Browning chief. [volume] (Browning, Mont.) 1941-1953, 1945-02-16


looking for factory operatives turned
to women.
The factories, located with a view
to available power and future mar
keting, soon developed communities,
and these attracted other workers
in various lines of activity. AS towns
grew in size, many of the older
household occupations became i'm
possible.
The entrance of women into wage
earning occupations was tremen-
dously speeded up by the Civil war
and World War I. OF the role wom-
en- played during the first World
war, we have dramatic picture.
The war itself wrenched the whole
industrial machine. In the quick
shift from peace to war, women
as well as men were rapidly alb
sorbed by the iron and steel mills,
metal factories and foundries; they
were practically drafted to make
munitions and other war supplies.
Aerial warfare created new indus
try, in which women were indispen-
sable, and it expanded the indus
tries that made the material neces-
sary for aircraft manufacture.
Meanwhile the army of 100000
men had to be fed and clothed, and
in addition the nations industries
had to continue to supply the needs
of the people at home.
There are striking parallels be-
tween the first World war and the
present one in regard to women
workers. In steadily increasing
numbers, then as now, women en-
tered fields which had been regard
ed as mems exclusive PROVINCIAL
though thousands of women carried
on in additionally feminine food and
fabric industries. Experienced wom-
en- who were already in manufac-
turing in 1917 were utilized largely
for munitions making. They helped
to train new groups formerly other
wise employed, such as school teach
ers, who joined their ranks, as well
as the large numbers of inexperi-
enced women never before in the
labor force. Growing numbers of
women were hired in such indus
tries as iron, steel, lumber, trans
portation equipment, chemicals,
metal and metal products and 9TH
erS.
The Women's Bureau had record
ed World War I experience in the
use of women labor, so it was nat
ural that the bureau should be rec
ognized as the official agency for
all matters relating to women's en-
ployment in the present war eff
fort. On March Is, 1941, the Un-
dersecretary of War indicated that
he would take measures to see that
the War department take up all
matters of concern to women work.
ers with the Women's Bureau, and
there has been close cooperation since
that date. Cooperative relationships
have been established with the Navy
Department, with other Government
departments, and with state organ
izations and war contractors.
Can Do Any Job If Trained.
The peacetime work women were
doing on punch presses, drilling ma
chimes, milling machines, lathes,
grinders, and polishers, as well as
their high record of achievement in
inspection, assembly, filing and other
bench work in metal and electrical
industries was well known to the
bureau. The extent to which these
developed skills would be. useful to
war-implemented industries was
easily demonstrated. In the last
war women had proved themselves
able in an emergency to make good
on any job if adequately trained.
The transfer of vast numbers OF
agricultural workers to the war in
dustries, as well as the rapid induc-
ton of others into the armed forces,
resulted in a growing demand for
the employment of women in agri-