s1orter days have been granted
wore employees have been made noe
essary and with the women trained
IN much of the work for which addi-
tlonal employees must be secured, II
Is sure that some of them will he
| retained. "'h NC