SHARING A COMMON TASK—DILUTION—HEROISM IN THE WORKSHOP In a period of titanic events it is difficult to characterize a single group of happenings as of special significance, yet at the end of the war it is likely that Great Britain will look back to the transformation of her home industries for war purposes as one of the greatest feats she has ever accomplished. The arousing of a nation to fight to the death for the principle of Liberty is doubtless one of the most stirring of spectacles in the

THE QUINTESSENCE OF THE WORK—THE INSTRUCTIONAL FACTORY—FIRST STEPS IN INDUSTRIAL LIFE When, in answer to the demand for shells and more shells, factories were built, or adapted to the requirements of war, it was soon found that a supply of suitable labour must be ensured, if the maximum output was to be maintained. The existing practice of the engineering shops, by which a boy arrived by gradual steps, counted in years, from apprenticeship to the work of a skilled operator, was obviously impossi

SHELLS AND SHELL CASES—IN THE FUSE SHOP—CARTRIDGES AND BULLETS Arrived in the munitions factory, the new-comer, whether from a Government Training Centre, or from another occupation, is given two or three weeks’ trial on the task she has come to undertake. Only a very small proportion of the women offering their services—one experienced manager puts it at 5 per cent.—are found unsuitable, and these are discharged during the probationary period. Except in the case of those who have received a pre

THE MAKING OF AIRCRAFT—OPTICAL INSTRUMENTS—IN THE SHIPYARDS The Making of Aircraft The production of aircraft, undertaken in this country on a large scale only since the outbreak of the war, has fallen more naturally into the hands of women. The work is for the most part light, and the new factories, often erected in open country, are bright, airy, and largely free from the noise of machinery. Added to these special attractions to the woman worker, there is apparently a distinct appeal to the yo

WELFARE SUPERVISION—PROTECTIVE CLOTHING—REST-ROOMS AND FIRST AID—WOMEN POLICE The problems arising from the sudden employment of thousands of women in the factories have obviously been connected not only with the technical training of the workers and with the adaptation of machinery to their physical strength. Something had to be done, and that without delay, to ensure the comfort and safety in the workshops of these new-comers to industrial life. In the first great rush for an increased munitio

RECREATION—MOTHERHOOD—THE FACTORY NURSERY Recreation The gift in the early days of munitions development of several thousands of pounds from an Indian prince, the Maharajah of Gwalior, for the benefit of munitions employees, helped to focus attention from the outset on their needful recreation. The necessity for a maximum output, bringing in its train long shifts, overtime, and a minimum of holidays, at first left scant leisure at the munition girl’s disposal, yet it was at once apparent that so

GENERAL PRINCIPLES—THE WORKER’S OASIS Money hardly counts; it is labour we have to consider nowadays’, recently remarked the managing director of a large munitions works. It is this new conception that has given impetus to the development of the industrial canteen, now a feature of the munitions factory. In the opinion of Mr. John Hodge, M.P., Minister of Pensions, who since the war has acted for a long period as Minister of Labour, canteens in the engineering shops were ‘necessary from the star

BILLETING—TEMPORARY ACCOMMODATION—PERMANENT ACCOMMODATION Of the indirect problems arising from a prolific output of munitions the most acute has undoubtedly been the affair of the housing of the workers. The opening of a new factory, or the conversion of existing works to the needs of the State, often involve the transference of thousands of workers, and in some cases the districts to which the stream of immigration is directed are already congested, and already suffering from inadequate housin