Evening star., 1942-06-28

~ 0OOHk "1SfStsS Hfk HS1HAJ2 VI
atory to employment. 176,SO9; vocational
school supplementary courses, usually
given at night, 173 397; mechanical train
ing on projects Of the National Youth
Administration, 900. and special in
dustrial courses for rural youth under
the United States Office of Education,
$3.50.
Outside industry, through engineering
colleges and vocational and trade schools,
it is estimated that during the last two
years some 3,750000 persons have ac-
Quired tuition for work in war factories.
Training within the plants themselves
has added at least an equal number,
bringing the total to perhaps 7,500000.
Farmers Build Submarines.
Long before the war, many States,
following the admirable lead OF Wis
consin, had developed vocational free
public school systems. With the aid of
Federal subsidies during the last two
years they have made a contribution to
the job Of winning the war far beyond
tlIcu dCludl resources.
Without trained mechanics afforded by
Maryland's vocational schools, Glenn L.
Martin has acknowledged. his great
bomber plant near Baltimore would have
been impracticable. From them was
drawn the factory's indispensable nu-
cleus of expert artisans, and of foremen
and supervisors. Here, as in many
similar instances, the State supplied
school quarters and teaching staffs, while
the Glenn L. Martin Co. provided tools
for class instruction.
When the Navy gambled that fleet
type submarines could be built on the
Great Lakes. more than 1000 miles from
salt water, and chose for the experiment
the Manitowoc Shipbuilding Co., at
Manitowoc, Wis, it was known that gen.
eral labor would have to be drawn from
agricultural workers who are known in
that commonwealth as "cheese-makers"
and Cherry -pickers" Most of them had
never beheld submersible, and a large
proportion still milk their cows in the
morning before plunging into the firms
labyrinth of machine tools.
Apprentices Still Trained.
With such working force, the COM
pany launched its first submarine 26
months after the keel was laid, instead
Of IS months as the contract allowed,
and thereby set an American record for
speed in the construction of long grange
undersea boats. That the gamble not
only was won, but the Manitowoc ship
yard became pacemaker for the coun-
trys three other submarine builders, is
freely ascribed by company officers to
Wisconsin's vocational high schools,
which supplied its invaluable corp Of
shop executives and skilled mechanics.
The old apprentice system of four
years training to yield expert artisans
still nourishes in some plants-notably
the Electric Boat Co. of Groton, Conn,
which also builds fleet-type submarines
side by side with "quickie" courses for
emergency employees. The war has
largely broken down the familiar union
policy of restricting the number of
apprentices in an effort to maintain price
levels for labor.
Training of semi-skilled workers for
the operation Of the assembly lines
typical single-purpose machines has
taken two forms. One is typified by the
st. Louis Ordnance Plant, which set up
special classes simultaneously with the
erection of it's factories, so that both
were ready at the same time The gen.
hoc fa fc
for attending courses, with the cost
betrayed through Federal funds.
Experts Become Instructors.
In existing factories under conversion
to war production, and in new ones
after completion. the in-plant system
for training emergency workers has
spread like wildfire, and is bound to
supplant all others for this purpose. In
many factories the touring correspond
ents found two men posted at a single
machine. One was an experienced
machinist and the other was helper, or
pupil.
Sometimes the veteran was in charge
of a battery of machines manned by
newcomers. At one plant in the East
it was found that expert makers of
military instruments were no longer
making instruments. They had all be-
come instructors, and the actual work
was being done by novices.
In-plant training also provides facil-
tiles for advancement. Through process
known as "upgrading," promising stu
dents earn promotion after their basic
instruction is completed. A good
machinist may be converted into tool
maker, aud . bright machine operator
may leata to run lathe o. milling