The Washington herald., 1919-01-02
SPEEDED WORK
OF SH|PYARDS
DR.. Charles A. Eaton Per-
formed Notable War Serv-
ice, Says Holland.

ice was dtsDanded, anu one Ol Nho
most remarkable of the achieve
ments in aid of the government In
dustry was then terminated. DR..
Charles A. Eaton, who has been in
charge OF this service, will return
to his pulpit in this city. the church
having given to him a leave Of alb
sence so that he might be able to
direct this important service which,
in fact. he originated. DR.. Eaton
may again within two or three
months ask for and receive leave
Of absence, for it is presumed that
he will again be called by the gov
ernment as a leader in an important
service now under contemplation.
The Shipping Board of the United
States and the Emergency Fleet
Corporation. which is the legal body
empowered to enter into contracts
and to make payments, were con-
fronted shortly after we entered the
war with the necessity of greatly
increasing the output Of ships and
also the manufacture Of equipment
of all kinds to be installed in the
ships after they were launched and
upon the water. Rapidly the gov
ernment became a great shipbuilder
and industries necessary to furnish
equipment were expanded so that at
last they reached a point which a
year before we entered the war
would have been deemed impossible
to attain.
Perfect Organization.
Dr. Eaton's plan included personal
visits by himself and by others to all
OF the shipbuilding plants. He per-
fected an organization in a short
time. He himself went to the Pacific
Coast and visited every shipyard,
where he was faced by great num-
bers of shipbuilding workers, to
whom he spoke in words OF enCour-
sxement, appealing to their loyalty,
to their sense Of honor. and showing
them why their service was, in its
way. fully as important, II we were
to win the war. as was that Of the
soldiers at the front. Later DR.. Eaton
visited every shipbuilding plant in the
United States His itinerary extend
ed from the Pacific Coast to the Gulf
OF Mexico. to the Atlantic coast. even
to the shipbuilding plant in Maine.
He also visited the shipbuiIding
plants upon the Great Lakes.
The actresses which Dr. Eaton made
have been spoken of by the Secretary
OF the Navy. Josephus Daniels, by
Charles NJ Schwab and by shipbuild-
ers as well as industrial leaders as
having been of great value. They
have inspired the skilled artisans
with a zeal and have inculcated in
them a due sense of the important
relation which their service bore to
the success of the war.
Among those whom DR.. Eaton
selected to assist him in this work
was F. F. Soaring, well known as
a speaker, familiar with iron and
other industries. and occupied for
some years in the development OF
American industries in Mexico.
After thorough investigation it was
learned that the so-CaIIed Ohio dis
trict and especially the cities IF
Cincinnati, Toledo and Cleveland
and Youngstown were filled to the
orim, so to speak. with orders for
the construction Of equipment which
was to be placed upon the new ships.
The district also included Pitts
burgh and a part Of West Virginia
New England also, especially
Hartford. Springfield and Bridge
port, were Centers OF great indus
trial activity in cooperation with
the shipbuilding program. On
July Is Mr.. Soaring organized the
ohio district and upon his return
to this city a day or two ago at
the conclusion of his service in that
district he spoke of the Ohio dis
trict as on the whole the true in
dustrial leader in the United States
in the manufacture of certain kind
OF commodities. Between July Is
and December l., 1.T79 meetings
were held in the Ohio district and
the total number of skilled artisans
who listened to Mr.. Soaring and TO
others in that district was l.136,5Sf
ON an average 345 meetings We're
held each month. the average at
tendance was $50. in some cases
especially in Cincinnati and Toledo,
where skilled artisans of the high
est ability were employed. as many
as 1000 or 5000 artisans attended a
single meeting.
1000 Meetings Held.
The results of this service were
speedily made apparent in the Ohio
district Greater efficiency, a higher
speed Of production and the perfected
quality Of the products were, in part,
due to the inspiration to the work
man, which these meetings caused.
The Ohio district was only one Of
several into which DR.. Eaton divided
the United States. The total number
of meetings held, usually at the noon
hour. in all the plants, including ship
yards and industrial plants. was near
ly seven thousand in FIVE months.
The total number of skilled artisans
and laborers who listened in all cases
attenttvely and many times with en-
thusiasm, was approximately seven
million. Every man who labors with
his hands in the shipyards or in the
industrial plants was at one time or
another listener to these addresses
Dr. Eaton has received several hun
dred communications from Industrial
leaders, all OF which speak in the
highest terms Of praise and gratifiCa-
ton for the remarkable influence
which was exerted by these meetings
upon the workingmen. Now the need
for service Of this kind Is ended.
Therefore the organizations created by
DR.. Eaton. which was sponsored nv
the Secretary of the Navy, Mr.. DAN
iels, Is to be disbanded. 1t should
De said perhaps that of all these many
hundred thousand skilled artisans at
least 20 per cent were either not
familiar with or only partially IA
niliar with the kind of work which
they were expected to do when thev
entered the service of the govern
ment- "HOTJAND