Evening star., 1943-01-10
BY LISBETH SOLLING.


District and vicinity toll as ord
nance workers in the Washington
Navy Yard fabricating the gears,
fuses, turrets. guns and shell cas-
ings which Uncle Sam will use to
blast the Axis off the earth.
These women come from beauty
shops, dry cleaning stores, laun-
dries, farms and kitchens. They
come to help their country in war
They shed pretty dresses, jeWelry
and high-heeled shoes to don slacks,
canvas aprons, oxfords and ker-
chiefs. Then they buckle down to
the exacting job of operating pre-
cision machines. They range from
18-year old girls to white-haired
grandmothers.
Says one top-ranking Navy Yard
Official:
These women are doing a grand
job to win the war and win it as
quickly as possible. They step into
mems places at the machines and
keep them turning without a stop
as the men 60 off to the fighting
fronts. Today women workers at
the Washington Navy Yard pro-
duce an ever-groWing flow OF ord
nance materiel"
6 skrecy shrbuds vHard. z
scrappy Marine Corps guards
watch all entrances to the huge
Navy Yard situated near Anacostia
Bridge. Even Navy officers in uni
form are challenged. Commercial
van drivers are met at the gates,
where guards climb aboard and
escort them into the yard. The
Navy Yard Is "hush-hush" estab-
lishment shrouded from the civilian
world in utmost secrecy. When the
press was admitted last week to
watch women forge the weapons
of war, it was for the first time in
years.
Thousands of persons work there
today New brick buildings being
erected to the west will make the
yard mile long. Locomotives
sputter on railroad tracks along
streets Uttered with finished bat
tie grey ordnance materiel. Trucks
and inter- office station wagons jolt
over bumpy roadbeds.
Enlistments and inductions into
the armed forces have carved away
quite bit Of manpower. During
the last year the yard took In 1900
women, and Of these 1863 were lost
because of unsuitability, family
transfers or the Districts lack Of
day nurseries Most future replace
ments of manpower will be made
with women as soon as they are
trained.
Women in Three Ranks.
Women in the shops are divided
into three ranks: Ordnance work.
ers, operatives and precision opera
tives. Each rank is in turn di-
vided into three strata. The lowest
wage for women is 81 cents an hour,
which Is the starting level, and the
highest Is S108 for topnotch pre-
cision operatives. Most women work
seven days week because the
Navy needs to keep production
going day and night without stop.
One housewife who came to the
shop in May and moved up rapidly,
averages $44.16 on her seven-day
schedule with time and a half for
Saturdays and Sundays. She re-
ceives the top rate of SO cents an
hour for ordnance workers. It takes
six months to become a skilled
operative with wages ranging from
S6 to $6.96 day. After two years
they are eligible for rating as pre-
cision ordnance worker with wages
ranging from $768 to 1854 a day.
The women handling explosives re-
ceive 6 cents an hour premium pay.
Entrance qualifications make mild
demands. Workers may be foreign
| born, but must be naturalized
citizens. They may be from 18 to
30 years OF age. Those over so
years are acceptable, but are care
fully scrutinized before being hired.
There Is a one-eyed woman worker
and another lacks three fingers on
one hand. High school education
IS desirable but not essential,
Women should be steady and re-
liable, possess adaptability and ini-
tiative. All employees are thoroughly
investigated before being hired.
Ideal Employe Described.
The ideal woman employe is de-
scribed by Capt. j. R. Palmer,
production officer, as follows:
"She is between Is and IS years
Of age, single and without loca
family connections. She is a per.
son who has to work for a living anc
is endowed with a natural me.
chanical bent and high degree o1
adaptability. In her work-a-day
relationship with men in the shop,
she is not as a woman to men, but
q fellow-worker. In other words
she does not expect the small gallan.
tries man shows . woman In social
relationships"
High morale Is conspicuous among