Imperial Valley press., 1941-10-19
BY WILLIS THORNTON
\EA Service staff Writer


with long fingers blunt and square
at the ends. eternal black grease
undey the short finsernails. eternal
grease ground into the pores. They
are rough and Scared, but they
are steady. adjusting mlcrometeN or
sejscrcW with a surgeons precision,
They are able. capaOle, dependable
hands.
A hundred thousand pairs of
lust such hands are deity WORK.
ing at the very heart of the Amer
lean defense program, buildin5 the
machines that are beginning to turn
out IN thousands and millions II
necessary the parts which viii u
PIT together in machines OF wa
planes. tanks. ships. Shells, bomb.,
guns.
That's twice as many pairs OF
hand, as were dong that kind If
work a year age. Before the Year
is out there will be IS o. 30 tbou
sand more pairs Of blunt, capable
hands hard at the same work.
The American machine tool work
er IS the best - the world. Tell
Berua. secretary of the National
Machine Toe, Builders Association,
is certain of that There are more
brains behind those capable hands,
more resou: cctulncsS more alE1i-
ton to devise new and better WaTS
more aplr.t-Docau,e the American
tool EvilGer * a trcc man.
SOLID AMERIC Ans
He is that-and hc /, an Ameri
can citizen. The industry two
years ago began to weed ont non
citizens. TO-DAY. every cMplOie Is
either an American natye-born
naturalzed or at least with first
papers.
They arc solid class Of citi-
zcns. with roots III their home
towns; they don't migrate much
Well paid. they usually have solid
place in the community lie.
During the depression, many
were laid off. Most people be-
ncyed that if needed, they could
simply be called back. Bat ii did
1T work that va. Iour machine
tool builder IS a resOurcetul, skill
tui fellow. and many OF them ere
ated Jobs for themsclHe. as re-
pairmen, filling station operators,
and the like When they were
needed back at the plant, they
weren't available.
In the meantime. new apprentices
hadn't been trained n trade
which requires four wears or more
to develop the highest skill Sud
denly came expansion with the
crying need Of the defense pro-
gram The oldest and most highly
skilled were at their benches.
"Waitm4 lists we're small; many
had drifted away from the craft.
NcW men had to be- trained.
So machine tool builders todaJ
are u! tWo distinct age classes one
OF young men Of from 10 to 25
o. men over 10 and UP 10 80; one
Between those groups there are
tcT. l. Is a trade a "hich a
SAILED man can hold ap his end
for Il .ong time however You may
see men Of p steady and keen
eyed. handing comp.c# and cX-
actlnq WorE
MEET THE MACHINISTS
Let PCT acquainted With two
men typical Of thelr age groups
III me machine tool industry.
First. there john DellikS, IS
ycar. old. father Of two growing
children. lifelong resident OF ms
CIV John was born there OF
ml%cd north European stock. dc
has worked at machine tools sire
nc Mas @Iuug man. He IS thor
C4pHIy a5.n Given blueprint, ne
c;.n set 4p hlS own machine iol
an" required operation. and run
il without much direction. without
epollaPe, just now he IS making
final inspections Of series o.
Mr% machines benz created Tor
TIE government araenals.
In d long room, wood block
noorcd. lt by daylighta, hummlng
with sort Of orderly disorder,
slightly hazy with the smoke OF
torges and the almost tangible
smrll OF oil ne works eight hours
a day. TX dIt. i week t'rcau.r
~ Auui. 4. tAr .taui-ld MeeA, ht
ere. luue amt tail Ioi tne eight