I
I
WASHINGTON, July 1— Hess than a year ago there
were not 15,000 men employed in American shipyards, To
day t! «. re are rot less than 100,000 skilled mechanics and
laborers engaged in building ships, and an additional -50,
000 employed in making the engines, boilers, winches and
other machinei y necessary to equip them.
This tremendous expansion by which the United Sta
tes h >] os to put into service a new merchant marine that
will rival the trading fleet of any nation in the world has
been accomplished in methodcal fashion, without any “fuss
;::ri fe: thors" but achieving a result that industry long
will regard as one of the most brilliant victories of the
v. ar. It has been brought about by the Shipping board
through recognition of the principle that untrained men
c-m become skilled workmen only through competent in
t- net ion. One of the first tasks of the Shipping Board,
there;’ we. was the creation of a Division of Education and
• which has supervised the establishment of train
' ur e mters and the development of instructors among the
’ women and superintendents.
T :ning of various kinds of shipbuilders in the yards
is nc.-e relished by putting the men to work on production
jobs, u ider the supervision of a yard instructor. This yflrri
instvue or has full charge of gangs while they are leam
i:Ti > efficiency of a green gang under training will
. \ e •ace about 80 per cent of finished workmen.
Yard instructors are skilled mechanics trained in the
teach1'. r r et’nod. This training is given in a training cent
er. where the mechanic is given an idea of instructional
management, and how to get the instructions across o':
The first training center was established at Newport
fectively.
New s. To it were sent skilled mechanics, selected from tl e
vards. Thev were given a six weeks course of training,
eight hours a day, During the last part of this course they
roi 'ligedtospend forty eight hours in the actual hand
g gangs t i green men. Yard instructors are drawn
1’ oi l a variety of trades, such as riveters, ship fitters, ship
carpenters, caulkers, etc.
Twenty-two plants have sent men for training instruc.
71 are now in training.
■tors. l!16 of these men have completed their training andj
In addition to the training center estabished in New
port News, there are now several others estabished; at
Hog Island at Chester, Pa., at the Submarine yard at New
ark. N.Y., and at New York city.
So far 13 yards have been put in training depart
meats, One yard instructor can train about 150 men each
year The period of training for a green man varies from
two to eight weeks. One yard has already trained enough
yard instructors in the training centers to turn out weekly
300 skilled mechanics within the yard.
In addition to the training center established in New
the problem of t aking men who are already skilled in alli
ed trades, but have never worked in shipyards, and mak
ing them into shipbuilders. This is called a trade convers
ion course and consists essentially ot determining what
supplementary, work a skilled mechanic from the -allied
trades must have in order to give him the necessary know
ledge to do shipbuilding work. Special instructors are ern
loyed in a number of plants to meet this situation.
By training foremen and managers, the Shipping
Board has been able to develope in a year the building of
wooden ships which had been a long lost art, workmen
in many yards have increased in efficiency more than 25
per cent. “Where we have efficient management we have
efficient workers,” Chairman Hurley declared today.
“You can’t expect to have efficient workmen in an infici
cntly managed shipyard nor can you expect good results.
“Our shipyard workers generally are as fine a body of
men us is ngaged in any industry in this country. They arc
a patroitie, industrious gro'up, and while in many yards
thev are not as efficient ai we woud like them they are
V
learningdaily and are increasing their output. When tr.e
history of our shipbuilding program is written, the Ameri
can workmen, the men who really build the ships, will be
the men deserving of any credit that may be due.”
me
UU5
The ■ llowirg is from the Da;1y * ev. s-Chronic’e of
Port Arthur, Canada
‘Alaska, as i know it today, b, g«>i. a i i become the
most impel tan: territory i longing to tli > United Stav>.
It is a country rich in nriio al and otucr t e. ouices, and the
United States go- merit is now building a lailroad over
400 miles long, simply to g\t coal for the use of the Ameri
r—----—
■MNWBPl W ^0PPB0HK**KV-~«fc"l^M ^1-.. * » «BSOBi 1 »
I Why be satisfied with tl: e wear you
I get from ordinary boots
m hen you get so much more from “1 li-Pressr’’
This is no idle claim, hut a fact proven by miners,
farivtv rs and construction workers from A! tska to
Mexico. ‘ Ui-Press” is made by a new am) better
method—thegreatest advance in footwear in lift/ years.
We use the toughest rubber ever evolved—actually the
same kind that goes into Goodrich Auto Tire a. There
seems to be no wear-out to it. An'd the boot i molded
INTO ONE SOLID i IRC::!
Can't leak or come apart-—uni
it's wonderfully comfortable.
W hen next you h*t the t ’ *:1 trv the
Shupac—shown here. J he V ’ ::e
Hip is best for the rluiccs apd there
are many other so les. Ask for the
footwear with the Red Li."»c ’Round
the Top—that’s “Hi-Press/’
40,000 Dealers
THE H.F BDSDSISH P.liSEER SQHftriY
AKHON
OHIO
YANKEES ABE
ADMIRED BY
THE BRITISH
LONDON, July, 1—(Correspondence
of the Associated Press):- The high
esteem in which England holds the
American soldier and sailors is refleetd
paper devices a long article to Amer
ican qualities as exhibited by Fireman
M-, champion light heavywei
ght boxer, of the F.S. Navy. The writ
er watched him in a contest with the
champion of the Pritisli Grand Fleet
‘.One is forcibly reminded," he says,
‘‘how exccdingly impolite we are onthe
surface - and how thoroughly goodnat
ured. The ltter quality was responsible
for the applause which greeted the
appearance of the American applause
far louder than that accorded to our
own champion.
“It swelled to a great roar as he
sprang up on tlv* stage where the ling
was fixed. It is not the custom in the
British Navy for even a popular fav
oiite to acknowledge the cheers which
greet him. The correct procedure is
for him to dive quickly into h.is corner
where his seconds immediately sur
round him and hide him fro view.
“Not so the American. He merely
did what he was accustomed to do at
home paused, a solitary figure in a
well-crn dressing gown, and bowed not
as an hotel manager or a shopwalker
bows, but with little shop bows which
were quite delightful to those of us
who knew something of his battling
reputation.
“The American ui(i not win; he
fought a magnificent, clean fight, and
was beaten on points. But it was good
to see the real pleasure with which he
congratulated the better man”.
r
| can navy, said 15. A. Bengston, Duffenn street, wno re
turned yesterday..moming from the great northland.
where he has spent the past three years.
“1 left Port Arthur three years ago this June and have
been a contractor to the United States government in
building the railroad I speak of," said he, ‘‘hut I feel that
in these times my place is nearer home, and the grip of the
north left me, when I started for Port Arthur on the 10th
of last month. The railroad I have been speaking about
I runs from Seward to Fairbanks, a distance of some 400
miles, but when the whole railroad system is completed
approximately 1,000 miles of wild Alaskan lands will he
; served by this road. The government has purchased the
Alaska Northern, paying $1,500,000, and that road runs
from Seward a distance of seventy-one miles. That part
| of the road has been rebuilt, the big bridges razed, and r.
j splendid roadbed has taken the place, in the meantime
the road has been started from Anchorage at the coal
mines, and they are working hard to connect up as soon as
possible.
LARGE SUMS EXPENDED
“Seward is the headquarters of all this work. Here
the government lias expended large sums of money in
building wharves, round houses,yards, etc. The town it
I self is a beautiful place, lying in a valley surrounded by
hills and glaciers. Splendid deep water harbor facilities
are afforded. In fact, you will know what I mean when I
■say that the biggest battleship of the U. S. navy has been
| in the harbor. There is considerable gold and placer min
ing around the town, which has a population of about 1,200
the same having increased since the railroad comeneed op
erations. It has a number of buildings and hotels, although
the whole country went dry on January 1. The old time
Alaskan lawless people are law-abiding and eager in every
1 way to help Uncle Sam win the war. In most of the tow ns
during the recent bond issue, every home displayed a ser
vice flag, denoting a bond purchase. The ladies are enthu*
iastic workers in all patriotic movements, and their influ
ence is greatly felt.
THE COST OF LIVING
“Living in Alaska is, to my mind, cheaper than it is
he,,e. I can go into any restaurant in that country and get
a better meal for fifty cents than right here in Port Ar
thur. Wages are excellent, common laborers being paid
at the rate of fifty cents per hour, with a correspondingly
"As for feed, the Alaskan people are not suffering.
Thousands of caribou and reindeer run wild and I have
Miowu where ;t took fur days for a sing e herd of caribou
to pass a given point. lie a deer meat >s now being prep&r
i (l in that count.’ y, and :s being shipped to Seattle. Maybe
it L because fish is so plentiful that the p?jp'e there do not
eat it, but nevertheless \ *.:y few Alaskans eat fish.
IN '1HE WAR
“Alaska’s manhood has responded nobly to the cause.
Many hundreds ot young men are going voluntary into
Sitka, the military headquarters to elist. Fanning is be
ing carried on to some extent, but because of the short
crop season, potatoes, turnips, and other such roots are
; a Lout the only things grown extensively, but they certain
re fine roots. B s an also suressful. But it is
Alaska’s natural resources that make the country, cniefly
u se, her mines. Gold placers and lodes are to be
‘•••our'.out all sections of the country. Her copper
production in 1916 exceeded that of any other Alaska indus
try. This mineral is found in large and profitable deposits
in many of the more northern regions. Tin, both in lode
and placer deposits ,is being profitably mined and Alas
ka has the only tin mines on the continent. Antimony is
found in widly separated regions of the north, while iron
in huge deposits and of good grade has been discovered in
numerous localities, assuring an important industry.
“Agriculture is today a practical reality and is each
year showing greater gains. Probably a thousand families
are today securing part of or all their income from these
lands. It is estimated that Alaska contains one hundred
thousand square miles of aerable lands. Water power is
available in such quantity as to assure for the northland
a great industrial development and the scenery, of the
woi Id, assure a future tourist travel of large proportions.
The spruce forests will furnish the supply for a large pulp
and pape industry. And such is Alaska, a frontier land of
vast resources, of great wealth, the United States’ largest
and richest territory, in fact, her last “big out of doors.”
/ -_
LONDON, Julyl— A British munitons works’ can
teen that feeds between 8,000 and 10,000 employees is kept
well supplied with foodstuffs grown and pigs andsheep
raised on the premises. Most of the farming work is done
by women. •
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