The Waterbury Democrat., 1943-10-20
Manpower! Womanpower!

NdNPOWcr! WOmanpoWef!
 The balancing of manpower with mili- tary, war production, farm, civilian and necessary family needs and conditions has not been accomplished under Govern ment controls The Baruch-H Hancock report contains a particularly interest ing observation to the effect that we can- not get enough of everything and there is nothing to spare. Chairman May of the House Military Affairs Committee has suggested that draft inductionS be cut down until we get the home front ad- luSted to the war front" But the Baruch- Hancock explanation is that the West Coast manpower difficulties developed from the placing of contracts without regard to the regions labor supply and the problems involved in perSuading peo- pie to cross the Rockies to take West Coast jobs
 UnqueStionably, important factors are put of balance. First, there is always a demand for more efficient war produc- tion - and no matter how efficient it may become there is continual cry for more and more". Second, curtailment or some phases of war production are always met with protests that there must be no let-doWn in that direction. In short, fix it some other way" Third, demands for restriction in the manufacture of non- essential goods-despite the fact that the Storekeepers that sell necessities and fixin's for fans, radios, coasters, refrigera- tors, typewriters, tables, chairs, ordinary foods, etc, shake their heads and tell you they "don't know when they will have them again"
 Estimated United States population shows almost equal numbers of males and females about 67 million of each. Short age of manpower discussion usually gives Scant notice of the part womanpower is adding to production. The majorities of workers in some airplane factories and many other industries usually are women. If the men in military uniforms were all taken out of Washington your Capital City would show the greatest massing of womanpower in history Even though it may never have been printed the fact is that more soldiers, sailors and officers in Washington are helping wash the family dishes than at any time since Sergeant Molly Pitcher took over her dead husbands cannon in George Wash ingtonS war. The wives of most men in the Service spend their working hours not in their homes, but at office desks and all forms of employment Servants and house maids are also doing service for their country, because next to manpoWer our womanpower has become the great est force in this global war. Long ago Alexander Pope asked the question: "Who shall decide when doctors disagree, and soundest casuists doubt, like you and me?"
 It is fair to assume that the women and girls who are the womanpoWer of rationing, WACSing, Waving, the Red Cross, nursing, and taking manpoWer jobs by the millions are answering the question of the heads of our Government and military "doctors-at-war." These doctors seem very slow in finding out that their "doubt" about womanpoWer has been proved - resulting in the eStab- lished fact that equality of the sexes and its operation has been one of the finest demonstrations of the global war. Need less to observe there will be surprising postwar improvements in which the female of the species will continue to be- come a still greater force for good in the progress and affairs of her country.
 Even Washington knowing all this is amazed by what it saw at Back the At tack" the greatest military show ever put on, at the beginning of the Third War Loan Drive. Young women handled mo- torized vehicles with ease, efficiency (and grace) conveying huge quantities of freight and piles of lumber, sweeping away all lingering doubt about their strength and ability to perform hard jobs which heretofore have been regarded as only possible by manpower. And there, a0ain one discovers that WomanpoWer becomes equal to manpower because the motor power produced mechanized power that can be operated by the female, or the male, of the species, with equal eff ciency.