Arizona republican., 1919-04-06
The Woman Worker

SAN FRANCISCO. Cal. April 5-, The art of flying is open to women. mere IS not the slightest reason in the world why airplanes Tn commer- clai and transportation lines. which are certain to be very commonly used Tn the future, should not have women occupying the pilots seat"
 Ihls IS the opinion Of Mrs. Bauricy Hewlett wife of the world famous bnSllsh novelist and herself an air plane pilot as well as a manufacturer or planes.> Mrs. Hewlett, during the war had personal charge of a factory which turned out two planes a day for the British army. She was the first EngllshWoman to win a pilots license. and the second woman in the world to oo so, tTenchWoman having pre- ceded her.
 She IS now in San Francisco enroute 10 New Zealand, where she plans to orSahiZe and manage an airplane fac tory.
 or course, it is out of the question TOT women to do the sort of flying acnieVed by the fighters at the front, : she says. But for that matter few men are able to get that far. As far as the ordinary business of piloting an airplane for ordinary work is con cerned there is absolutely nothing about 1t that a woman cannot master
 was by no means a young girl when l had my first lesson in flying. Yet l did not find it hard to learn. ] found 1t not difficult to avoid ac- cidents. It is matter of surprise l 10 me that America, with its energy and enterprise, has not more than 1 one or two women aviators.
 Moreover, my experience as man. ager of our airplane factory con Vinced me that there is one task which women actually perform better than men-the woodwork involved in build- ing planes, and the handwork of as- sembling and tuning them up.
 At the outset my factory employed men, because they were the only skilled workers to be had The men were toe scarce, and too busy, to be handicap ped with the work of training greer girls, so 1 first learned the work my self, then organized the girls into reg ular classes.
 We lived at the factory and studied airplanes day and night. Girls from al walks of life came to me-daughters of noble families, many daughters O. barristers, lawyers and other profes- sional men; girls out of factories ant stores, and domestic servants. Thei | former occupa ions seemed to have nt ! bearing one way or the other upon theil ability, and the democracy of thei attitude was a delight. Hardly a single girl failed to have a lover brother or friend killed in the war when this would happen, we could tel it by the added energy with which tn girl threw herself into the work o building planes to down Germany.
 Tn an astonishingly short time, tn girls were doing better at the woo' work and assembling than ever the men had done. Girls seem to have natural feeling for woodwork ant handicraft of all sorts. The men dt better with ironwork In the fine ar of adjusting and tuning up the plane and the machinery, the girls wer without peer.
 T think that airpiane manufactur CTS of the future will come to appre ciate this, and will put women on tn wage basis called for by their skill, no their sex.
 we applied to the government fo permission to form a women'S divi sion for service behind the line in as sembling. repairing and taking car of planes, as well as piloting plane for freight and messenger service. Tn government was in no position to tr what seemed a risky experiment. Ye am sure the women would have beel l successful,