The L'Anse sentinel., 1921-06-24
Month After Armistice Army of
$4,000 Employees Was
Reduced to 10000.
TAKE UP PURSUITS OF PEACE
Nowhere Else, In a self-Contsined
Works, Has the Process Of Turn
ing Swords Into Plowshares
Been on So Vast Scale.

A feature Of Krupps works at Es-
Walter Meakin, writing in the London
Daily News, Is the scropping of the
huge extra equipment required for
Hindenburg's munition program, which
raised the number of employees from
$1,000 to 115,000.
The whole Of the works, with no less
than 500 acres, or nearly square mile
OF covered floor space, was concentrate
ed entirely on production for the war.
when, at the signing of the armistice,
the vast organization of labor for de-
structive purposes suddenly collapsed.
The social portents in the Ruhr were
sinister. Revolution was In the blood
OF the workers, and no one could fore
cast the development of the upheaval.
Pasriy as precautionary measure.
partly to hurry on the task of adapt
inf the works to new conditions, the
stan was reduced to the $4,000 prewar
strength within a month Of the ar
mistice. The additional workers. in
GLIDING all the women, were paid four
weeks wages and sent to their homes
throughout Germany.
The position at this time was ex-
planned by one of the chief officials.
ALTHOUGH before the war;" he said.
we manufactured other things, rail
way and shipping material, motor car
parts, high-grade tool steels and so on.
the production of guns, munitions and
war vessels was the mainstay of the
works. All that was irrevocably end
ed"
In the intervening two years the
task of converting the arsenal to peace
production has proceeded increasingly,
and still goes on. Nowhere else, In q
self-contained works. has the process
OF turning swords into plowshares been
carried out on so vast scale.
Titanic Transformation Spectacle.
Under the supervision OF the allied
control commission the whole Of the
new shell and gun equipment in the
mammoth buildings of the Hindenburg
program has been made useless and
thrown to the scrap heap. The most
complete and spectacular traRsforma-
ton has taken place in one of these
buildings. Within twelve months II
was re.equipped with machinery for
the mass production Of locomotive
goods and engines for the state rail-
ways.
From a balcony one looks down i'm
mense avenues of roaring machinery.
and the whole scene, with hundreds
of workmen busy at forge or lathe, or
crowded about the assembling stands.
Is one Of titanic enterprise. From the
bays on the side come the plates and
other heavy parts. From the other
side flows stream of machined parts,
and In wide central bay they come
together at thirty-five assembling
stands.
/, The normal rate of production with
each engine and tender on the stand
for nineteen days, would give, roughly.
daily output of one completed engine.
but while the artisans are underfed
and domestic troubles foster political
discomfort normal work is impossible.
Nevertheless this engine shop present
ed the most impressive picture Of in
dustrial activity seen In Germany.
Make Costly Experiments.
In the famous cannon halls of pre-
vious years and in other parts of the
works elaborate and costly experiments
in the manufacture Of textile and agri-
cultural machinery, tractors and motor
vehicles are being carried out. IN the
belief that the home market, which has
been almost monopolized by America
in the past, can be supplied by mass
production methods.
This intense reorganization effort Is