Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 201, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 September 1917 — WOMEN MAKE START IN RAILROAD WORK [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

WOMEN MAKE START IN RAILROAD WORK

Women have made a splendid’start in various branches of railroad work, to make up war-time deficiencies of men, according to reports of the New York Central railroad, whose president, Alfred H. Smith, has ordered the employment and training of feminine workers wherever possible injalL departments. of 30 women, under direction of a woman bookkeeper, is employed by the New York Central at Collinwood, 0., in sorting 3,000 tons of scrap, nuts, steel plates, spikes, bolts, brake shoes—practically every part of a superannuated engine <y a broken-down car. These women examine and sort every piece of scrap; they de the work as well as men and appear to like it. Training of Women. A. T. Hardin, senior'vice president tn charge of operation of the New York Central, who promulgated an order to all officers to “begin the employment and training of women for the various branches of the service which they can perform, beginning at first with the least laborious work,” concerning progress of the movement said: “The first rule we laid down about the increased employment of women, made necessary by the war, was this: The woman who does the same work

as a man will get the same pay as a man. Those women who are sorting scrap get an average of $2.50 a day—just what a man would receive for similar work. “We have increased greatly the number of women employed In our auditing department. We have women in our car department to keep track of the movements of 240,000 cars. They keep a record of where each car goes and what it docs every day. —Wekave put women to work in our purchasing departments. We are training women to sell tickets, to act as watchmen at railroad crossings. In our shops women are learning to run lathes, drills and other small tools, and we expect to employ women as assistants in stations. Can Do Any Work. “There is no work on railroads which a woman cannot do, except the heaviest manual labor requiring great

physical strength. Women could not lay railway ties. They should not b# called upon to do work which would overtax their .strength. 5Ve are not used to the idea of the performance of manual labor by women In this country. We don’t like to see women about railroad work requiring skill or accuracy which women cannot do. We have had one woman watcher at a railroad crossing up the state for the last ten years. “Our present work is centered large ly in the organization and training qf women for employment by the railroads. We cannot tell how long the war will last nor how many men we may lose by the draft. We want to be ready. The women we are training are in -many instances relatives of our employees. They have taken up railroad work eagerly and energetically. Their contribution to the industrial welfare of the countfy will be of tremendous benefit to women. Many women have extraordinary energy and power for constructive work which has never been put to practical use. The war gives them an opportunity to serve their country and themselves. Do Work of Men. “In Europe women have proved their capacity to do the work of men and

American women are demonstrating equal efficiency in every field they have entered. ——— “Sir Robert Borden, premier of Canada, was anti-suffrage and opposed generally to the work of women in the fields pre-empted by men until the war sent men to the front and put women at work in their places. Today Canada is in a better position financially than at the outbreak of the war. And -in a speech recently Sir Robert Borden said: ’Canada owes her salvation to her women.’ “The New York Central has about 85,000 employees, but many of them through the nature of their work are exempt from the draft. Many railroad men have volunteered, however. Two hundred of our finest mechanics have volunteered in engineering regiments which will work on the railways of France. Other railroads have given their best, men.”

DON’T MIND GREASE AND GRIME OF SHOP.