Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1940-08-29
Businessmen
Tour Defense
School Projects
Navy Yard Personnel
Officer Praises
Work Being Done

A group OF business and civic
leaders made a personal inspection
tour today to see at first hand what
the District is doing to help provide
skilled workers for defense purposes.
They found skilled and unskilled
workers, many Of whom haven't had
a regular job for years, being trained
for trades that will fit them for jobs
in defense industries. But what i'm
pressed them more than anything
else was the enthusiasm with which
the men tackled their work.
Edmund o. Carl, whose automobile
repair concern already has taken
several who enrolled in the Districts
present six-week training course,
said he thought the program "splen-
did" because it is aiding the men to
rehabilitate themselves.
The tour, conducted by William D.
Wallace, supervisor of the national
defense training program here, and
Paul Edwards, w. P. A. administra-
tor, took the visitors to the Abbott
and Chamberlain Vocational Schools
and Mckinley Tech High School,
where specialized training is being
offered to men from the w. p. A.
rolls and the District Employment
Center.
Comdr. Stuart Approves.
One of those in the group was
Comdr. D. H. Stuart, personnel Of
f1cer of the Navy Yard, who said the
tour convinced him it is a WORTH
while project.
Its helping to raise the morale
of these men," he said. That's
worth almost as much as getting q
job"
Comdr. Stuart said he was inter-
ested in having qualified craftsmen
apply for jobs at the Navy Yard,
and he plans to send civil service
examination blanks to Mr.. Wallace
for distribution to the men.
The group first visited the cleo
trical shop at the Abbott School,
where 81 men, young and middle
aged, are being trained. One work.
er. 22-year old Melvin Russman,
who came from the w. P. A. rolls,
said he already has signed up for
the new training program scheduled
to start Tuesday.
With the present program sched-
uled to end tomorrow, Mr.. Wallace
said, placements already have been
made for dozens of trainees. These
will come out of the machine shops,
the auto mechanics, electrical,
drafting and sheet metal classes.
Requests Are Heavy.
Ofhcials already have so many
requests for the forthcoming course
that they expect all classes TO be
filled opening night. In fact, said
Administrator Edwards, there's a
bigger. demand for the training
than can possibly be handled.
Under the present arrangement so
per cent of the enrollees come from
w. P. A. and the other half from the
Employment Center rolls. Of this
latter group. Is per cent may be fur
nished by the National Youth Adj
ministration.
The w. P. A. workers who take
the training courses receive the
same wages they would get if they
were working on regular w. P. A.
projects.
Twenty workers are finishing up
their training course in the auto
mobile shop at Abbott, and six
placements are expected to be made
from its enrollees. The men, many
of whom furnish their own cars for
use in the shop, receive extra in
struction in all types of automobile
mechanical work.
The Work They Do.
In the acetylene welding shop,
men are being trained as steam
filters and electrical workers. In
learning to use an acetylene torch.
they are welding steel boxes for use
by the Bureau of Standards in send
Ng optical lenses to the Navy Yard
for final grinding.
At Mckinley High School, second
stop on the tour, the visitors watched
other workmen make the dies for the
lenses to be cast at the Bureau of
Standards. Forty-five men are being
trained there in making dies and all
types of tools.
The mechanical drawing class at
Mckinley has an enrolment of so.
Some of the workers are still in their
teens. They receive instruction in
blue printing and drafting
Many of these workers already
are skilled craftsmen, but these
courses enable them to freshen up on
their work and better fit them for
employment in industry" said Mr..