Evening star., 1944-10-29
Postwar Plans
Aircraft Workers Have
Dual.Job Program
Bv Trndi NcCuLOuqh

BY Trndi McCnlioush
WICHITA, Kans.-Some hundreds of
war workers at the Boeing plant in
Wichita-where Super Fortresses are
built-have an answer for the bugaboo
of what to do after the arsenals of
democracy slow down.
Already they are, quite literally, beat
ing swords into plowshares Holding
full-time jobs as skilled workmen at
Boeing, they have bought or rented
farms and work them on their own time.
Many were farmers before they became
war workers; others are making their
first venture in agriculture.
The chief reason for that venture, as
one of them put it, is: I'm looking
past the war. I want to keep on work.
ing at Boeing, but I can't see myself
depending altogether on an industrial
job"
Want to Reverse Proportion.
Agrarian aircraftsmen, they still want
to hold both jobs after the war, but
they want to reverse the proportion OF
time spent on each. In peacetime, most
would like to work a maximum of two
or three days at Boeing, the rest on
the farm
It's not a get-rich-quick" idea, but
an insurance policy for continued eco
nomic security. The Boeing job is a
balance wheel between good years and
bad years. It's the payment on tractor
note that might otherwise not have been
met. It's the additional income that
will graduate Johnny from agricultural
college. It's the new electric range and
the improved cream separator.
Most of the farm units are small. For
the present-so that farming will COM
plement rather than conflict with the
job of building airplanes-most men
concentrate on dairying (Which does not
have seasonal labor problem), growing
small grains and producing beef.
Roy Burris, a skilled instrument
technician by day and farmer of 160
acres by night, milks his COWS long after
sundown, as he tunes in on the news
casts on his cowbarn radio. He fire.
quently works in the field until near
midnight with the aid of powerful lights
on his tractor
Works at Night, Farms by Day.
w. A. Schwartz, a skilled sheet metal
mechanic now, had been a farmer all
his life except for four years in the
last war
Today in addition to his Boeing job,
he farms twice as much land as before.
He has rented some adjoining acres,
which he works with the aid of his two
sons not yet of military age Che has an
other son in the Navy.
Schwartz's shift at the plant is 4:35
pm. to $3.50 am. Since daylight hours
are preciouns to him, he uses the most
modern machinery to speed his harvest
ing. One hundred and forty of his 400
acres are in small grain. He cuts feed
for neighbor as we'll as himself. In
the fall the neighbor, in turn, helps him
shuck corn.
A harvesting leave is granted by
Boeing to all its agrarian aircraftsmen
during the necessary season. The rest
of the time Schwartz's sons work in the
fields while he does such barnyard
chores as feed grinding and sacking and
repairing machinery. He has dozen
milk cows and the same number of
calves and beef cattle.
Sure it's hard work. says Harry Hat
field another agrarian aircraftsman,
but it fits into my plans" Hatfelds
farm unit is 100 acres. Virgil Dickinson
has quarter section of land, but, where
he only had 10 head of cattle before the
war, he now has 60.
Two-Way Benefit.
This double production job Sights
neither manufacturer nor farmer. Boe-
ing, which solicited farm labor when
expansion left it without skilled work.
er surplus, found the farmer brought
special skills with him. These farmers
who had repaired combines with bit
of baling wire, patched harnesses, torn
down and rebuilt tractors, fixed wind
mills and hung barn doors-grasped
tools like old friends. They knew how to
use their hands and they had initiative.
In return, the farmer takes from the
plant sense of how to utilize his time
properly. He learns the need for good
equipment and the necessity of proper
care for it. He learns planning.
Such planner is H. j. (Bud) Haley,
who began at Boeing Is years ago. After
seven years Haley decided to mold a
small farm unit around his regular job.
His thought was to provide good home
for his wife and three small children.
He started in 1887 with five acres
One of the first things he did was build
small welding and repair shop where
he could care for his own equipment
and that of his neighbors. He gradually
has added to his farm unit, now has 1870
acres, with more than 100 acres in cul-
tivation, comfortable home, grade-A
milkhouse and modern barn and new
140-ton silo.
It's rugged life now for these men,
1t takes organization to sandwich their
farm chores into their busy schedule
Distributed BY Associated Press.)