WOMEN AS MUNITION
MAKERS
A STUDY OF CONDITIONS IN
BRIDGEPORT, CONNECTICUT
BY AMY HEWES
MUNITION WORKERS IN
ENGLAND AND FRANCE
A SUMMARY OF REPORTS
ISSUED BY THE BRITISH
MINISTRY OF MUNITIONS
BY HENRIETTE R. WALTER
INVESTIGATOR DIVISION OF INDUSTRIAL STUDIES
RUSSELL SAGE FOUNDATION
NEW YORK
RUSSELL SAGE FOUNDATION
MCMXVII
Copyright, 1917, by
THE RUSSELL SAGE FOUNDATION
TABLE OF CONTENTS'
PAGE
LIST OF TABLES . . ..... v
WOMEN AS MUNITION MAKERS — Introduction . . 1
I. Bridgeport and the War Boom . . 10
II. The Women at Work .... 18
III. Cartridge Making and Its Dangers . . 29
IV. Hours of Labor and Night Work . . 39
V. Wages .55
VI. The Women at Home .... 63
VII. Programs of City and State ... 82
MUNITION WORKERS IN ENGLAND .... 97
Hours of Labor 103
Health and Hygiene 114
General Welfare Provision .... 126
Employment of Women 129
Juvenile Employment ..... 132
Summary of Recommendations . . . 135
Subsequent Conditions 137
MUNITION WORKERS IN FRANCE .... 145
Organization of Munition Industry . . . 147
Industrial Relations 148
Hours of Work 149
The Women Workers 152
Technical Instruction of Workers . . . 154
Cause of Increased Production . . . 154
BIBLIOGRAPHY . . w^ . .... 156
iii
LIST OF TABLES
TABLE PAGE
1. Last occupation before entering the munition indus-
try, for 73 women munition workers interviewed.. 22
2. Nativity of women munition workers interviewed
and of their fathers 24
3. Ages of women munition workers interviewed 26
4. Conjugal condition of women munition workers in-
terviewed 27
5. Occupations of women munition workers included in
the investigation 32
6. Daily hours of labor for women workers included in
the investigation 41
7. Length of lunch period for women munition work-
ers included in the investigation 43
8. Weekly hours of labor of women munition workers
included in the investigation 44
9. Hour of beginning work for women munition
workers included in the investigation 45
10. Weekly earnings of women munition workers in-
cluded in the investigation 58
11. Total weekly income in families of women muni-
tion workers interviewed, by number of contribu-
tors 64
12. Proportion of weekly earnings given to the home by
women munition workers interviewed who were
living with their families 65
13. Persons gainfully employed among members of 100
families of women munition workers interviewed,
by age and sex 68
14. Monthly rents paid by families of women munition
workers interviewed, by number of rooms occu-
pied 73
15. Persons per room in families of women munition
workers interviewed 75
• Worker living with family
0 Worker living alone
1 Plant of Union Metallic Cartridge Company
2 Plant of Remington Arms Company
MAP OF BRIDGEPORT, SHOWING LOCATION OF HOMES OF WOMEN
INTERVIEWED
WOMEN AS MUNITION
MAKERS
A STUDY OF CONDITIONS IN
BRIDGEPORT, CONNECTICUT
BY AMY HEWES
INTRODUCTION
WHY AND HOW THE INVESTIGATION WAS
MADE
DURING the early months of 1915 the world
of industry was stirred by rumors of un-
heard of rewards for work in munition
shops in the United States. Women, it was said,
were in as great demand as men and other occu-
pations were suffering from the competition of
high wages paid for work on war materials. The
first commercial depression following the out-
break of the war in Europe had passed and the
business of supplying materials of all kinds to the
warring countries had begun.
With this harvest of war orders had come in
several localities a rapid increase in population,
pressing municipal problems, and the dangers of
overstrain in industry itself through the intense
effort to secure maximum output. What effect
would this sudden expansion of a war trade have
upon women workers ? Could they stand the race
for speed? Overtime, night work, and Sunday
work might be insisted upon as in England.
Would our labor laws prevent overstrain?
Throughout the east munition companies had
constructed huge plants and begun manufacturing
on an enormous scale before 1915 was half over.
At Eddystone, Pennsylvania, two large factories
were built, each with about 15 acres of floor
1
WOMEN AS MUNITION MAKERS
space;* one, a branch of a company whose con-
tracts from the Allies were said to amount to al-
most $200,000,000, manufactured shrapnel; the
other, a branch of the largest munition factory in
Bridgeport, had a capacity of 1,500,000 rifles a
year. In1 Delaware and Pennsylvania another
huge company had been operating great plants to
fill orders running into the millions of dollars.
Within ten months during 1915 and 1916 this com-
pany declared dividends amounting to 104 per cent
on its common stock. The middle west had also
had its share in the munition business; the great
steel companies had been turning out order after
order, with others on hand and deliveries running
more than a year ahead. The record of war ma-
terial sent out of the port of New York in one
week in August, 1916, included $20,000,000 worth
of explosives, $10,000,000 worth of shells and shell
materials, and nearly $1,000,000 worth of fire-
arms.
To this large production, the city of Bridgeport,
Connecticut, was an important contributor, and
here women were employed in large numbers in
munition making. For the women and girls in
this New England town, as well as for those in
other such centers, obvious dangers were ahead.
The necessity to recruit new workers had already
drawn into the industry Bridgeport women un-
*On April 10, 1917, an explosion completely destroyed the
loading and inspecting buildings of the Eddystone Ammuni-
tion Company at Eddystone, Pa., resulting in the death of 122
workers, more than half of whom were women, and the seri-
ous injury of over 50 more.
2
INTRODUCTION
accustomed to factory work, and had brought
girls from other places, setting them adrift with-
out homes in a community quite unprepared to
protect their health, give them wholesome recrea-
tion, sufficient transit facilities or even proper
housing.
In the autumn of 1915 the Department of Sur-
veys and Exhibits of the Russell Sage Founda-
tion, in co-operation with The Survey magazine,
had sent Mr. Zenas L. Potter to Bridgeport to
make a brief study of the social effects of the war
boom. His report was published in The Survey in
December.* It indicated the need for further ob-
servation, especially for a study of the women who
were making munitions. In the summer of 1916
the Foundation, through its Division of Indus-
trial Studies, undertook, therefore, a brief investi-
gation of the women employed in the largest muni-
tion plant in Bridgeport, the cartridge shops of
the Remington Arms-Union Metallic Cartridge
Company,f for the purpose of discovering the ef-
fect upon them of the changed living and working
* Potter, Zenas L. : War Boom Towns, Bridgeport. The
Survey, pp. 237-242, December 4, 1915.
t This company, the union of two firms that have long been
famous in the manufacture of firearms and shells, employed
at the time of the investigation 8,000 men and 4,000 women in
the cartridge shops. Information is lacking as to the number
of men in the rifle factory. Towards the close of the year
1916, the company began the experiment of employing women
in the plant of the Remington Arms, where rifles are manu-
factured, but this was subsequent to the investigation, so that
the work of these women is not included in the inquiry. Of
four other Bridgeport munition firms, two employed no
women, and two a relatively small number.
3
WOMEN AS MUNITION MAKERS
conditions.* Such an inquiry, it was ex-
pected, would reveal in miniature the results of
this sudden war trade expansion on wom-
en's work, not only as it affected women in
Bridgeport, but as it might be expected to affect
them in whatever part of the country they are
employed in making shells, arms, or other war
material.
Information on the processes in which women
were employed, on their pay and hours of work, on
the danger of accidents, and the other conditions
of their employment was obtained chiefly through
interviews with a group of munition workers in
their own homes. Supplementary data on living
conditions and health were also obtained from
members of their families and from social and
civic agencies in Bridgeport, f
The industrial situation was discussed with a
number of manufacturers in Bridgeport who made
valuable comments concerning the production side
of the munition industry and with officials of the
* The inquiry was conducted by Miss Amy Hewes, professor
of Economics in Mt. Holypke College, and formerly secretary
of the Massachusetts Minimum Wage Commission. Miss
Henriette R. Walter, of the staff of the Division of Industrial
Studies of the Russell Sage Foundation, assisted in the field
survey and in the preparation of the statistical tables.
t Valuable supplementary material concerning the social and
civic activities by which Bridgeport is endeavoring to deal
with its multiplying problems was given by Mr. George Gove,
secretary of the Chamber of Commerce; Mr. George L.
Warren, secretary of the Charity Organization Society; Miss
Cynthia Moore, secretary of the East Side Young Women's
Christian Association ; Mr. Spencer R. Gordon, superintendent
of charities, and others, to all of whom hearty thanks are
due for their cordial co-operation.
4
INTRODUCTION
machinists' union, who presented the situation
from the point of view of labor.
Had the Foundation been given permission to
make an exhaustive study of the plant it would
h0,ve reported on wages as revealed on the pay-
roll, hours of labor and the effect of overtime on
output; night work and its productivity as com-
pared with that of day work; health and safety
and the methods of guarding against industrial
accident and disease ; and the regularity of attend-
ance of the men and women employed. But this
permission was refused. It is in the homes of the
workers, however, that the social effects of an in-
dustry can best be studied, and in this inquiry, as
in several others conducted by the Foundation, re-
liance was placed upon the method of securing
facts from the workers themselves in their own
homes.
The names of most of the women interviewed
were taken at random from the 1916 Bridgeport
directory. This list was supplemented by names
suggested by fellow-workers and others. The wide
diversity in the location of their homes and in
their nationalities, incomes, and characteristics, to
be described later, vouches for the representative
character of the group. A copy of the record card
used in making the investigation is appended to
this report.* The information was secured in per-
son and the schedules filled out by the investiga-
tors. The questions covered working conditions,
hours, wages, and home conditions. One hundred
*See page 93.
WOMEN AS MUNITION MAKERS
and eighteen girls and women were interviewed.
Of these, 18 were away from home, boarding or
living in furnished rooms. Exactly 100 others
were living with their own families, and in these
cases information was added about the family in-
come and the family expenditures, particularly the
item of rent. The girls living at home gave also
the essential facts about earnings, processes, and
hours of work for 47 other women in their families
who were employed in the munition industry, so
that some information was obtained for 165 work-
ers in all.
Two articles giving the main results of the in-
quiry have already been published in advance of
this report,* in the hope that prompt dissemina-
tion of the facts discovered might help Conne'cti-
cut citizens to strengthen their labor laws. The
second of these articles, that dealing with the mu-
nition industry, was submitted in manuscript, in
advance of publication, to officials of the Reming-
ton Arms-Union Metallic Cartridge Company for
their criticism. This procedure, customary in in-
dustrial investigations made by the Russell Sage
Foundation, was the more necessary in this case,
because of the previous refusal of the company
to give the Foundation the desired information.
In the conferences which followed the reading
of the manuscript, some statements were chal-
lenged, others verified, and additional material
*Hewes, Amy: Bridgeport on the Rebound. The Survey,
pp. 49-51, October 14, 1916.
Hewes, Amy: Women as Munition Makers. The Survey,
pp. 379^385, January 6, 1917.
INTRODUCTION
was obtained, especially regarding changes made
after the field work of the investigation was com-
pleted. In response to the suggestion of the com-
pany that no study could be accurate which was
not based on data obtained in the plant itself, the
Foundation offered to make such a supplementary
inquiry before publishing the report. This offer
was refused.
Since the declaration of war by the United
States against the Imperial Government of Ger-
many, in April, 1917, the findings of the study are
of even greater importance than when it was made
during the summer of 1916. The employment of
women in the manufacture of war materials is
bound to increase. Early in 1917, the War
Department, as a preparation for what had long
seemed inevitable, had already called upon the
Department of Labor for 1,000 workers, both men
and women, for the making of munitions in fed-
eral plants.* Now that we are in a state of actual
war and will be obliged to make shells and guns
not only for the countries whose ally we have be-
come, but also for ourselves, we must needs take
intelligent counsel of whatever experience we can
lay hands on.
England, in her effort to manufacture huge
quantities of munitions in a short time, in order
to supply her army and navy at the front, went
* This call was made in February, 1917, for workers in the
Dover (N. J.) and Philadelphia arsenals, to be filled through
the employment exchanges of the Labor Department. Some
protest was aroused because lower wage rates were offered
to women than to men for similar processes of work.
7
WOMEN AS MUNITION MAKERS
through a bitter industrial experience. She wore
out her workers, created industrial confusion, lost
the labor gains of years, and raised the unjust cry
that British workmen were "slackers."
Finally, a Health of Munition Workers Com-
mittee, headed by Sir George Newman, was ap-
pointed by the Ministry of Munitions to investi-
gate ills and abuses in munition plants, and to
make recommendations to insure increased pro-
duction. The second part of this study gives a
detailed summary of the findings of this commit-
tee. They dealt particularly with the conditions
affecting output, including overtime, seven-day
labor, night work, danger of accident and disease
from fatigue, lack of proper food and housing con-
ditions, welfare supervision, and the employment
of children. An important memorandum was is-
sued on women's work, with definite recommenda-
tions for safeguarding the health of English
women.
Evidence shows that the working conditions of
the women interviewed in Bridgeport during the
summer of 1916 were similar in many respects to
those under which English women worked for the
first year or more of the war with such bad effects
upon themselves and upon efficiency of production.
Night work and overtime in Bridgeport were al-
ready found while yet the pressure of a war of
our own was remote and production unstimulated
by any call of patriotism. Even the crowded living
conditions had begun to approach those in English
centers.
8
INTRODUCTION
But Bridgeport is only one illustration of sud-
den expansion due to the demand for speedy pro-
duction of munitions of war. Its industrial and
civic questions are of local importance in many
other towns. The interest of the report here pre-
sented thus transcends that attaching to the record
of any one plant or any one place. As a matter
of fact, the working conditions in munition fac-
tories as well as the living conditions in munition
centers have now become of vital importance to
the whole nation. It is in the hope that this coun-
try may avoid a breakdown in the health of its
women workers and a sacrifice of hard-gained la-
bor laws to protect them, as well as the results
to health and morals of congested living, that this
study is offered.
CHAPTER I
BRIDGEPORT AND THE WAR BOOM
THE European War, with its unprecedented
demand for munitions has metamorphosed
Bridgeport, Connecticut, from a conserva-
tive municipality into a turbulent, congested com-
munity. This city on Long Island Sound has a
long and varied manufacturing history ; for years
it has held an important place as the home of
diversified industry in a part of the country in
which factory towns have tended to become spe-
cialized. Fall River, Lawrence, and Lowell are
known as textile cities, Holyoke and Dalton as
paper towns, Lynn and Brockton as shoe manu-
facturing centers, but Bridgeport's manufactures
range from submarines to graphophones, and in-
clude automobiles, electrical goods, corsets, and
sewing machines, as well as a variety of foundry
and machine-shop products. It is only recently
that the expansion of the military arms and am-
munition business has made Bridgeport known
throughout the country as a city pre-eminent in
the manufacture of munitions.
For the first few months of the war the city had
apparently no inkling of the great change which
was to come about. In common with other Ameri-
can cities it suffered during the winter of 1914-15
from the most serious shock to industry and trade
that the country has had since the hard times fol-
lowing the panic of 1907. The daily papers tell
10
BRIDGEPORT AND THE WAR BOOM
the story of unemployment and distress, of the
efforts of the hard-pressed Department of Chari-
ties and the philanthropic associations to give re-
lief, of the appointment of a special committee to
solve the problem of unemployment, and of the
difficulty of obtaining appropriations for any
large-scale constructive measures. Except for the
depression which such a period brings to any city,
Bridgeport was progressing in an orderly and con-
ventional manner. It had a population of some-
thing over 100,000, a transportation system which
met its needs, a conservative city government, and
was extending its suburbs and caring for its large
foreign population by building new schoolhouses
and taking steps towards revising its tenement
house laws.
As early as March, 1915, however, the numbers
of its unemployed had materially decreased and
a few days later came a foreshadowing of the
dramatic change that was to take place in the for-
tunes of the city. Large new factory buildings
costing, it was said, $12,000,000, were under con-
struction on the outskirts of the city and rumor
had it that these were designed for the manufac-
ture of munitions. Since 1867 Bridgeport had
been the established home of the Union Metallic
Cartridge Company, which had developed a sport-
ing trade in addition to supplying cartridges to
European governments and to the United States.
In 1888 the owner of this company, Marcellus
Hartley, acquired the Remington Arms Company,
of Ilion, New York, and the two plants thus be-
ll
WOMEN AS MUNITION MAKERS
came affiliated. Late in the spring of 1915 it be-
came generally known that the new factories on
the outskirts of the city were being built by the
Remington Arms Company whose plant in Ilion
was also at work on war orders, and that the new
business in Bridgeport would afford opportunities
for work to thousands of people in the making of
guns. This announcement brought large numbers
of men in search of work. There were jobs for all
who came and before many months had passed the
demand for labor outran the supply. The prob-
lem of unemployment was entirely forgotten.
Each unit of the great factory was put into opera-
tion as soon as it was completed and machinery
could be installed. The Union Metallic Cartridge
Company also enlarged its plant, increasing its
floor space by 700,000 square feet, and took on
many additional employes. Other munition com-
panies were formed, and concerns engaged in al-
lied lines of business turned over large parts of
their plants to the manufacture of war supplies.
In January, 1916, it was announced that the
arms company and the cartridge company, both
controlled by Mr. Marcellus Hartley Dodge, had
been merged into the Remington Arms-Union
Metallic Cartridge Company. The company was
incorporated in Connecticut, with a capital stock
of $60,000,000, all except a few shares of which
were held by its president and chief owner.
During the summer of 1915, when the business
boom had been growing daily and rumors of fabu-
lous war profits had begun to spread, dissatisfac-
12
BRIDGEPORT AND THE WAR BOOM
tion fermented in the labor world in Bridgeport
and the city entered upon a three months' era of
strikes. The expansion had found a nine or ten-
hour day in nearly all factories. Labor was for
the most part unorganized, but a shortage in the
supply of workers, despite the rush of men to the
city, and a rapid increase in rents, and the abnor-
mal living conditions due to this rush made an un-
settled situation in which labor difficulties rapidly
developed. The real trouble began in a jurisdic-
tional dispute in the construction of the arms fac-
tory, when the iron workers, who claimed that the
millwrights should be affiliated with their own
union, struck because the millwrights were classed
and paid as carpenters. The millwrights joined
the iron workers. Later the machinists in both
the Remington Arms and the Union Metallic Car-
tridge Company factories struck for an eight-hour
day, increased pay, time and one-half pay for over-
time, and double pay for Sundays and holidays.
Within two weeks the company granted increased
pay and a forty-eight-hour week with a three-shift
schedule, and the strike ended. With the eight-
hour day and higher wages granted in one quarter,
it was inevitable that dissatisfaction should spread
to other factories. In spite of strong opposition
by the Manufacturers' Association of Bridgeport,
which continued to stand for a fifty-four-hour
week, strike after strike, with the eight-hour day
and increased pay as the principal issues, was
brought to a successful or partially successful con-
clusion in favor of the workers.
13
WOMEN AS MUNITION MAKERS
A company manufacturing automobiles made an
effort to avert trouble by introducing a profit-shar-
ing plan; this the men rejected, and a strike was
declared. The company then offered a choice be-
tween a bonus system and the eight-hour day. The
employes voted for the latter and returned to work
with the new system of hours but with the pay on
a ten-hour basis. Strikes among the hundreds of
women in the corset factories produced an eight-
hour day and substantial increase in wages. From
laundry workers to window cleaners, through the
list of more than 50 strikes carried on in Bridge-
port during the summer of 1915, the story is the
same. At the end of the summer Bridgeport was
practically an eight-hour city, with the prevailing
rates of wages fully equivalent to those on the old
basis. As an offset to these gains, however, night
work, for both men and women, was on the in-
crease, and the unions, although stronger than at
the beginning of the struggle, were not in a posi-
tion to enforce a closed shop policy.
With the cessation of labor troubles in the au-
tumn of 1915, the city had settled into an accept-
ance of the new industrial order and the rapid
changes which were following unavoidably upon
it. Construction of the arms and cartridge facto-
ries proceeded rapidly, and the working force, in-
creasing as one department after another was
opened, was rated within a few months at a figure
between 20,000 and 30,000. Other factories, of
various types, continued to spring up in the out-
skirts of the city, bringing new suburban devel-
14
BRIDGEPORT AND THE WAR BOOM
opments. Population increased at an unprece-
dented rate. The lowest estimate made at the time
of the publication of the 1916 city directory placed
the total population at 140,000, an increase of 37
per cent since 1910. The contagion of prosperity
was everywhere evident. The shopping district
of the city boasted the "seventh busiest corner in
the world" (Main Street and Fairfield Avenue),
and in the rush of business the narrow, crooked
streets became wholly inadequate to accommodate
the crowds. The trolley service failed to satisfy
the demand for transportation and innumerable
honking jitneys filled the streets. The foreign
money order business in the overcrowded local
post office showed an increase of about 88 per
cent in the year ending July 31, 1916, over the
previous twelve months. The business of the town
clerk's office during the month of August, 1916,
was twice that of August, 1915, an increase largely
due to the impetus to realty transfers. Property
changed hands rapidly, mortgages were placed on
businesses and homes in order to raise money for
new ventures, and banks, firms, and individuals
showed a willingness to lend money on Bridgeport
security. The big capital stock of the Reming-
ton Arms-Union Metallic Cartridge Company and
its incorporation in Connecticut, taken in conjunc-
tion with the substantial character of its new build-
ings and the rumors of continued war orders, led
business men as well as workers to believe that
the business represented in this huge concern
would be relatively permanent, and that its im-
15
WOMEN AS MUNITION MAKERS
mense trade would serve to stimulate the activity
of the other large manufacturing interests of the
town.
Among the municipal problems which the rush
of people to Bridgeport in 1915 had brought the
city was that of proper housing. This problem
had grown to serious proportions. It had become
for many workers not a question of finding a de-
cent place in which to live, but of finding any
place whatever in which to live. Real estate agents
ceased to have houses to offer. Rents jumped al-
most instantaneously. As a result families who
were unable to pay the increased rates were evict-
ed, and were unable to find vacant houses for the
rents which they could pay. Some of these were
actually sent to the city almshouse until they could
find houses; others became for the first time de-
pendent upon charity ; others still were able, with
accompanying hardships, to readjust their family
budgets and to give a much higher proportion for
rent than formerly.
The Remington Arms-Union Metallic Cartridge
Company, as early as the spring of 1915, had be-
gun buying large tracts of land and building a sys-
tem of "company houses," but the completion of a
number of these was delayed and even had all been
ready for occupancy in 1916 they would have pro-
vided only a fraction of the number of houses
required. Hundreds of desirable men, many of
them with families, came to the city only to go
away again, because they could find no place to
live.
16
BRIDGEPORT AND THE WAR BOOM
Throughout all these changes, it seemed to out-
siders that while business men had seized upon
the high commercial importance these had
wrought, the municipality itself was hardly con-
scious of its own new responsibilities. The visitor
to Bridgeport saw the thronged streets, the halting
transportation service, the lack of recreational fa-
cilities, the flimsy three-decker tenements for
which rents double those of a year before were
asked, and marvelled at the apparent failure of
the city government to take cognizance of the fact
that it was no longer a middle-aged, conservative
New England manufacturing city, but a "boom
town," full of great possibilities for good or harm,
for ugliness or beauty, for loyalty or bitterness,
in its new industrial army.
But the year 1916 saw the inception of a new
spirit in Bridgeport. Even while the city seemed
to be asleep, new ideas were fermenting. Bridge-
port had ceased to be a typical American indus-
trial city and had become a unique American civic
community. How it treated its newly imposed
housing, health and recreational problems, as well
as how its women workers fared while making
shells for the Remington Arms-Union Metallic
Cartridge Company is told in the following pages.
17
CHAPTER II
THE WOMEN AT WORK
THE hundreds of young men who crowd
Bridgeport's brilliantly lighted streets on
Saturday and Sunday nights are part of a
mobile industrial force which can travel from city
to city in response to the lure of good work and
good pay. The force of working women, instan-
taneously as it may and does respond to a de-
mand for labor in its own neighborhood, is more
inert, less capable of severing family ties and set-
ting aside home responsibilities to follow the call
of opportunity in other cities. The men in the
munition factories are said to be gathered from all
parts of the United States, while the majority of
the women in the shops are from the city of
Bridgeport itself. All but nine out of the 118
women* interviewed in the summer of 1916 had
lived in Bridgeport more than two years, and
all but 17 had lived in the city more than five
years.
As the demand for women's work in the muni-
tion plants increased the most easily utilizable
source of additional labor proved to be the work-
ing force in the other industries in Bridgeport.
* The number of women interviewed comprised 100 women
living at home and 18 away from home. From the 100 women
living at home, some information was obtained concerning 47
others employed in the industry; the total was thus 165 (see
page 6). The discussion in this chapter has reference only
to the 118 directly interviewed.
18
THE WOMEN AT WORK
The 'corset factories, metal works, and textile mills
already employed large numbers of girls and
women, many of whom were easily attracted by
cartridge-making. The result to the affected in-
dustries was a dearth of workers evidenced by
widespread advertising of an unusually urgent
character ; prospective employes were assured that
the positions offered had the advantages of high
wages, short hours, and permanency. The grad-
ual drain, felt first in the neighboring factories,
extended through one occupation after another,
until it was believed to be responsible even for the
shortage of saleswomen and domestic servants, not
only in Connecticut towns but in towns in nearby
states.*
At the same time the munition industry was
stabilized by an important constant element in its
labor force, illustrated by the fact that 57 out
of the 118 women interviewed had worked for
the company for at least five years. One woman
had" worked for the same concern for thirty-two
years, and her mother before her had done the
same work as a girl.
The venturesome women who came from out-
side the city proved to be real fortune-seekers on
the industrial frontier. A nineteen-year-old Jew-
* The demand for women munition workers was held ac-
countable for a shortage of domestic servants in New York
City. In August, 1916, the superintendent of the public em-
ployment office in New York stated that a representative of a
munition factory in Bridgeport called on him frequently to
see if there were any women willing to work in munition
plants, and that similar requests were received from munition
factories in New Jersey.
19
WOMEN AS MUNITION MAKERS
ish girl who was working as inspector in the car-
tridge shop told the story of leaving her home in
Russia, of the crossing in the steerage, and of her
school days on New York's lower East Side while
her father supported the family from the pro-
ceeds of a pushcart business. Coming to Bridge-
port for a visit to an aunt, this girl saw a new op-
portunity for herself and her family. She quickly
gave up her poorly paid clerical position in New
York and went into the munition factory. In a
short time she had persuaded her parents and her
two brothers to follow and settle in the city, and
had helped her ambitious fifteen-year-old brother
to start a four-year apprenticeship with the arms
company, during which he could earn enough to
support himself until he could draw the wages
of a skilled workman.
Out in Saskatchewan a Danish veterinarian was
settled with his wife and daughters. It was a
lonely place for young people, and the oldest
daughter persuaded her father to let her come to
Bridgeport with a school chum who had heard
of the chances in the munition factories. Al-
though she was unaccustomed to factory work
she made $12 a week from the start. She found
a comfortable home with some of her own coun-
try people, and was carefully hoarding her earn-
ings for her trousseau, for she had become en-
gaged to a young Englishman in Bridgeport just
before he left for the trenches. As soon as the
North Sea should be safe she planned to go back to
Denmark, whither her family had returned soon
20
THE WOMEN AT WORK
after she left them, and there she would make
ready for her wedding.
A young woman who a few months before had
been a poorly paid operative in a shirt factory in
Rhode Island is an example of the intelligence and
enterprise often found to be characteristic of the
women munition workers. She heard of the de-
mand for girls in Bridgeport and, spurred by the
inadequacy of her own earnings and the irregu-
larity of her father's, came to the city on a pros-
pecting visit. With no trouble she immediately
found work in the cartridge shop. At almost the
same time she had the good fortune to find a room
with a woman who was just about to give up her
flat and move to another city. She seized the op-
portunity to rent the flat so as to have a place
where her family might settle. She then sent for
her father and sister and for a girl friend. The
reunited family took possession of the rooms on
the same day that the former landlady moved out.
The father, who had been a painter by trade, also
found work in the shops, and the other two girls
went to work in the cartridge factory in which
the first girl was working. All four shared
alike in the household expenses, and the girl's ven-
ture in transplanting the family promised suc-
cess.
Not all workers new to Bridgeport and the in-
dustry, however, had been pioneers and path-
finders for their relatives and friends. Several
were interviewed who had come alone and stayed
alone. Others had come with their entire families.
21
WOMEN AS MUNITION MAKERS
For example, one American family from near Bos-
ton, composed of father, mother and 12 chil-
dren, had been transplanted en masse, and while
the father was not well enough to work, the five
sons and daughters who were of working age were
employed in either the arms or the cartridge shop.
The majority of the girls who had had working
experience before going into munition work came
from other manufacturing occupations in Bridge-
port or elsewhere. Table 1 shows the last previ-
ous occupations of the girls investigated.
TABLE 1.— LAST OCCUPATION BEFORE ENTERING THE
MUNITION INDUSTRY, FOR 73 WOMEN MUNITION
WORKERS INTERVIEWED
Previous occupation
Women
Factory work
Corset manufacture
Manufacture of machines, tools, and fixtures
Textile manufacture
Metal work
Clothing manufacture
All other work
Sales-work
Domestic and personal service
Custom dressmaking
Office work
All other occupations
47
15
8
6
6
6
6
13
6
2
2
3«
Total
73 5
"Includes farm work 1, home work on neckties 1, and "odd jobs" 1.
&Of the 118 women interviewed, 45 had never been gainfully
employed before entering the munition industry.
Fifteen of these munition workers had been cor-
set makers, an important occupation for Bridge-
port girls, since Bridgeport is one of the largest
corset-making centers in the country, and has
places for hundreds of girls in that employment.
Other common factory work included the manu-
facture of textiles, metals, and tools. Outside of
22
THE WOMEN AT WORK
factory occupations, sales-work was the previous
occupation most frequently reported. The table
brings out the fact that it was possible for the
munition industry to draw its workers from a wide
range of occupations, for it makes small demands
in the way of training and experience. Indeed,
considerably more than one-half of the 118 women
had had no previous factory work of any kind,
and 45 had had no previous gainful occupation
whatsoever.
It should be noted that the foregoing table does
not show the drain upon other industries caused
by the war boom, since 94 of these women had
held their positions in the cartridge factory some
time before the boom began ; that is, for two years
or more before this investigation was made.
These facts raise the question as to whether the
group interviewed in the investigation was not
composed of a disproportionately large number of
girls who had worked in the munition industry
before the war began, with an insufficient repre-
sentation of those lured into it from other indus-
tries or other cities when the sudden expansion
required new recruits. As a matter of fact, ac-
cording to statements by officials of the company,
the increase in the number of women employed
in their plant was not so large as had been antici-
pated. In November, 1915, it was expected that
4,000 additional girls and women would be needed
between the following January and June, and yet
by the summer of 1916 the total force of women
in the factory was not more than 4,000. That part
23
WOMEN AS MUNITION MAKERS
of the new force which had come from other cities
proved to be to a great extent shifting and un-
stable, so that while a large number of women
had come to Bridgeport with the boom, the factory
force was not proportionately increased. It seems
probable that the group interviewed was represen-
tative, composed as it was of workers from other
occupations and a fair proportion of women never
employed in any other industry. The latter repre-
sented in part girls who had engaged in cartridge
making before the war boom, and in part the po-
tential labor supply of women always available in
a fair-sized city when slight extra inducements,
coupled with increased cost of living, draw them
into the labor market.
The birthplaces of the 118 women and the na-
tionalities of their fathers are shown in Table 2.
TABLE 2.— NATIVITY OF WOMEN MUNITION WORKERS
INTERVIEWED AND OF THEIR FATHERS
Women whose
Women whose
Country of birth
country of birth
was as
father's country
of birth was
specified
as specified
United States
99
54
Foreign countries
19
64
Austria
2,
Bohemia
1
2
Canada
£
l
Denmark
1
1
England
5
11
Germany
Hungary
"l
9
10
Ireland
s
11
Italy
1
z
Norway
1
1
Poland
3
Russia
' 1
2
Scotland
3
j.
Switzerland
*t
1
Total
118
118
24
THE WOMEN AT WORK
More than one-half of the group of women muni-
tion workers were foreign-born or of foreign par-
entage. Fifty- four were native born with native-
born fathers, and 45 others were native born but
of foreign parentage. Eleven of the 19 foreign-
born girls came from the British Isles (five from
England, three from Ireland, and three from
Scotland), leaving only eight who were born in
other European countries. Of the foreign-born
fathers, 26 came from the British Isles. Eleven
of the women were of German or Austrian par-
entage, but they were employes of many years'
standing. Several of them told the investigators
that no new workers of German origin had been
taken on at the plant since the beginning of the
war boom.
Often the long-experienced workers were bitter
against the "foreigners" and blamed them vigor-
ously for the problems in living and working con-
ditions. An Irish-born girl said proudly, in a rich
brogue, that there were no foreigners in her room
in the factory. "The boss is a pleasant Irish gen-
tleman, and he won't stand for them. Come to
think of it, there is a few Polish girls, but they're
real refined and they speak the language almost
as well as I do myself."
Since the processes of cartridge making require
workers with quickness and dexterity rather than
long training, it is natural that young women
should make up the major part of the group.
Table 3 shows the ages of those who were inter-
viewed.
25
WOMEN AS MUNITION MAKERS
TABLE 3.— AGES OF WOMEN MUNITION WORKERS
INTERVIEWED
Age
Women
Less than 18 years
18 years and less than 21
21 years and less than 24
24 years and less than 27
27 years and less than 30
30 years and less than 33
33 years and less than 36
36 years and less than 39
39 years and less than 42
42 years and less than 45
45 years or more
5
27
32
16
9
7
5
6
3
3
5
Total
118
Exactly one-half of the 118 women were be-
tween eighteen and twenty-four years of age, and
less than one- fourth had reached the age of thirty.
In the youth of the girls employed cartridge-mak-
ing affords a parallel rather than a contrast to
other manufacturing occupations. According to
the Federal Census 37 per cent of all women
engaged in manufacturing occupations are under
twenty-one.* A number of women said that
they had begun work at the age of twelve or
thirteen, and three even younger, indicating
a formerly lax enforcement of the child labor law,
or the lack of any effective law at the time when
they went to work. Forty-three began when they
were fourteen years old, and all but eight were at
work by the time they were eighteen.
As might be expected from their youth, the
majority were unmarried. Conjugal condition is
shown in Table 4.
* Thirteenth U. S. Census, 1910, Vol. IV., Occupation Statis-
tics, p. 312 ff.
26
THE WOMEN AT WORK
TABLE 4.— CONJUGAL CONDITION OP WOMEN MUNI-
TION WORKERS INTERVIEWED
Conjugal condition
Women
Single
Married
Widowed
Deserted
Divorced
96
11
7
3
1
Total
118
As many as 81.4 per cent were single. Some
of the married women welcomed the possibility
of work in the shops, for they might not have
been able to meet the conditions of employment in
any other occupation. The opportunity to work at
night gave them a chance to manage their house-
holds and to earn money at the same time, and
exhausting as the strain was, the extra income
meant a valuable piecing out of the family re-
sources. Although the percentage of married
women in the group investigated seems compara-
tively small, the application to the total force of
4,000 women employed in Bridgeport of the pro-
portions shown by the table would indicate that
approximately 370 married women worked in the
munition plants, and that the number of widows
and deserted or divorced wives employed was
about as large. Many of these women had homes
and children to care for.
The personal information given by these 118
munition workers shows, then, a relatively stable
class of working women, with whom had mingled
a few venturesome recruits from distant places.
Their earlier working experience was varied and
27
WOMEN AS MUNITION MAKERS
rarely related to cartridge-making as a preparation
or training. Alert and ambitious, interested and
willing to talk of their work and its advantages
and handicaps, they were prepossessing represen-
tatives of American working women. Among
them were natives of 10 foreign countries, but
the large majority were girls born in the United
States, educated in American schools, and set-
tled in Bridgeport before the war boom. Many
of them had worked in this occupation for years ;
nearly half, five years or longer. About one-fourth
were thirty years old or more. Only one in 20
was less than eighteen, but the majority were not
yet twenty-four.
They represented the important tasks for wom-
en in cartridge-making and their clear descrip-
tions of their work gave a vivid picture of women
in munition plants.
28
CHAPTER III
CARTRIDGE MAKING AND ITS DANGERS
ALTHOUGH Bridgeport manufactures a va-
riety of munitions, nearly all of the thou-
sands of women employed in connection with
them are at work upon one single product, car-
tridges.* For the most part their work is fairly
light and easy and calls for natural dexterity and
speed rather than for long training. The shell of
the cartridge, or the cartridge case, is made by
fashioning a small round disk of brass or copper
into a thimble-shaped metal cup, which in succes-
sive processes is drawn out into a longer, thinner
tube. It is finally equipped at one end with a small
percussion cap called the primer and tipped at the
other with the bullet. The explosion of the primer
fires the charge of powder which in turn sends out
the bullet.
PROCESSES
Several of the early processes on the cartridge
cases are performed on dial machines, before
which the women operators are seated. The wom-
en receive the material in the form of the small
brass cups from which the cartridge cases are to
be formed. The worker slips the cups into hollow
dies set in the revolving dial, and these pass under
* See note, p. 3.
29
WOMEN AS MUNITION MAKERS
punches which draw out the cups into longer and
thinner cylinders. The women said that this work
(called drawing) was easy but very exacting and
something was "apt to happen to the machine"
if their attention was diverted. Sometimes the
machines were run at such speed that they
had to be stopped to allow them to cool, and
they were likely to get out of order when geared
high.
The successive drawings leave the tubes uneven
in length, and they are clipped to conform to
standard. Women feed the shells into automatic
machines which perform this process, known as
trimming.
After the cartridge case has been shaped, the
"head" is fitted with a small percussion cap called
the primer, a process which is also performed on
a dial machine. The primer has already been
loaded with fulminate of mercury, one of the most
powerful explosives used, and the girls are always
afraid the primers will explode in the machine if
they are in any way defective.
Unless the cartridge conforms precisely to speci-
fied dimensions and structure it is a worthless
product. To avoid premature explosion, failure
to explode at all, or failure to fit the rifle for which
it is made, its parts must be carefully inspected
again and again throughout the process of manu-
facture. Large numbers of girls worked as in-
spectors, an occupation which requires good eye-
sight, but for which youth and inexperience are
not obstacles. "We are running a kindergarten
30
CARTRIDGE MAKING
in our department this summer," said a woman
who was in charge of a number of fourteen and
fifteen-year-old girls who were working as inspec-
tors in the summer, but were planning to go back
to school in the autumn.
One of the most important inspections takes
place just before loading. The girls watch for
any imperfections and especially for "high" pri-
mers, or primers that are not fitted closely down
into the heads of the shells. Another important
inspection occurs just after charging. The girls
make sure that the proper amount of powder is in
the shells, that none have been left half-empty, and
that no powder is spilled.
Formerly women had actually loaded both pri-
mers and shells, but by the summer of 1916 this
part of the work was usually done by men. Work-
ing at the machine which inserts the charge of
powder in the open end of the empty cartridge
case, or "shell," is a group which usually consists
of two men and four or more girls. The girls
fill plates with primed shells and the men place
them in the machines which put into each shell the
proper amount of powder. According to the com-
pany officials, smokeless powder is used for war
goods, and is much less dangerous to handle than
black powder.
The number of girls included in the investiga-
tion who were at work in these different processes
is shown in Table 5.
31
WOMEN AS MUNITION MAKERS
TABLE 5.— OCCUPATIONS OF WOMEN MUNITION WORK-
ERS INCLUDED IN THE INVESTIGATION
Occupation
Women
Inspecting
Heading
33
12
Plate filling
12
Priming
Drawing
12
11
Trimming
Packing
11
9
Gauging
Loading
5
4
Miscellaneous
31a
Total
1406
"Includes anvilling 3, instructing 3, annealing 2, pointing 2,
shelling paper shells 2, stamping 2, varnishing 2, winding 2, as-
sembling 1, drilling 1, lubricating bullets 1, making battery cups 1.
pasting 1, placing wads in paper shells 1, piercing 1, shaking 1,
sizing primers 1, stock work 1, swaging 1, weighing 1, and labeling 1.
Some of these processes were performed in making sport goods.
Information as to occupation is not available for 25 of the 165
women included in the investigation.
About a fourth were inspectors. Others were
drawing, trimming-, priming, plate-filling, head-
ing, packing, gauging, and loading, while in a
miscellaneous group no less than 21 other proc-
esses were represented.
Cartridge-making, with its many processes, is
not a new occupation for women, but the rush of
war orders and the speeding up process, seemed
likely to increase the liability to accidents and dis-
ease.
DANGERS
For the six months from May 25 to November
25, 1916, 574 accidents to munition workers in
the fourth district of the state, resulting in inca-
pacity for a day or longer, were reported by em-
ployers, in accordance with law, to the Connecticut
32
CARTRIDGE MAKING
Workmen's Compensation Commission. All the
plants which manufacture munitions in this dis-
trict are situated in Bridgeport. In the only two
plants which employed women, 33 accidents to
women occurred. During the same period, in one
of the largest plants of the district, 83 claims for
compensation were made by munition workers, of
which 25 were made by women. Something more
than trivial injury is implied in these cases, since
by the terms of the law, compensation cannot be
claimed unless disability has lasted for more than
ten days.* Thus it may be said with almost exact
accuracy that in the munition industry in Bridge-
port one woman was injured each week through-
out the year seriously enough to disable her for
ten days or longer. These figures, of course, take
no account of injuries due to industrial poisoning,
or to illness caused directly or indirectly by the
work and its conditions.
Representatives of the company have made the
statement that while there have been a few fatal
accidents among the men, there have been no fatal
accidents to women workers for several years.
They also declared that a committee on accidents
exists, and that thousands of dollars have been
spent on safety appliances, but as further informa-
tion was denied the investigators, the methods of
* Under the Connecticut Workmen's Compensation Act,
compensation amounting to 50 per cent of weekly wages is
paid during the period of disability for injuries causing in-
capacity for more than ten days. Work accidents resulting in
incapacity for ten days or less are not compensated.
33
WOMEN AS MUNITION MAKERS
the committee cannot be described here nor its ef-
ficiency gauged.
Fear of the danger of accidents was constant
among the employes, and together with rumors
that were rife indicated the need for such a
frank policy of publicity as to accident pre-
vention as has been adopted by progressive em-
ployers elsewhere. The girls' statements are of
great significance as suggesting the psychological
difficulty of working in constant fear. Some had
seen serious or even fatal accidents, and a number
who had themselves experienced injury told the in-
vestigators of hands maimed by exploding primers
or fingers crushed in the presses. One girl showed
two crooked fingers, permanently stiff, which had
been injured by an unguarded machine a year
and a half before. The punch broke, flew out and
penetrated the two fingers ; blood poisoning set in,
and the girl suffered severely for two months. "I
often used to complain about that machine," she
said, "but they didn't put guards on it until after
I was hurt." Her case was one afterwards found
on the records in the Bridgeport office of the Work-
men's Compensation Commission of Connecticut.
Work with the loaded primers and shells, they
said, was never free from danger. One worker
described her experience some years before when a
girl beside her in the loading room was killed, an-
other seriously injured, and she herself struck by
a piece of machinery. "We always run," she
added, "but you never really have time to get
away. It's all over before you know what's hap-
34
CARTRIDGE MAKING
pened. It's just as if a big wind came and blew
you across the room."
Even small explosions made the new girls very
nervous, but through familiarity with dan-
ger experienced workers paid little attention to it.
A kind of fatalism possessed some of them. "We
have only once to die," said a woman who had seen
men seriously injured, and had herself been pros-
trated by the force of an explosion, "and it might
as well be in the shops as anywhere else."
Workers spoke of the fact that the charging ma-
chines had lately been "put in cages," as one of
them explained, "so if there's an explosion they
won't fly all over the room." The general testi-
mony was that since the passage of the Connecti-
cut Workmen's Compensation Act in 1913 the
machines have been better guarded. But accident
prevention has not gone far enough to rid work
in the loading rooms of serious dangers.
Furthermore, after injuries are received a gen-
eral ignorance of the terms of the law or a kind
of inertia about taking the necessary legal steps
often prevents employes from getting the assist-
ance provided by the terms of the act. "One of
the firemen told me I could get compensation from
the company," said a woman whose eye had been
hurt, "but I've never bothered about it," thus ex-
pressing in one casual sentence the attitude of
many of the employes toward the accidents that
happen during the course of their work.
In common with other American states (except-
ing Massachusetts and California), Connecticut
35
WOMEN AS MUNITION MAKERS
makes no provision for compensation for occupa-
tional disease.* Processes in the munition indus-
try requiring the use of fulminate of mercury en-
tail a double risk. Not only is there need of con-
stant caution on account of possible explosions, but
also from the risk of poisoning. Fulminate of
mercury is irritating to the skin and to mucous
membranes. The Newman Committee in its stud-
ies of the health conditions in English munition
plants recognizes fulminate dermatitis and con-
junctivitis as one of the industrial intoxications
caused by work on war material.t
Many of the women working on the priming
machines and in the loading room in the Bridge-
port factories attributed eruptions of the skin,
inflamed eyes and abscesses to the use of fulmi-
nate of mercury. Several showed little scars on
their hands and arms where eruptions had "dried
up." Individuals differ greatly in their suscep-
tibility to this irritant, many being able to handle
it with impunity, while others develop inflamma-
tion of the skin so severe as to necessitate their
giving up the work. One girl who two years
before had left a lower paid position in a store for
a $12 one in the munition factory believed that
the fulminate of mercury was undermining her
health. She said that she felt sick most of the
*An amendment to the Compensation Act, introduced into
the Connecticut legislature in the winter of 1916-17, provided
for the inclusion of occupational diseases, but failed of en-
actment as law during the session.
t Health of Munition Workers Committee. Memorandum
No. 8. Special Industrial Diseases, p. 6. London, 1916.
36
CARTRIDGE MAKING
time, and that few girls stayed in her department
long.
In this factory, according to the company's
statement, as many as 1,500 men and women
were exposed to the danger from fulminate. Of-
ficials admitted that they had recognized the
danger and said that about every two months
their own physician made medical examinations
of the workers who handled fulminate, and that
it was their policy to transfer to other departments
those found suffering from poisoning. Such steps
as these are recommended as preventive measures
by the Newman Committee which also urges pro-
tective clothing for workers exposed, and facilities
and opportunities for frequent washing.
In our own country Dr. Alice Hamilton of the
United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, who has
made special investigations of occupational poi-
sons for the bureau, in a letter to the Foundation,
gives similar advice concerning fulminate poison-
ing:
Scrupulous personal cleanliness is the only preventive
of this form of poisoning, and this would really involve
frequent hand washing, for it is almost impossible, es-
pecially in hot weather, to avoid touching the face or
neck or arms with the fingers. For those who are very
susceptible to fulminate poisoning, there is nothing to do
but to give up the work. Otherwise they run the risk of
a very distressing eruption which may spread over the
whole body.
Although the company stated that it had spent
large sums of money in installing sanitary appara-
37
WOMEN AS MUNITION MAKERS
tus and that when the plants were enlarged and
rebuilt the sanitary arrangements were greatly
improved, one worker employed in a process in
which she handled fulminate reported that em-
ployes in her department were forbidden to wash
their hands until after the factory whistle blew
for dismissal, and that the only washing facilities
were long troughs with a number of spigots. She
also said that no towels were provided. In Eng-
land, the Newman Committee recommended that
protective clothing, overalls, caps, veils, and
aprons should be supplied in all munition facto-
ries. No such precautions were reported in the
Bridgeport shops.
In addition to the facts already noted that in
Connecticut no compensation is provided for in-
jury due to industrial disease, and that workers
suffering from accidents may claim no compensa-
tion unless disabled for more tnan ten days, there
is still a third to be mentioned. The Connecticut
compensation, law requires the payment of only
50 per cent of the injured worker's wages. In
contrast with the more advanced legislation in
other states, such as New York, Massachusetts
and Ohio, which allow two-thirds of wages, this
is inadequate. The larger percentage of wages
to be paid during disability is, of course, a greater
incentive to employers for prevention, as well
as a more adequate protection for the worker
whose normal income is cut off because of an
accident, while his expenses are usually increased.
38
CHAPTER IV
HOURS OF LABOR AND NIGHT WORK
THE urgent need for speed and the desire for
maximum output without too great an in-
crease in the capacity of the plant led to the
employment of women for long hours by day, and
to the organization of night shifts, in order that
there might be no cessation in production at any
time during the twenty-four hours. It is com-
monly supposed that such a scarcity of labor as
prevailed in Bridgeport when its industries began
to expand gives workers an advantage In bargain-
ing and enables them to secure favorable condi-
tions. The story of what happened In this com-
munity is, therefore, of more than local impor-
tance. Neither the shortage of labor nor the labor
legislation of the state proved to be a real protec-
tion for the unorganized working women against
the well-known dangers of long hours and night
work.
Since the outbreak of the war, Bridgeport has
had the reputation of being an "eight-hour town."
The impression is doubtless due to the widespread
story of the successful strikes for the shorter work
day carried on during the summer of 1915, as
already described. Wages did not appear to be
rising with profits, and, as rents and the cost of
living were increasing, unrest prevailed. It was
then that Bridgeport was disturbed by the numer-
39
WOMEN AS MUNITION MAKERS
ous strikes which established the eight-hour day
with ten-hour pay in so many industries.
It is a common experience, however, that to in-
sure the continuance of gains suddenly won some
form of organization is needed. Sometimes new
standards may be maintained by the enactment
of a labor law; sometimes their permanence de-
pends almost wholly upon the effectiveness of
trade unionism. The women in the munition in-
dustry had not themselves won the eight-hour day
through their own efforts, and were not organized
to maintain it. Hence they were unable to offer
any effective resistance when little by little they
were robbed of the gift, their schedules of work-
ing hours being modified, first by frequent over-
time, and later by the company's regarding this
overtime as part of the regular daily hours. "We
are still considered an eight-hour department,"
said one worker in 1916, "but considering don't
make the day seem any shorter when they keep
us working ten. hours as they did every day last
week."
The women were reluctant to return to the lon-
ger hours. "If the girls had only stuck together
we could have kept the eight-hour day," said one,
"but you can't do anything with those foreign
girls." The money earned by the time over eight
hours was often referred to as a "bonus," but
in fact the extra work was usually paid for at ex-
actly the same rate as the previous eight hours.
Generally the girls would gladly have exchanged
the additional pay for the two hours' leisure.
40
HOURS OF LABOR
On one of the hot summer days a busy worker
said : "We begin at seven in the morning and if
the work piles up on the boss, we have to stay
till five or six o'clock in the evening. That's been
pretty regular for the last three or four weeks.
I was all in yesterday, and when four o'clock came
I told the boss I couldn't sit at the machine any
longer, but he wouldn't let me off."
That by 1916 the eight-hour day was not uni-
versal is shown in Table 6, indicating the daily
hours of the women interviewed during that sum-
mer. The schedule was not uniform in all de-
partments, and for some workers it varied on
different days of the week. The table shows the
longest day in each weekly schedule, since the
long day was most frequent during the week.
TABLE 6.— DAILY HOURS OF LABOR FOR WOMEN WORK-
ERS INCLUDED IN THE INVESTIGATION
Daily hours of labor0
Women
Less than 8 hours
8 hours and less than 9
9 hours and less than 10
10 hours
36
45
14
39
Total
1346
°In cases where the schedule varies on different days of the week,
the longest day has been tabulated, since this is the length of work-
ing day which occurs most frequently during the week.
•Information as to daily hours of labor is not available for 31
of the 165 women included in the investigation.
Thus nearly three women in 10 worked ten
hours a day, and 53 of the 134 reporting worked
nine hours or longer. The phrase in the table,
"less than eight hours," means the actual work-
ing time exclusive of time allowed for lunch.
41
WOMEN AS MUNITION MAKERS
The luncheon time for this group was fifteen min-
utes. Thus "less than eight hours" actually rep-
resented the eight-hour shift. The extraordinarily
short luncheon recess was a peculiarity of the
eight-hour schedule and was usually mentioned as
the principal objection to the shorter day. Nearly
everybody found fifteen minutes too brief to be
either salutary or restful. Moreover, in certain
rooms the workers were not allowed to leave dur-
ing that time and the foremen were careful to see
that the limit was not exceeded. In other cases
the quarter hour could be stretched to cover twenty
or twenty-five minutes. Some girls, especially
those who on account of the early hour of begin-
ning work had left home without breakfast, ate
their lunches at their machines whenever they
liked. In a few instances where the eight-hour
day had been succeeded by ten hours, a correspond-
ing change in the length of the lunch time had not
been made and the long stretch was relieved only
by the brief quarter hour interval.
Students of the effects of industrial fatigue have
laid stress upon the dangers of long working
hours without proper intervals for rest and food.
The recommendations of the English Health of
Munition Workers Committee* are emphatically
in favor not only of an hour for the main meal
period, but also of short breaks of ten or fifteen
minutes during the long spells of work. Even
on eight-hour shifts the minimum allowance for
meal time should, in their opinion, be half an hour.
* See Part II, pp. 135-137.
42
HOURS OF LABOR
After the proper co-ordinations are learned high
speed has few inherent dangers; but if women
driven to a pace that approximates their maxi-
mum possible speed are kept at work without ade-
quate intermission throughout a long day, or even
a comparatively short one, cumulative fatigue sets
in.
Table 7 shows the length of the lunch period for
the women for whom information on this point
was secured.
TABLE 7.— LENGTH OP LUNCH PERIOD FOB WOMEN
MUNITION WORKERS INCLUDED IN THE INVESTIGA-
TION
Length of lunch period
Women
Fifteen minutes
Thirty minutes
Sixty minutes
46
4
85
Total
135°
"Information as to length of lunch period is not available for 3°
of the 165 women included in the investigation.
The majority, 63 per cent, had a full hour for
lunch, but 34 per cent had the short recess of only
fifteen minutes. Eight hours with an interval of
but fifteen minutes at the task of slipping end-
less successions of small brass cups into revolv-
ing dials, with machines run at a speed so high
that they must be stopped at intervals to allow
them to cool, or of feeding shells into automatic
machines, or of testing cartridges hour after
hour, cartridge after cartridge, with the discovery
of defects as the only break in the intensity of
attention is a strain that should be required from
no one.
43
WOMEN AS MUNITION MAKERS
Twenty-one-year-old Nellie, even though she
came fresh from a New Hampshire farm, found
the eight-hour day's work on the heading machine
very heavy. "The vibrations of the big machine
shake your body so that after a few hours you're
all tired out and nervous. There never is a day
when I'm not tired at night, and I'm as strong
as most."
It has already been shown that in the different
departments of the plant the schedules of hours
were not uniform, and even for the same worker
the length of the days varied within the week.
The length of the working week showed, therefore,
great diversity, as Table 8 indicates.
TABLE 8.— WEEKLY HOURS OF LABOR OP WOMEN
MUNITION WORKERS INCLUDED IN THE
INVESTIGATION
Weekly hours of labor
Women
45 hours and less than 47
47 hours and less than 49
49 hours and less than 51
51 hours and less than 53
53 hours and less than 55
55 hours
More than 55 hours
35°
45
6
ia
29
2
Total
1336
°Of the 35 women in this group, 1 worked 46& hours one week
and 3934 hours every alternate week.
"Information as to weekly hours of labor Is not available for 32 of
the 165 women included in the investigation.
More than one-fifth of the women whose hours
could be ascertained worked the legal limit of
fifty-five hours. According to their own state-
ments, two worked more than the maximum time
allowed by law. The majority worked less than
forty-nine hours a week. "The long day certainly
44
HOURS OF LABOR
does take the starch out of you," said one girl who
had worked fifty-five hours a week. These facts,
taken in connection with Table 6, showing the
daily hours on the longest day for each worker,
indicate that long days were offset by shorter
days in such a way as to secure a comparatively
moderate working week. Nevertheless, it is the
usual experience of workers that an eight-hour day
on two days of the week cannot fully compensate
for the fatigue of a ten-hour day on the other four.
The variations in the working day were illus-
trated in the hours of one young girl who was em-
ployed at the process of anvilling. She began work
at 7 a. m. She was working 53J hours a week on
an irregular schedule which set the closing hour
at five o'clock the first three days of the week, four
o'clock on the fourth, and three o'clock on the last
two, with only a quarter of an hour for lunch each
day of the week.
In the hours of beginning work, listed in Table
9, we have further indication of variations in the
individual schedules.
TABLE 9.— HOUR OF BEGINNING WORK FOR WOMEN
MUNITION WORKERS INCLUDED IN THE INVESTIGA-
TION
Hour of beginning work
Women
7 a.m.
3 p.m.
6:30 p.m.
11 p.m.
126
9
3
2
Total
140°
"Information as to hour of beginning work is not available for 23
of the 165 women included in the investigation, and two others not
counted in the table began work at 7 a.m. one week and 3 p.m. the
next.
45
WOMEN AS MUNITION MAKERS
The large majority of the girls for whom in-
formation was secured went to work at seven
o'clock in the morning. Others began at three
o'clock in the afternoon, at half-past six in the
evening, or eleven o'clock at night. According
to statements made by representatives of the com-
pany, three months later, namely on December 5,
1916, the summer of 1916 had been a transitional
period in the management of the works. Under
a new administration new schedules of hours had
been gradually introduced in different- depart-
ments and women were then employed in the
works in but two shifts. The day shift worked
the first five days in the week from 7 a.m. to 4 :36
p.m., with one hour off at noon, and on Saturday
from 7 a.m. to 12 m., a total of eight hours and
thirty-six minutes on each day from Monday to
Friday, with a working week of forty-eight hours
in all. Overtime might prolong the day until 6
p.m. five days in the week, making a total working
week of fifty-five hours, the limit allowed by the
Connecticut labor law. The night shift worked
from 6:30 p.m. to 4:36 a.m., with a half-hour re-
cess, nine hours and thirty-six minutes each night
from Monday to Friday, inclusive. The overtime
schedule was reported to be until 5 a.m., making
ten hours a night and fifty hours a week. Thus,
although the hours have been changed, night work
for women continues, and both by day and by
night women not infrequently work as long as
ten hours. Moreover, the changes have resulted
in lengthening rather than in shortening hours.
46
HOURS OF LABOR
Night work for women was a conspicuous fact
in the neighborhood of the big Bridgeport car-
tridge factories when the field work of this inves-
tigation was in progress in July and August, 1916.
About seven in the evening a crowd of men and
children began to line up outside the factory fence,
carrying packages of food. Many of them were
the husbands and children of the women who
worked on the early night shift from 3 p.m. until
11 p.m. During the fifteen minutes' rest period
which came at seven o'clock they hurried down to
the fence to get their lunches. Again, an hour
before midnight, the women came out of the fac-
tory with the crowds of men, and their places were
taken by others who worked until seven o'clock
in the morning. The day workers began at seven
o'clock and stopped at three. In this way the
twenty-four hours were divided into three eight-
hour shifts. In some of the departments which
operated on a different schedule women stayed all
night long, working from half-past six at night
until five in the morning.
With few exceptions night work was unpopular
with the young working girls of Bridgeport. Their
natural desire for recreation, for the society of
young people, found no outlet while they had to
work or sleep in the evening hours when most of
their friends were free. In fact, night work was
not in great favor with those of any age. An
exception was a widow who worked from 11 p.m.
until 7 a.m., leaving her four-year-old daughter in
her sister's care. She said that she liked the work
47
WOMEN AS MUNITION MAKERS
in summer at night because the factory was cool
then, and, except when the weather was very hot,
she could usually manage to get about six hours'
sleep in the daytime. Almost every one else who
worked at night objected to it. Sufficient sleep
was hard to get. Street noises and the ordinary
household happenings made it doubly difficult to
become accustomed to the unusual hours. Change
of meal times often meant loss of appetite and in-
digestion. Women in some departments were
moved back and forth every two weeks from a
night shift to a day shift, and these conditions
made it even harder to acquire the habit of sleep-
ing by day. Moreover, to timid women, who went
to and from their work in the late hours of the
night and in the early morning, the dark and
lonely streets seemed a perpetual menace. To
those who lived a long distance from the plant
there was the difficulty of transit, for car service
was overtaxed and during these hours jitneys are
not always safe, especially for young girls.
One girl who had been working in the cartridge
factory for seven years in several different de-
partments had been doing "priming" for six
months. The preceding winter she worked on the
night shift from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m., but she found
it impossible to eat or sleep normally and "nothing
seemed right," so she changed back to the eight-
hour day shift as soon as she could. "The girls
certainly earn every cent they get," she said.
"We have to work every minute without any let-
up at all."
48
HOURS OF LABOR
Another, who alternated a day shift for two
weeks with a night shift for the same period,
said that although the two-week interval was not
long enough for her to get accustomed to sleeping
in the daytime, anything was better than working
on the eleven-to-seven shift all the time, because
being out on the streets late at night made her so
nervous. A married woman, who had come to
Bridgeport at the beginning of the boom, and
whose husband also worked in a munition factory,
said that she was first put on the shift from eleven
at night until seven in the morning, and that at
about five in the morning she used to get so drowsy
she could hardly work. Later her hours were
changed to the shift from 3 p.m. to 11 p.m., and
she liked that much better; yet there was always
the matter of getting home after eleven. She had
learned not to take a jitney unless the passengers
were women only.
Mrs. J., an American-born woman who mar-
ried a foreigner, and was helping to support their
four children by working in the shops from half-
past six at night until five in the morning, said
that although the people on her shift were in
the factory for ten hours and a half they did not
by any means work all that time. Besides the
half hour allowed for lunch, there was often a
good deal of time to wait while the machines were
being repaired. A "drag" took twenty minutes
to repair and serious trouble longer. Several stops
were sure to happen. The machines always ran
badly after midnight, she said, but denied that the
49
WOMEN AS MUNITION MAKERS
trouble came from the carelessness of the opera-
tors. Nevertheless she admitted that it was so
hard for her to keep awake that she had to sing
and sometimes shout to prevent falling asleep.
Workers on the day shift often complained that
because of the careless use of their machines by
workers on the night shift, they were forced to
waste time and thus lose pay while repairs were
being made.
A problem of domestic arrangements, arising
from night work, had been temporarily solved in
a large family consisting of a man and his wife,
Mr. and Mrs. B. (both working in munition fac-
tories), their four children, Mrs. B.'s sister-in-law
(also a munition worker), the latter's three-year-
old son, and a man lodger. The two women di-
vided the care of the house and children. Mrs.
B. worked from three in the afternoon until eleven,
while her sister-in-law's hours were from seven
in the morning until three. "Of course, we don't
get much chance to talk things over," Mrs. B.
said, in speaking of her sister-in-law, "unless I
can slip into her room at the shop before she goes
off at three, and then I can tell her what I want
the children to have for supper. She's nearly al-
ways in bed when I come home at night." The
story shows the abnormal effect of night work
on family life.
The only workers to whom the night shifts
seemed acceptable were married women who
wanted to take advantage of the chance to earn
good pay in "the shops," as the cartridge factory
50
HOURS OF LABOR
was usually called, but who had homes and fam-
ilies which needed their care during the daytime.
Of course, the household duties were neglected,
while the mother was making up her lost sleep.
Sometimes older children had to bear the brunt of
the housework and take care of the younger chil-
dren besides. One little girl of eleven whose moth-
er worked on an all-night shift swept the rooms,
washed the dishes and took charge of three young-
er children, including a baby of two years, while
the mother slept. In spite of the industry of the
young caretaker, the house was dirty and the chil-
dren sickly looking and peevish.
Night work for women, a ten-hour day, and a
fifty-five-hour week were all permitted under the
laws of Connecticut at the time of this investiga-
tion.* In 1913 a bill had been passed aiming to
prohibit night work in factories. The paragraph
concerning night work read as follows :
No person under sixteen years of age shall be employed
in any manufacturing or mechanical establishment after
six o'clock in the afternoon; and no such minor shall be
employed in any mercantile establishment after six o'clock
in the afternoon on more than one day in each calendar
week, except during the period from the seventeenth to
the twenty-fifth day of December of each year; and no
such minor and no female over sixteen years of age shall
be employed in any such establishment after ten o'clock
in the evening.
*This fact remains true as the report goes to press. Bills
prohibiting night work for women were proposed during the
session of 1916-17 in the Connecticut legislature, but they
failed of passage.
51
WOMEN AS MUNITION MAKERS
Time and the coming of the war showed that the
intention of the law was better than its wording.
Note the phrase "such establishment" in the last
clause in the singular. "Obviously," said the oppo-
nents of the measure, "it refers to a mercantile
establishment, just mentioned, and not to a manu-
facturing and mechanical establishment in the
more remote clause. Moreover, even if you think
it includes them both, it only prohibits work after
10 p. m. At midnight a new day begins and the
law says nothing about the hour in the day when
a woman may begin work. Presumably she may
begin when the clock has stopped striking twelve
at night." Taking advantage of this defect, the
munition companies, while awaiting a court deci-
sion to show whether the law applied to them at all,
decided to obey its strict letter but to avail them-
selves of its inexactitude. Girls began work at
6 p.m. on the night shift. At ten they stopped in
accordance with the statute designed to protect
them. For two hours they were free to amuse
themselves in the factory. At midnight they be-
gan work again, not to be released until six in
the morning. Several of the women interviewed
had worked on this shift. They stated that all the
women on the shift were greatly fatigued, and
one of them said that she had seen girls fall over
on the floor asleep at their work.
It was the judge of the court of the town of
Killingly who made unnecessary this complicated
observance of law by declaring that the prohibition
of night work applied only to mercantile estab-
52
HOURS OF LABOR
lishments and not to factories, and thereafter
nothing prevented the continuous employment of
women at night in any factories in the state.*
The neighboring states of Massachusetts and
New York prohibit night work. In New York
state the highest court in 1915 reversed its own
earlier decision and declared that the evidence
then before it showed that it was in the interest of
the public health and morals to insure for women
a period of rest at night.
In its official position toward night work the
United States has a lesson to learn from England.
In the early days of the war England, as has
been indicated, set aside the labor laws in order
to expedite the production of munitions of war.
Excessive hours of labor, night work and Sunday
work became common in the English factories. In
spite of the patriotic fervor with which English
women entered the workshops and undertook the
manufacture of munitions, fatigue accumulated
with the long hours and hard work. The output
became unsatisfactory in quantity. At last gov-
ernment officials, facing the fact that the end of
the war was likely to be very far off, and realizing
that England's working force must be conserved
for a long period of time, took up the problem
from the angle of health as well as of productiv-
ity. In September, 1915, a committee was ap-
pointed Bunder the Ministry of Munitions "to con-
* State vs. William Fittz. The decision was handed down
October 31, 1914, in the Town Court of Killingly, Conn., by
Judge H. E. Back.
S3
WOMEN AS MUNITION MAKERS
sider and advise on questions of industrial fatigue,
hours of labor and other matters affecting the
physical health and physical efficiency of workers
in munition factories and workshops."*
In the United States, in the workshops in which
vast amounts of war materials are being manu-
factured for the same conflict, no governmental
review has been made of the new industrial con-
ditions, except a study of occupational diseases
due to work on munitions conducted by the federal
Bureau of Labor Statistics. f Up to this hour
manufacturers here have been turning out goods
under conditions of work declared wasteful by
the English investigators. Employers have argued
that to work women as well as men at night was
the only way to reduce the cost of maintaining the
plants in order that they may yield a maximum
profit, and for the same reason Bridgeport em-
ployers seem to be lengthening daily hours. With
the nation's new responsibilities, with food likely
to be higher, with men workers in factories likely
to be fewer and with women assuming some of
their tasks, there should be no further delay in
getting full information about the extent and
effects of night work in munition plants all over
the country, the length of day and night shifts,
the provision for rest periods and the safeguards
against accidents and industrial poisoning.
*The reports of the Health of Munition Workers Com-
mittee are summarized in the second part of this book, pp.
y/"~lo/.
fU. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Bulletin 219. Indus-
trial Poisons Used or Produced in the Manufacture of Ex-
plosives, by Dr. Alice Hamilton. Washington, 1917.
CHAPTER V
WAGES
ALTHOUGH rumor exaggerated the pay actu-
ally received, wages in munition factories in
Bridgeport were in fact distinctly higher
than the old rates for unskilled operatives in Con-
necticut's principal industries before the war. The
reason is easily explained. The munition factories
were obliged to enlarge their plants. The work-
ing force had to be greatly increased, and it must
be done quickly to fill the urgent war orders. The
offer of higher wages was necessary not only to at-
tract employes away from other industries in
Bridgeport, but to bring in recruits from other
communities. The effect on workers, on other in-
dustries, and on the standards of the community
itself is an interesting chapter in social economy.
It should be remembered that the sudden expan-
sion followed a period of depression. When the
boom did come, it took no vivid imagination to
arouse in the workers a desire to share in the
expected windfall, especially as it followed a pe-
riod of dearth.
Some of the old employes of the cartridge fac-
tory were jealous of the newcomers who had not
served their apprenticeship of low wages, but on
the whole, the prevailing spirit was a good hu-
mored wish to let everybody have a share. This
was well expressed by an Irish girl who had
55
WOMEN AS MUNITION MAKERS
worked for twenty years in the cartridge factory
and was contented with the $8.00 wage which she
had earned at labeling. "0' course it's true that
the new girls that's comin' in make as much as me
who's been in the place comin' twenty years. Some
there is that take that as a cause o' complaimn'.
Some there is that ain't satisfied with anything
the good God gives them. I say to myself, 'If I'm
all right why not let the ithers in on the good
times too?' "
Employers in other industries were forced into
severe competition for labor, and some of them
tried to point out to prospective employes the su-
perior advantages of a normal trade over a war
boom. The alluring advertisements which ap-
peared in the daily newspapers at the time told the
story of the acute labor situation. One factory
advertised :
WANTED
Men and Women for Factory Work
HIGH WAGES PAID. WORK GOOD AND STEADY
Another advertisement ran :
WANTED— GIRLS
On Power Presses, Tapping Machines and Light,
Clean Assembling.
HIGH WAGES PAID TO BEGINNERS.
8 Hour Shop.
Others were:
WANTED
A few A-l Machinists, 48-Hour Shop
Saturday afternoons off.
56
WAGES
STEADY WORK FOR GOOD MECHANICS
Excellent opportunity for skilled
men to earn increasing bonus.
THIS IS NOT A WAR BOOM
OUR INDUSTRY IS CONSTANT.
Altogether, an outsider would probably have
concluded that for labor Bridgeport had become an
El Dorado. Manufacturers gravely commented on
the independence of their employes due to the ab-
normal demand for their services. "If you don't
like the way I work I can leave and get a job at
the munition shops," was said to be the retort of
the employe whose work was criticized or whose
demands were refused. Housewives saw in the sit-
uation a new explanation of the chronic shortage
in domestic servants. The older inhabitants re-
gretted the influx of "foreigners," the increasing
number of arrests, and the growth of cheap amuse-
ment places, and predicted dire consequences
to the morality of the city. Citizens com-
mented on the effect of the "fat pay envelopes"
on the working people. "They don't know
what to do with their money," said a Bridgeport
manufacturer in speaking of the higher wages
that "good times" had brought to his em-
ployes.
Yet the statistics of the weekly earnings
of women as shown in Table 10 do not give
the impression of an abnormally high rate of
pay.
57
WOMEN AS MUNITION MAKERS
TABLE 10.— WEEKLY EARNINGS OF WOMEN MUNITION
WORKERS INCLUDED IN THE INVESTIGATION
Women
Weekly earnings
Number
Per cent
Less than $8
1
.6
$8 and less than $9
17
10.4
$9 and less than $10
20
12.2
$10 and less than $11
45
27.5
$11 and less than $12
16
9.8
$12 and less than $13
40
24.4
$13 and less than $14
15
9.1
$14 and less than $15
5
3.0
$15 and less than $16
4
2.4
$16 or more
1
.6
Total
164°
100.0
Median weekly earnings
$10.97
"Information as to earnings is not available for one of the 165
women included in the investigation.
Only one of the 164 women whose earnings are
given in Table 10 earned less than $8.00 a week
as a rule, but half the workers earned less than
$11 a week. The exact median earnings were
$10.97. Six-tenths of one per cent earned $16 or
more.
These wages were undoubtedly high when com-
pared with the low level generally prevailing for
women in factories. In 1913 a special commission
which had been appointed to investigate the condi-
tion of employment of wage-earning women and
minors in Connecticut, made its report to the leg-
islature. Their data on wages showed that in that
period, just preceding the war, the median wage
for women in the cotton industry was $9.57, in
the manufacture of silk $7.65, in the making of
corsets $7.87, in the metal trade $7.43, and in
58
WAGES
manufacturing rubber $7.56.* No data are avail-
able to show what wages were paid in the cartridge
factory in 1913, but the general testimony indi-
cates an increase after the war began. Whether
or not workers were actually better off in 1916
than before the war can be ascertained by con-
sidering wages in comparison with the cost of
living. The inroads made by soaring rents and
the rapidly rising cost of food and other necessi-
ties are discussed in the following chapter.
New girls were generally paid a fixed day rate
until they learned how to do the work, but ex-
cept for this brief period the majority were paid
on a combination time and piece basis. A flat day
rate was paid for which a specified output was re-
quired and which became in effect a guaranteed
minimum. For production beyond the require-
ment, payment was on a piece basis so that a
premium was placed on large output. Some work-
ers, however, were paid altogether by piece rates
while some few others such as stock girls and in-
structors were regular week workers. In some
departments, however, according to the girls'
statements, no girl was allowed to make more than
a fixed sum. In the summer of 1915, when many
departments of the cartridge factory organized
the work in three shifts, beginning at 7 a.m., 3
p.m., and 11 p.m. respectively, a simultaneous ad-
vance was made in piece rates, making it usually
*State of Connecticut, Report of the Special Commission to
Investigate the Conditions of Wage Earning Women and
Minors in the State, 1913, p. 36.
59
WOMEN AS MUNITION MAKERS
possible to earn as much in eight hours as had
been earned formerly in ten. For night work a
small bonus was customarily paid.
Apparently the increases were not so great for
the clerical force. In one establishment an of-
ficial stated without qualification that the factory
force was better paid than the office. A girl who
was earning $11.50 a week heading shells spoke
regretfully of the sacrifices her family had made
in taking her sister out of the factory and giving
her a stenographer's training ; for the sister, back
in the shops as a stenographer, was earning only
50 cents a week more than the girl in the factory
who told the story.
As in the gaining of the eight-hour day, the
real test of the new standards secured for labor
by the sudden growth of an industry is their per-
manence. When once the larger force was organ-
ized, the eight-hour day was gradually lengthened.
So, during the summer of 1916, the management
appeared to be engaged in a policy of reducing
rates of pay. "We used to get 12^ cents a thou-
sand," said an inspector, "and that certainly did
make slick pay for a girl. But now they only give
us nine cents for the same work." Even where
piece rates were not reduced the tremendous speed
at which the machinery was driven, according to
the testimony of many of the girls, so injured the
machines that they could not turn out as much as
they used to. The continual stoppages for repairs
made big inroads on the workers' earning time.
Three munition workers in one family ascribed
60
WAGES
their decreased piece rates in the factory to the
competition of foreign girls. It seemed probable
that other factors were the desire of the man-
agement to cheapen the cost of production and the
inability of the workers to maintain the standard
of wages which had been won merely by the force
of circumstances.
The results of good pay are seldom ques-
tioned, especially by the people who receive it;
but in the case of the women munition workers of
Bridgeport, it has already been made clear that
serious issues have come up along with the high
rates of wages. In an attempt to fill the large
war orders as fast as possible, women have been
induced to work long hours and at night, and have
been put to work near or with explosives in ways
which sometimes mean accident, industrial poison-
ing or other illness.
It must not be forgotten also that along with
the good luck of the workers strong enough to
meet new demands for speed in industry, may go
increased distress for those members of the com-
munity unable to compete with the young and the
vigorous. In the annual report of the Board of
Public Charities of Bridgeport for 1915-16, occurs
this significant paragraph:
While a general increase in wages resulted from boom
conditions, yet the widowed, the physically handicapped
and the inefficient suffered. In the rush the poor were
institutionalized, while the border-line cases were sub-
merged.
Higher wages brought about through a general
61
WOMEN AS MUNITION MAKERS
leveling up of industrial standards are beneficial,
but higher wages due to a temporary boom are
sometimes danger signals. Their advantages may
be offset by a strain easily endured for a time,
but which in the long run may undermine the
health of workers and change the character of the
community. High wages lasting only a brief time
are not sufficient compensation for lowered stand-
ards in the other conditions of work.
In addition to wages that permanently insure
the fundamentals of life, and shop conditions
that insure the welfare of the worker, there are
other needs such as those of education and health
protection, transportation, and housing, which
must depend upon the collective resources of the
community. Bad housing, disregard of law and
order, the breakdown in civic responsibility jeop-
ardize the morale of a modern industrial town.
Thus the industry which through too rapid growth
has bewildered civic consciousness and rendered
municipal resources inadequate must be judged
not merely by its high wages, but by the sum
total of its influence on standards of living.
62
CHAPTER VI
THE WOMEN AT HOME
THE effect of a sudden overgrowth of popu-
lation on recreation, education, transporta-
tion, and especially housing, was clearly pic-
tured in the homes of munition workers. It was
impossible for lack of time to make a detailed bud-
get study. Nevertheless facts about the great dif-
ficulty workers had in finding a place to live and
the rapid rise in rents, and comments on the in-
creasing cost of other necessities, showed that its
industrial expansion had brought to the city large
problems not to be solved by individual action. In
so far as the households of the 100 girls living at
home may be considered typical, the incomes of
the families of munition workers were relatively
high. It is safe to assume that as a rule their in-
comes should have made it possible to secure com-
fortable and healthful living conditions. But even
though many of the families interviewed earned
much more than the amounts which are usually
described as "living wages" they often suffered
from a lack of housing accommodations, and of
educational and recreational facilities.
Weekly family incomes ranged from $10 a week
to $60 or more. Table 11 shows the significant
fact that in the group of 86 families who gave
full information concerning their earnings, only
27 had weekly incomes of less than $30. These
63
WOMEN AS MUNITION MAKERS
TABLE 11.— TOTAL WEEKLY INCOME IN FAMILIES OF
WOMEN MUNITION WORKERS INTERVIEWED, BY
NUMBER OF CONTRIBUTORS
Families having
All
Weekly income
1 con-
2 con-
3 con-
4 con-
5 con-
fam-
ilies
tribu-
tribu-
tribu-
tribu-
tribu-
tor
tors
tors
tors
tors
$10 and less than 815..
$15 and less than $20.
$20 and less than $25 .
4
1
3
16
'2
• •
•
7
1
12
$25 and less than $30 .
$30 and less than $35 .
6
4
1
5
"i
•
7
10
$35 and less than $40 .
2
2
i
,
5
$40 and less than $45 .
2
7
i
1
11
$45 and less than $50 . .
7
2
1
10
$50 and less than $55 . .
.
5
3
1
9
$55 and less than $60 . .
.
.
2
2
$60 or more
3
3
6
12
Total
5
27
32
13
9
86a
"Of the 100 families for which records were secured, 14 did not
give complete information on family incomes.
were all families with not more than three wage-
earners. The highest incomes were made pos-
sible by the combined contributions of several
workers. Exceptional even among the 12 fami-
lies whose weekly incomes are in the highest
class were the M's. The high wages of the four
working sons and daughters added to the father's
earnings as a machinist, totalled more than $4,000
a year, when they were all working steadily. They
made a picture of normal, happy family life, with
the mother caring for the household, and the two
youngest children in school. They lived in a large,
comfortable house, with a fruit and vegetable gar-
den beside it, and all the signs of prosperity were
in evidence.
Another family group with a yearly income of
over $4,000 was made up of three generations:
64
THE WOMEN AT HOME
a widow, her four children, two of whom had mar-
ried and come home to live, and her two grand-
children. Five of the family were wage-earners
(three in the munition shops), and the widowed
mother added to the income by subletting rooms
in an adjoining flat.
The women munition workers showed them-
selves to be generous contributors to the family
income, as Table 12 shows.
TABLE 12.— PROPORTION OF WEEKLY EARNINGS GIVEN
TO THE HOME BY WOMEN MUNITION WORKERS INTER-
VIEWED WHO WERE LIVING WITH THEIR FAMILIES
Per cent of earnings given to home
Women
Less than 25
25 and less than 50
50 and less than 75
75 and less than 100
100
1
15
22
10
49
Total
97a
°Of the 100 women interviewed, who were living with their
families, two did not give information on this point and one re-
ported only irregular contributions to the home.
Almost exactly one-half of those who reported
on this point turned all of their earnings into the
family purse. Many of the younger workers
seemed to recognize an unquestioned filial duty in
giving their pay envelopes unopened to their moth-
ers. On the other hand, the dependence of many
of the families upon the women workers gave
them an important position in directing family
life. Even young girls, on account of their earn-
ing capacity, had a controlling hand in making
family plans.
An example of the importance of the woman's
65
WOMEN AS MUNITION MAKERS
contribution to the family income is seen in the
eventful history of a young English couple. The
husband had come from England to Bridgeport
eight years before, and sent for his wife and child
to follow him. Hard times soon came, and his
wife told of the terrible days when her husband
could get only two or three days' work a week,
and when they had to make the pay of $4.50 cover
the week's expenses for themselves and their baby,
with the added anxiety about how they could man-
age when the next baby came. The hard times
passed, but after two more children were born
the husband again found himself unable to provide
for all their wants. He was not a skilled work-
man, and he began to fear that his wages could
never keep pace with the increasing family de-
mands. His wife came to the rescue, and while
she was earning $9.00 a week on the night shift
he was advancing from the work of a machinist's
helper by a series of regular promotions which
would eventually bring him a position as a ma-
chinist. In the meantime, by using their joint earn-
ings, they had been able to move into one of the
company's new apartment houses, where they were
enjoying the hardwood floors, bathroom, set tubs,
electric lights, and gas for cooking. "It's 'eaven
compared with the old place we used to live in,'*
said the wife.
The pretty young bride of a recently appointed
officer on the police force had left the factory
when she married, but her "boss" sent for her to
come back, and on account of the good pay she
66
THE WOMEN AT HOME
returned. The weekly income of more than $30
permitted the couple to live comfortably in a flat
so neat and orderly that it might have passed for
a model in an exhibition. Cut glass shone from
the sideboard, and even the floor was polished.
Mrs. B. said that she and her husband took turns
by weeks in keeping the floors in order and in
doing the heavy cleaning.
The facts about income have already shown that
in the majority of families reporting on this point
three or more wage-earners contributed to the
maintenance of the home. As a rule the munition
workers belonged to fairly large families. The
average number of members, in the 100 families
investigated, was 5.1. Two families had 14
members each, but with these exceptions the fam-
ily groups were composed of not more than 12
persons. In many of the smaller families no male
wage-earner was found. The age and sex of the
wage-earners are shown in Table 13.
Eighty-nine per cent of the male heads of fam-
ilies, 100 per cent of other males sixteen or over,
and 68 per cent of the women sixteen or over, were
at work when the investigation was made. Only
five out of the 15 children between fourteen
and sixteen were at work, a fact which may be
partly accounted for by the lack of demand in the
munition shops for children of those ages. None
of the children under fourteen were at work. Of
the 286 wage-earners sixteen or over in these fami-
lies, 179 or 62.6 per cent were employed in muni-
tion shops.
67
WOMEN AS MUNITION MAKERS
TABLE 13.— PERSONS GAINFULLY EMPLOYED AMONG
MEMBERS OF 100 FAMILIES OF WOMEN MUNITION
WORKERS INTERVIEWED, BY AGE AND SEX
Age and sex
All
persons
in
families
Persons gainfully
employed
Number
As a per
cent of all
persons
Male heads of families
Other males 16 years of age or
more
Females 16 years of age or
more
Children 14 years of age and
less than 16
Children less than 14 years of
age
61
58
256
15
120
54
58
174
5
89
100
68
33
Total
510
291
57
The advantages of the comparatively high in-
comes brought in by the employment of so many
wage-earners in each family, were in part offset
by the conditions of living. The families of muni-
tion workers were quite ready to talk of the soar-
ing rents. In some cases it had meant the hard-
ship of family separation. One widowed mother
who worked on the night shift in the shops was
not able to keep her home for her four children.
Three of them were put in an orphan asylum, and
she took the youngest with her and went to board
with a relative.
Stories of the hardships of the rent situation
found their way into the papers. They told of
one woman with six children, whose husband had
recently been moved to a sanitarium and who com-
plained to the city clerk that her rent was raised
from $17 to $18, the next month to $19, and two
months later to $24. When she made the com-
68
THE WOMEN AT HOME
plaint she had just been notified that the rent
was about to be raised once more. Another tenant,
living in a four-room apartment in a three-family
house, was ordered out because he could not af-
ford to pay $25 a month. Within seven months
the rent had already been raised from $16 to $20.
The three large families in the house were com-
pelled to use one toilet, and there were no bath
tubs or wash tubs in the house.
Even a long record as desirable tenants often
did not free a family from the rent-raising bug-
bear. An English-born mother and daughter had
lived for twenty-five years in the same house, and
had the pride of long possession in their flat. The
mother had also been a munition worker in her
youth, and remembered the founder of the shops.
It was distressing to have a speculator buy the
house and raise the rent from $12 to $14, and
later to $16. It was then sold to an Italian with
the understanding that the rents were $18, and
naturally the new owner insisted upon having that
amount paid.
At one time it was rumored that landlords were
very generally refusing to take families with more
than one child, and even a family composed of two
or three adults found it hard to get a "rent." One
young married couple, with an income of $18 a
week from the husband's work as loader at the
cartridge shop, could not find a flat they could af-
ford, and lived for the first months of their mar-
ried life in one room, with the furniture they had
bought for their new home stacked about them.
69
WOMEN AS MUNITION MAKERS
One family was found in utter despair. The
house in which they lived was to be sold to a Hun-
garian who could not speak English. They were
obliged to move. The old mother, when inter-
viewed, had just returned from a search for a
rent. She had first hunted in the neighborhood in
which they had long lived with their friends, and
where they wished to remain. Failing to find
anything there, she had searched the city and final-
ly gone to look at the company houses, but the
only apartments for rent there rented for $35, a
sum entirely beyond the means of a family in
which the three young daughters were the only
wage-earners. They would have to "clear out" in
a few days, and the chance of finding anything
they could afford seemed small.
Another family which had been living in one of
a group of rather decrepit four-family houses on
the outskirts of the city, had its rent for five rooms
raised within a year from $8.00 to $16.00. This
family found that the way out was to move to one
of the nearby beaches, preferring a small cold
beach cottage to the struggle for space in the city.
Other families also solved the problem in the same
way. In the fall of 1915, when people who had
been staying at the shore for the hot months at-
tempted to return to the city, rooms were so hard
to get that many decided to stay where they
were. They put up extra stoves in the flimsily
constructed cottages and shacks and prepared
to spend the winter months at the shore. The
season was a severe one and they suffered from
70
THE WOMEN AT HOME
cold. But the frequent snow and ice, the lack
of proper sanitary and heating arrangements and
the long car ride to their work, were not the only
drawbacks to healthful home life. The usual
cheap summer amusement places still flourished
and exercised distinctly undesirable influ-
ences.
Not only did the old residents of Bridgeport suf-
fer hardships from the housing shortage and the
boom in rents, but newcomers found it difficult,
if not impossible, to secure living quarters. Many
stories were told of men who had come to work in
the munition plants, but who after a short stay
had been forced to return because they could
find no home to which they might bring their
families.
Bridgeport is proud of her tree-lined streets on
which are modest one- and two-family houses, set
back from the sidewalks, in yards many of which
contain good-sized grass plots, hedges, and trees.
Some of these houses are owned by the families
who live in them, people who regarded themselves
as fortunate when they saw their neighbors forced
to leave their rented homes and go to live in the
crowded three-decker wooden tenements permitted
by the old law. The building code of 1915 forbade
the construction of the latter type, but just before
its passage row after row of flimsy structures was
erected, to accommodate* f rom three to 12 fam-
ilies in each building. The foreign-born people
were usually found in the neighborhoods where the
three-deckers abounded.
71
WOMEN AS MUNITION MAKERS
The tendency of the one-family house to give
way to the multiple dwelling was exemplified in a
comparison of the types of houses occupied by the
100 families of munition workers investigated.
Only 24 families lived in single houses. Twenty-
seven of the remaining 76 families lived in two-
family houses, a type now common in Bridgeport.
Almost all of the other families were in three-,
four-, or six-family houses.
Twenty-three of the 100 families owned their
homes, and in some instances they held other
property besides. A German family valued their
seven-room house at $4,500 and were waiting to
sell it for that amount so that they could move to
a 260-acre farm which they owned in the nearby
country. A mother and daughter had divided
their old homestead into four apartments, keeping
one for themselves.
Table 14 shows the rent paid by the families of
munition workers interviewed.
Within the city itself all available accommoda-
tions were made use of, and munition workers
were found living in every section. (See map
showing location of homes of women munition
workers, frontispiece.) The rent paid varied with
the locality, the type of house, and the number of
rooms occupied. The majority of the 100 families
were living in rented houses or flats. In more
than one-half of the rent-paying families the
amount paid per month was $16 or more. As a
rule families occupied at least four rooms. Four
families had houses of 10 rooms each, and paid at
72
THE WOMEN AT HOME
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B«
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PQ
aS
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02 W
is
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73
WOMEN AS MUNITION MAKERS
least $20 a month for rent for the ample accom-
modations.
Viewed from metropolitan standards the rents
cited are perhaps not exorbitant, but for Bridge-
port families they were contrasted not with rents
in other cities, but with the markedly lower
rents of a year before. The most usual increase
in the monthly rent was $2.00 or $2.50 in the
course of the year, although it ranged as high as
$8.00, $9.00 or $10.00 in some cases. Twelve
families had had to pay an increase of between 20
and 30 per cent and eight had had their rents
raised by 50 per cent or more of the amount which
they were paying a year before. The median in-
crease was 22 per cent.
Again and again householders said that they did
not dare to ask for badly needed repairs because
they feared that their request would only be made
an occasion for extortionate advances. The situ-
ation was of course hardest on families with high
standards of living. "The Italians and Hungari-
ans can stand the high rents because they can
crowd together," said one American woman.
With the rapidly increasing rents, overcrowding
was inevitable. A Hungarian family of 11
persons, five of them children under fourteen, oc-
cupied four rooms in a flimsy "three-decker" in the
rear of a dirty court. Another Hungarian family
crowded its 14 members into four rooms in still
another three-decker. The amount of space per
person in the homes of the women interviewed is
shown in Table 15.
74
THE WOMEN AT HOME
TABLE 15. — PERSONS PER ROOM IN FAMILIES OF WOMEN
MUNITION WORKERS INTERVIEWED
Persons per room
Families
Not more than 1
More than 1 and not more than 1 Yi
More than 1 Yi and not more than 2
More than 2
62
27
9
2
Total
100
The heavy demand for houses and the conse-
quent congestion were reflected in the fact that
11 families were living under such crowded condi-
tions that each family averaged more than one
and one-half persons to each room.
Clearly Bridgeport was not an Arcadia for the
hundred families studied in this investigation.
Although they represented high incomes as well
as low, increased rents and high prices absorbed
much of the surplus in even the well-to-do fam-
ilies.
While the more prosperous families were able
to give their children business or high school train-
ing some of the poorer ones were barely able to
provide the necessaries of life. In other instances
they failed to do even that and were obliged to
resort to public charity. This was the case in
certain families who had no male wage-earner.
Each month it became less possible to pare down
other items in order to pay the high rents, since
all the necessities of life were becoming more ex-
pensive. Less meat, less bread, less milk were to be
had for a dollar than formerly. "New York has
nothing on us for high prices," said a woman
75
WOMEN AS MUNITION MAKERS
who kept account of her daily expenses and had
just compared it with her brother's in the larger
city. "The prices here in Bridgeport are some-
thing fierce," was the comment of a loader who
had only himself and his young wife to provide
for. "Only four days ago I brought home $20
which should have lasted a week. Now there's only
$2.10 left."
High prices were reflected not only in the stor-
ies of girls living at home, but affected also the
women who were boarding or living away from
their families.
Alice had been a salesgirl in a Massachusetts
city for six years before she decided to come to
Bridgeport in 1915 to work in the cartridge shops.
Here she earned $11 a week, paid $2.50 a week
for her room and took her breakfast and supper
at a nearby boarding house. Her expenses for
lodging and food, including her lunch, came to
more than $6.00 a week. In her opinion with the
cost of clothes, carfare, washing and all other ne-
cessities, no girl could live in Bridgeport on less
than she made.
Mary was a frail woman of forty, quite alone
in the world, who rented a five-room apartment
and to meet the cost of living sublet three of her
rooms to lodgers, — three men and three women.
When visited, she was recuperating from a se-
rious illness which still, after four weeks at the
hospital and at home, had left her too weak to
return to work. Though her earnings as a rule
came to $10 a week, without the income from her
76
THE WOMEN AT HOME
lodgers she could not have made both ends meet
during her sickness. The $10 a week when she
was well did not permit sufficient savings for ill-
ness.
Mrs. P. had been forced to go back into the fac-
tory after she had divorced her husband. For
$3.00 a week she rented a furnished room from a
woman who allowed her to prepare her own break-
fast and do some laundry work in the kitchen. She
bought her supper in a restaurant where one could
get a "real good meal" for 25 cents. She made
$13 a week and was able to save for the rainy day
which she believed was sure to come.
Mrs. S. was a capable worker of more than fif-
teen years' experience in munition making. She
began work at sixteen and except for the brief in-
terval of her married life had been working ever
since in several different departments. She had
no dependent persons to care for and had found
a comfortable home with friends who lived in an
attractive new house near one of the parks. For
this she paid $5.00 a week. Her regular $13 a
week for instructing the young inspectors gave
her security and enabled her to put by a little each
week after she had paid for her board and other
expenses.
Helen was a girl of nineteen who, left alone in
the world by the death of both parents, had been
at work ever since she was fourteen years old.
For nearly four years before she went into muni-
tion making she had worked in a novelty and paper
box factory, never earning more than $7.50 a
77
WOMEN AS MUNITION MAKERS
week. During the year in which she had been in
the shops her wages had increased from $7.85 to
$10 a week. She inspected paper shells, an occu-
pation which she said was a strain for girls whose
eyes were not strong. She spoke enthusiastically
of the shops and said that the foremen were espe-
cially considerate of girls whom they knew to be
alone and dependent on themselves. She was
boarding with a friend whom she had known for
a long time and therefore paid only $4.00 a week
for board.
It is not surprising that some of these workers
should have been able to live on a lower wage
than others. On the whole, however, for girls
away from home, $10 or $11 seemed to be neces-
sary for a fair standard, unless a girl lived with
friends who gave her board and lodging at less
than commercial rates. At $13 saving was pos-
sible. It should be recalled that half the women
workers investigated earned less than $11.
The effect of rising rents and overcrowding on
the burden of poverty in Bridgeport is reflected in
the annual report of the Board of Public Charities
for 1915-16.
The overcrowding of homes has been the outstanding
feature of the year's events in Bridgeport. The effects
of this condition have manifested themselves in problems
of (a) immorality and illegitimacy, (b) the sheltering of
evicted families in institutions pending adjustment, (c)
increased hospital care.
The abnormal inflation of rent values caused much
misery. It was formerly possible to find a fair rent for
78
THE WOMEN AT HOME
$12. Rents sometimes doubled in value as the demand
increased. Wholesale evictions of the poor followed.
Families were broken up. Children were placed in insti-
tutions. Attendant upon this was the loss of home ideals
and standards.
The report of the city physician for the same
year gives similar testimony.
Too many people are living in inadequate homes, sleep-
ing spaces being limited, houses too closely built, shutting
out light and air and resulting in poor ventilation and
sanitation. Basement rooms are copious breeders of state
and city charges. Landlords rent these rooms in order
to make real estate pay and care little for the general
welfare and the city's health.
Room congestion is a prolific source of trouble. Bear
in mind that twenty-five per cent of the tubercular cases
come from homes and rooming houses that are classed
as overcrowded. Of course, poor housing and overcrowd-
ing are not being set forth as the only cause of tubercu-
losis; nevertheless, they have an important bearing upon
the matter, and are the contributing factors that we can
help remove and control — and, therefore, are subjects
which we should have seriously in mind with a definite ob-
jective viewpoint.
To accommodate the increasing number of girls
in the munition plants, three large buildings of the
dormitory type were started by the Remington
Arms-Union Metallic Cartridge Company. The
plans provided for excellent construction and the
buildings have a commanding site overlooking the
city, but construction was greatly delayed.
Not until March 23, 1917, was the first of these
79
WOMEN AS MUNITION MAKERS
dormitories opened for occupancy, and at that
time work was still to be done before the full quota
of 127 girls could be accommodated. By the end
of May, 1917, 75 women workers were living in
the one dormitory, which even then was not quite
completed, while the other two were still in the
hands of carpenters and plasterers. The build-
ings are three stories high, of fireproof construc-
tion and attractive appearance. There were a
large number of double rooms for which each of
the two girls who occupied them paid $2.00 a week.
Single rooms might be had for $3.00, and space in
an open dormitory on the top floor for $1.75 a
week. These rates included light, heat, bed linen,
and towels, and care of the room. Each room had
a built-in wooden wardrobe, and metal lockers
were provided in the open dormitory. The rooms
were neatly furnished in gray "cottage" furniture
— a chiffonier with mirror, a writing table, a
chair, and a couch bed. The walls were untinted
white plaster, which gave the rooms a rather bare
look, but the two windows which were found in
most of them provided abundant sunshine and
air. Each floor had two lavatories, each equipped
with one bath, one shower, two toilets and six
wash basins. In the basement was a cafeteria
where breakfast and dinner were served at mod-
erate rates. Lunch would be "put up" for those
girls who wished to take it with them to the fac-
tory. A "fudge kitchen" on the second floor,
reading and reception rooms with magazines and
Victrola on the main floor, and a room for dancing
80
THE WOMEN AT HOME
in the basement which was equipped with a piano
were provided for recreation. There was also a
laundry in the basement for the use of the girls.
The efforts of this one company as early as 1916,
however, were seen not to be sufficient, and it was
clear that in the interest of public health some
action by voluntary associations or by city or state
would be needed.
81
CHAPTER VII
PROGRAMS OF CITY AND STATE
THE facts of this investigation show what may
happen as the result of a rapid expansion of
any industry in any community at any time.
When a national or an international crisis brings
the need and the incentive for maximum produc-
tion the tendency is to lower the standard of work-
ing conditions, in forgetfulness of the crucial fact
that the conservation of the health and freedom
of the workers is a fundamental necessity for the
nation. Even the desire for maximum production
cannot be fulfilled if the workers' strength be un-
dermined. This is not theory. It is based on ob-
servation and experience and is poignantly illus-
trated by the sobering results of England's experi-
ence in the present war.* Night work for women,
long hours by day, fatigue with its insidious ef-
fects on the powers of resistance to disease, speed
and strain, a sudden growth in population, diffi-
culties in transportation, inadequate facilities for
recreation, congestion and overcrowding in the
homes of the people, with their inevitable results
in disease and immorality, lowered standards of
living with rising costs, — these are the conditions
from which Bridgeport has suffered. Since this
investigation was completed they have become, not
a possible future local problem of certain indus-
trial centers, but a. present condition of conse-
* See Part II, pp. 97-145.
82
CITY AND STATE PROGRAMS
quence to the whole nation. Everywhere, in the
papers, in the legislatures, in workingmen's bodies,
and in welfare associations of citizens the question
is being discussed : "How can we maintain maxi-
mum production at the minimum human and social
cost?"
How Bridgeport as a city has met its new in-
dustrial and civic conditions should, therefore,
be set down as a practical guide for other com-
munities.
In the old days, under the old order, as in most
American towns, Bridgeport merchants and manu-
facturers went their several ways intent on mak-
ing and selling goods, leaving to the mayor and
the board of aldermen and the party bosses behind
them all concern for the housekeeping of the city.
But the new and unique conditions roused a new
spirit. The merchants and manufacturers, the
educators and the physicians, the Chamber of
Commerce, civic and philanthropic associations
united for action. They got expert advice and
went to work. They found that they had to
grapple with fundamentals. It was like build-
ing the city over again. It needed sewers
and bridges. The citizens needed pavements on
which to walk, cars in which to ride. The chil-
dren needed schools and parks. Workers needed
houses and the sick better hospital care. Money
had to be got to do these things. The first step,
therefore, was to appropriate funds. In April,
1916, a proposition providing for the largest bond
issues in the history of the city was submitted to
83
WOMEN AS MUNITION MAKERS
the voters and carried. The issues provided for
were as follows:
Purpose Amount
Pavements $ 500,000
Schools 300,000
Sewers 500,000
Bridges 250,000
Police and Fire Departments 125,000
Public clinic 75,000
Parks 275,000
Street extension . 250,000
Total issue $2,275,000
A recreation commission was appointed which
looked beyond the enlargement of the beautiful
park along the Sound and the smaller parks
throughout the city and undertook the big prob-
lem of all-the-year-round recreation. The crowds
of young men and women who loitered along the
streets when the working day was done, the lines
stretching a block in either direction waiting to
get into the overtaxed movies, the throngs rush-
ing for cars to take them to the nearby beaches,
these were the people who made urgent better
recreational opportunities of the city. The com-
mission obtained expert assistance, securing a
representative of the Playground and Recreation
Association of America to survey the situation in
Bridgeport and to give advice.
Behind the appointment of the recreation com-
mission was the report of the vice commission,
84
CITY AND STATE PROGRAMS
which had laid bare some of the secrets of the un-
derworld, and had strongly urged the appointment
of a body to provide opportunities for healthful
amusement and exercise.
In the early summer of 1916 the vital question
of public health forced itself upon the attention
of the city. Cases of streptococcic infection, at-
tributed to the milk supply, spread alarm through-
out the city, and brought forth determined efforts
to locate the source of the trouble and to secure
clean milk. Closely upon this followed the dan-
ger of an epidemic of infantile paralysis, which
was rife in New York City. No time was lost in
securing the services of an expert. Dr. Abraham
Sophian, of the Rockefeller Institute, was put in
charge of the work of the Board of Health in
the summer of 1916. Protective measures were
at once enforced and it is believed that the prompt
and thorough work of the department saved the
lives of many children.
Another far-reaching benefit to the city came
from the general clean-up and the educational
health work done by the inspectors and visiting
nurses of the Board of Health. The daily press
of those weeks reflected the citizens* growing ap-
preciation of the need of adequate protection of
the public health, and the sum which was voted in
April, 1916, for public clinics is now considered
inadequate for the up-to-date out-service work
which is planned to supplement hospital care.
Nothing better illustrates the new spirit that
captured the city in 1916 than the Minerva-like
85
WOMEN AS MUNITION MAKERS
appearance of its life-sized Chamber of Commerce,
which undertook a program for providing houses
in which working people could live comfortably,
terminal and track facilities to accommodate the
enormously increased freight traffic, and street ex-
tensions for the crowded thoroughfares.
The housing campaign was the most vigorous
undertaking of the Chamber of Commerce. Its
members believed that the filling of this need was
the key to the continued prosperity of Bridgeport.
Long before the influx of labor and the demand
for house-room had disclosed its insufficient re-
sources, it had become clear that the city was not
immune from the common housing problems of
our eastern manufacturing centers. The Bridge-
port Housing Association had been formed in 1914
to make a serious study of the situation and to set
its dangers before the eyes of the public. Under
the auspices of the Association, Miss Udetta D.
Brown made a study of three districts of the city
in March, April, and May, 1914, the results of
which were published by the Association in a small
volume entitled A Brief Survey of Housing Con-
ditions in Bridgeport, Connecticut. The report
dealt mainly with construction, fire protection,
sanitation and maintenance, and concluded with
the recommendations that such a service as that
of visiting housekeeper should be provided, that
vacant yards should be transformed into gardens,
and that a housing company should undertake the
building of good small houses. In addition it rec-
ommended that the city should require the record-
86
CITY AND STATE PROGRAMS
ing of vaults and cesspools, collect ashes and rub-
bish, extend the sewers, provide additional inspec-
tors, establish a city code, and strengthen existing
provisions.
Largely as a result of this investigation and of
the continued activities of the Bridgeport Housing
Association in carrying on a publicity campaign,
a new code was adopted in the spring of 1915,
containing an important provision aimed at the
common three-decker tenements. The restriction
was as follows:
No frame building shall be hereafter erected or altered
over two stories in height, or to be occupied by more than
four families. But nothing herein shall be taken to pre-
vent the construction of blocks of frame buildings sep-
arated by fire walls as specified in this Code.*
This section has since been modified to permit
raising frame buildings on a brick foundation, by
adding the following provision :
Nor shall this ordinance be construed to prevent the
raising of any two-story frame building heretofore erected
by constructing thereunder a first story of brick when
the proposed plan of alteration complies in all other re-
spects with the ordinance of this city and will not in the
opinion of the Board of Building Commissioners, if car-
ried out, endanger the public safety; and provided that
in no case shall the first story in any building so altered
be used for dwelling purposes. f
As already described, the demand for labor in
*Building Code of the City of Bridgeport, Chapter XIII,
Section 233.
fAmendment of March 20, 1916.
87
WOMEN AS MUNITION MAKERS
1915 gave a different aspect to the housing situa-
tion. Even had the extensive system of company
houses started by the Remington Arms-Union
Metallic Cartridge Company been completed the
whole number would have been only a fraction of
that required.
When the Chamber of Commerce undertook its
housing campaign in 1916, it sent representatives
to study housing projects in other cities, and
charged them to distinguish paying investments
from the "fancy" experiments of semi-philan-
thropic agencies. Bridgeport meant to conduct
her municipal business efficiently and in a busi-
ness-like way. The services of Mr. John Nolen,
city planner, were secured, and the housing com-
mittee of the Chamber of Commerce proceeded to
act on the recommendations given in the report
on local housing conditions prepared by him, and
submitted in August, 1916.
Mr. Nolen stated that the situation in Bridge-
port was "desperate" and recommended the organ-
ization of a house building company as "the only
good solution of the problem." The Bridgeport
Housing Company was formed, capitalized at
$1,000,000 and backed by several of the most prom-
inent and public-spirited citizens in the city. The
plans called for houses to accommodate 1,000
families, with rents ranging from $15 to $25 a
month.
Bridgeport's awakening had found its way into
advertisements which had appeared during the
spring in the papers in the name of the Build for
88
CITY AND STATE PROGRAMS
Bridgeport Movement. A number of the exhorta-
tions follow :
GET-TOGETHER WEEK
We are waking up in Bridgeport. Some of us are a
little dazzled by seeing what was before our eyes all the
time.
A lot of us are asleep, yet a sort of restless, active,
hypnotic sleep, caused by keeping our eyes fixed on the
next dollar in front of us.
Those who are awake are looking ahead to many more
dollars than are now in sight, a steady secure stream
of them made permanent by a stable prosperity governed
by intelligence, by fair play, by honest work.
We are not going to have this gambler's prosperity
handed to us on a silver platter indefinitely. And we can't
club it out of each other, when there isn't enough to go
round, even if we are silly enough to try it. ...
Remember always that the value of a dollar isn't meas-
ured by the figure 1 with a sign before it. Its measure is
what you can get for it, the work you can make it do for
you.
The biggest work a dollar can do for you just now is to
build homes that will pay.
It is going to take many dollars — all we can spare.
Big men in Bridgeport are giving their brains and
knowledge to the problem, and they will lend their money.
They can't do it all. It isn't fair to Bridgeport nor to
us to let them do it all. It's part of our job.
All of us must join in and DO IT NOW.
By this time we all know where we stand; if we have
two good feet and a head of our own we can balance on
top of them.
89
WOMEN AS MUNITION MAKERS
Let's agree right now to go into partnership with our
own town and work like honest, loyal partners.
BE FOR BRIDGEPORT
As to the Bridgeport Housing Company, it was
announced that the methods which it would em-
ploy in its operations were :
1. Scientific planning along advanced lines,
which should determine the character and arrange-
ment of roads and houses, and thereby secure the
best and cheapest results.
2. Wholesale operations and efficient manage-
ment, thereby effecting economies in construction.
3. The use of durable materials, thereby sav-
ing the serious depreciation in cheap frame dwell-
ings.
4. Limiting the number of houses per acre,
thereby avoiding the evils of overcrowding.
5. Providing for community buildings and
playgrounds, thereby promoting the social life of
the neighborhood.
6. Eliminating excessive profits, the earnings
above 6 per cent to be used for the benefit and de-
velopment of the property.
7. Distributing payments for a home over a
period of years, thereby bringing it within the
reach of all who desire to improve their home con-
ditions.
8. Assisting the workingman to own his home
by providing a financial scheme of small regular
payments within the limits of his wages.
Bridgeport has had good reason to be proud of
90
CITY AND STATE PROGRAMS
her accomplishments. Faced with emergencies
which taxed her resources beyond their limits, she
set herself vigorously and persistently to her tasks.
The newly self-conscious city saw that her future
growth should be through ordered progress. She
has formed the habit of securing expert advice.
She has already begun to reach higher standards
of public health, of schools, of recreation, and of
housing.
Accomplishment of these civic tasks, excellent
as they are, does not, however, cover all that
Bridgeport must yet do for the good of the com-
munity. Daily living outside the factory may be
made richer and happier and more healthful by
these civic activities, but the improvement in in-
dustrial conditions has not been part of the pro-
gram of the city. Women still work at night, a
lamentable reversion, and protection against acci-
dent and industrial diseases in munition shops is
still inadequate, as is the amount of compensation
for disability due to injuries. Connecticut has
many statutes regulating industry, but this study
shows that they have been of little avail in con-
trolling working conditions in the munition fac-
tories, and that both the provisions of the law and
their enforcement should be strengthened.
Frequent reference has been made in these
pages to the experience of England in discovering
that satisfactory production depended upon rea-
sonably short hours, one day of rest in seven, and
good working conditions in the plant. In the fol-
lowing section the results of these investigations
91
WOMEN AS MUNITION MAKERS
by the British Ministry of Munitions are summa-
rized. Their findings, taken in connection with
the facts discovered in Bridgeport before the war
began, show that it has now become a matter of
urgent, national need to safeguard conditions of
work not only in the munition industry, but in all
occupations essential to the life of the nation.
92
I
1
1
93
MUNITION WORKERS IN
ENGLAND AND FRANCE
A SUMMARY OF REPORTS
ISSUED BY THE BRITISH
MINISTRY OF MUNITIONS
BY HENRIETTE R. WALTER
MUNITION WORKERS IN ENGLAND
OUT of the exigencies of the great war there
have developed in England striking indus-
trial problems. After nearly a year of waste-
ful production that exhausted men and machinery,
government officials realized that instead of
"sprinting as if for a short race, the course would
be a long one" ; and that the labor power of the na-
tion should be as zealously safeguarded as its mili-
tary strength. The futility of helter-skelter haste
was dramatically brought home to all England by
the famous shell shortage in the spring of 1915,
for which Kitchener was blamed. It was a case of
the situation's running away with those who
should have controlled it. The sudden call for
large amounts of clothing, munitions, food, and
other necessities of war time, had taken the manu-
facturers completely by surprise, and the rush to
fill orders demoralized industrial conditions.
Overtime became the rule, night work and Sun-
day work were common. Trade unions saw the
gains of years swept away. Nearly a year was
gone before the government assumed responsi-
bility for organizing the huge business of making
war supplies, and almost another year was re-
quired to complete an organization which was
efficient.
The crux of the situation was of course in the
munition industry. August, 1914, found the na-
tion without enough guns, shells and other war
97
MUNITION .WORKERS IN ENGLAND
equipment to carry on its great military opera-
tions -and with no way to get them quickly or in
large volume. In response to the unprecedented
demand for these materials had come an imme-
diate expansion of the industry, which soon ex-
hausted the supply of skilled men and forced
employers to recruit their workers from the ranks
of the unskilled, both men and women. Stimu-
lated by the exhortations of the press and of cab-
inet officers and by the public sentiment generally,
the expansion proceeded, but without effective
organization or control until the spring of 1915.
In the meantime the problem in England had
changed during the last six months of 1914 from
a serious unemployment situation in July and Au-
gust to a definite shortage of labor in December.
Early in 1915 a campaign was planned to recruit
workers, and conferences were urged to settle the
grievances of those already at work. In Febru-
ary a committee was appointed to deal with the
disputes constantly arising. In March the Board
of Trade planned a mobilization of women to do
the work of men who had been called to the front,
which brought immediate response. In that same
month Lloyd George, then Chancellor of the Ex-
chequer, effected a truce with the trade unions
which should last through the war, and secured
for the government, through the passage of the
Defense of the Realm Act, the right to comman-
deer any factory and turn it over to the produc-
tion of war munitions. Finally, in April, after
eight and a half months of war, it was announced
MUNITION WORKERS IN ENGLAND
that Lloyd George would head a board "to organ-
ize the national output of munitions of war,"
and about a month later, at the time of the for-
mation of the Coalition Cabinet in May, 1915, a
Ministry of Munitions was created, with Lloyd
George as its chief.
This step gained, a program of action was de-
cided upon. A munition bureau was organized;
all factories making war material were placed
under the control of the government ; skilled work-
men at the front were recalled to work in muni-
tion plants ; men in the colonies and in the United
States, experienced in the making of munitions,
were offered free transportation to England; a
suspension of union rules was brought about, and
finally, in July, 1915, the passage of the Munitions
of War Act effected. This bill prohibited strikes
and lockouts in war industries, substituted com-
pulsory arbitration, and suspended all trade union
rules calculated to hamper production. On the
other hand, as a concession to labor in recognition
of the sacrifices it was making, the profits of
employers were limited, and amounts in excess re-
verted to the national treasury. Provision was
also made under the act for the recruiting by the
trade unions of a voluntary army of workmen
from among their members who would sign agree-
ments to go to work wherever their labor was
needed. The existing local munition committees
were transformed into labor courts, with power
to fine individual workmen for "slacking," for in-
fraction of agreements signed by them as mem-
99
MUNITION WORKERS IN ENGLAND
bers of the voluntary army of workmen, and for
any offenses "tending to restrict production," and
with the further power to make decisions in re-
gard to changes in existing wage rates.
By this time workers on munitions saw them-
selves stripped of all rights and safeguards that
had been theirs in time of peace. Confusion
reigned in the industry. In the first burst of pa-
triotic fervor, everything had been sacrificed to
speed. Labor laws had broken down; excessive
hours of work prevailed. Thousands of women,
many of them totally unaccustomed to factory
work, had taken up the tasks of the men who were
fighting. Employers, taking advantage of the fine
spirit in which the women offered their labor to
the nation, were in many cases paying very low
wages. Labor unions were dissatisfied with the
setting aside of their rules, and especially with the
so-called "dilution" of labor. The country fairly
seethed with threatened and active labor disturb-
ances.
The Munitions Act seemed to aggravate rather
than to appease this dissatisfaction. The muni-
tion courts, especially, appeared to antagonize the
trade unionist, because of biased administration
of the provisions of the Act. On account of the
power of employers to refuse discharge certificates
to their employes, workers could be kept wageless
and idle for weeks at a time, or be forced to ac-
cept wages far below the standard rates, or be
compelled to work excessive overtime, at night or
on Sunday, and without extra remuneration. These
100
MUNITION WORKERS IN ENGLAND
and other arbitrary powers the munition manu-
facturers were permitted to exercise without re-
straint by tribunals made up, as The New States-
man put it, of "persons who seem to regard it as
a patriotic duty to refuse to listen to the work-
man's 'excuses/ and to inflict summary and ex-
emplary punishment in every case brought before
them."* The London Times admitted that the
Act had occasioned some serious friction in im-
portant munition areas because of certain details
of administration. The composition of the trib-
unals, the lack of uniformity in wages of women
and unskilled men in government factories and in
"controlled" establishments, and the administra-
tion of the leaving certificate system were the "de-
tails" which had aroused the resentment of the
workers. The government, however, and the
middle and upper classes failed to understand the
nature of Labor's grievance and considered it only
a petty disloyalty which made workers rebel at
personal injustice in a time of national crisis.
The Munitions Act thus failed to accomplish
its main purpose, namely, the recruiting and hold-
ing of workers in sufficient numbers to insure an
adequate supply of munitions. Moreover, dis-
satisfaction does not tend to increase output. The
shortsightedness of a policy which permitted
workers to be worn out by exhausting conditions,
especially at a time when they could not be readily
replaced, was brought home anew to government
officials. They realized then, too, a thing which
* The New Statesman, November 6, 1915, p. 99.
101
MUNITION WORKERS IN ENGLAND
was not evident at the beginning of the present
conflict — that the war would not be over in a
month or a year, and that the health of the work-
ers must be conserved if production was to be
maintained over a long period.
The realization of these facts on the part of
those entrusted with the task of supplying arms
and ammunition for the British forces led to the
appointment, in September, 1915, of a committee
under the Ministry of Munitions, called the
Health of Munition Workers Committee, "to con-
sider and advise on questions of industrial fatigue,
hours of labor, and other matters affecting the
physical health and physical efficiency of workers
in munition factories and workshops." This
Committee proceeded, under the chairmanship of
Sir George Newman, Chief Medical Inspector for
the Board of Education, and with a membership*
well qualified for its duties, to inquire into the
actual conditions then prevailing, with a view to
making recommendations which would result not
only in greater comfort for workers, but also in
increased production by a more physically fit and
better satisfied labor force. The findings of the
Committee have been embodied in a series of
* Sir George Newman, M. D. (Chairman), Sir Thomas Bar-
low, Bart, K. C. V. O., F. R. S., G. Bellhouse, Factory De-
partment, Home Office, Professor A. E. Boycott, M. D.,
F. R. S., J. R. Clynes, M. R, E. L. Collis, M. B., Factory De-
partment, Home Office, W. M. Fletcher, M. D., F. R. S.,
Secretary of Medical Research Committee, Leonard E. Hill,
M. B., F. R. S., Samuel Osborn, J. P., Miss R. E. Squire,
Factory Department, Home Office, Mrs. H. J. Tennant, E. H.
Pelham (Secretary).
102
MUNITION WORKERS IN ENGLAND
memoranda and reports, submitted in November
and December, 1915, in January, July, August,
and October, 1916, and in February, 1917. The
subjects treated may be grouped, for considera-
tion here, under five main heads: (1) hours of
labor; (2) health and hygiene; (3) general wel-
fare provision; (4) employment of women; and
(5) juvenile employment.
HOURS OF LABOR
Under pressure of the need to increase produc-
tion beyond any conception of past experience, the
first established principle of working conditions
to give way was, naturally enough, the restriction
of hours. This was the problem, also, which first
attracted the attention of the Health of Munition
Workers Committee.* The work of the Com-
mittee in this field covered the questions of Sun-
day labor, overtime, night work, rest periods, and
holidays, as well as special study of the relation
of output to hours of work. The standards set
forth in their recommendations do not represent
the ideals of the Committee, but are especially
adapted to the exceptional emergency, and are
based on the expectation that the war will be of
long duration.
Sunday Labor: A memorandum on Sunday
labor was presented soon after the appointment
of the Committee, as an interim report, the matter
* Three memoranda are devoted to a discussion of this sub-
ject: No. 1, Sunday Labour, November, 1915; No. 5, Hours of
Work, January, 1916; No. 12, Statistical Information Concern-
ing Output in Relation to Hours of Work, July, 1916.
103
MUNITION WORKERS IN ENGLAND
being deemed of such urgent importance that it
was thought desirable not to delay its discussion
until they were in a position "to deal with other
questions falling within their terms of reference."
The Committee found, strangely enough, the
great majority of employers opposed to Sunday
work. They were beginning to realize that from
the administrative end it imposed too severe a
strain on the foremen, who were difficult to re-
place ; and, from the economic standpoint it meant
higher wages with but slight increase in output
and irregular attendance on other days of the
week. They felt, also, that in its religious and
social aspects "the seventh day as a period of
rest" was "good for mind and body." In spite of
this attitude on the part of employers, however,
Sunday labor had been widely adopted, partly on
account of the heavy demands on output and the
necessity of taking every means of increasing
production, and partly on account of the desire of
workers to make the double, or at least increased,
pay which was given. In many cases the hours of
labor on Sunday were considerably shorter than
on other days, but there were still a number of
factories where they were as long as on other
days, if not longer, as in cases where the change
from a twelve-hour day shift to a twelve-hour
night shift was made by working for a continuous
period of eighteen hours. Permits for Sunday
work even for "protected persons" (i. e., women
and young persons under eighteen years of age)
had been issued for 50 plants to cover women,
104
MUNITION WORKERS IN ENGLAND
boys and girls, and for 30 more to cover boys
only. These permits had often been conditioned
on the workers being employed for short hours
on Sunday, or on having time off on Saturday.
According to the Chief Factory Inspector's report
for the early period of the war,* many employers
assumed that the labor laws were not binding in
the emergency, and disregarded their restrictions
without applying for permits. For men, more-
over, such permits were not required, and their
employment on Sunday was consequently more
widespread than that of "protected persons."
Statistics on the output from Sunday labor were
not available at the time of the publication of the
Committee's first report. One important firm,
however, found that by instituting a working week
of six rather than seven days, the average weekly
hours, instead of being diminished, actually in-
creased from 59J to 60, indicating an improve-
ment in attendance on the six work days. More-
over, the hourly output had increased. Many
other employers conceded that seven days' labor
produced only six days' output, and that reduc-
tions in Sunday work had not resulted in any ap-
preciable decrease in product. Even less observ-
ant managers had begun to detect the effect of
strain on the workers. Employers were realizing
the necessity of conserving the workers' strength
in order to maintain the maximum output over a
* Great Britain. Home Office. Annual Report of the Chief
Inspector of Factories and Workshops for the year 1914.
London, 1915.
105
MUNITION WORKERS IN ENGLAND
longer period than had been at first estimated.
The workers, too, commenced to feel the need of
more rest. The strain was beginning to tell, espe-
cially on those who in ordinary times would have
absented themselves from work on account of ill
health but who now stuck to their jobs. The
higher rate of pay for Sunday work had at first
made it popular, but the great majority of workers
were now disposed to forego the extra money for
the sake of the needed rest.
The conclusion reached by the Committee in
regard to seven-day work may be summed up as
follows :
"The evidence before the Committee has led
them strongly to hold that if the maximum out-
put is to be secured and maintained for any length
of time, a weekly period of rest must be allowed.
Except for quite short periods, continuous work
... is a profound mistake and does not pay . . .
output is not increased. On economic and social
grounds alike this weekly period of rest is best
provided on Sunday." After remarking that the
need for this relief was greater for "protected"
persons than for adult males, and for men on
overtime than for those on double shift, the Com-
mittee nevertheless recommended "that the dis-
continuance of Sunday labor should be of univer-
sal application and should extend to all classes of
workers." Pending a general discontinuance of
Sunday work, if immediate change was found diffi-
cult, they suggested ways of improvement, such
as reducing Sunday hours, giving all workers al-
106
MUNITION WORKERS IN ENGLAND
ternate Sundays off, omitting one or two shifts on
Sunday in cases of the triple-shift system, or at
least discontinuing the eighteen-hour work period
in changing from day to night shifts. It was fur-
ther noted that "foremen and the higher manage-
ment even more certainly [than the workers] re-
quire definite periods of rest," on account both of
their heavy burden of responsibility and of the
difficulty of replacing them. The Committee
finally stated that in order to secure any large
measure of reform, definite orders to restrict Sun-
day work might be necessary.
Overtime : Overtime, by which is meant a length-
ening of the normal hours of work, was the most
commonly used and most abused expedient
for attempting to increase production, especially
in case of skilled men who were difficult to recruit
in large numbers. During the first year of the
war even a week of ninety hours was not uncom-
mon. A tendency to reduce hours of work was
apparent, however, as early as January, 1916,
when the recommendations of the committee were
submitted. Still, excessive overtime had by no
means disappeared, since seventy- and eighty-hour
weeks were frequently encountered. While no
serious breakdown among the workers was then
apparent, the Committee remarked that "it is self-
evident that men cannot work continually fifteen
hours a day with good effect," and "general state-
ments indicative of fatigue have been received,"
especially in regard to women and older men.
Moreover, the question was not whether the
107
MUNITION WORKERS IN ENGLAND
workers had been able to withstand the strain
up to that time, but whether they could continue
to do so over a long period. The Committee rec-
ognized that overtime could not be altogether abol-
ished during the crisis, but felt it was possible
to compromise on a course midway between the
standards of peace and the extremes to which a
shortsighted policy had driven employers and
workers. In general they suggested that double
or triple shifts be substituted wherever possible
for overtime.
Intensive medical studies* of both men and
women workers carried on by the Committee from
December, 1915 to August, 1916 supported their
first impressions of the situation. Men employed
at heavy work were found to be working as much
as 108 hours a week; boys under eighteen in
some cases were averaging over 80 hours and in
some weeks had worked 90 and even 100
hours ; some of the women and girls examined had
a regular seventy-seven-hour week. These workers,
and even those whose hours were not quite so ex-
cessive, gave evidence, according to the investiga-
tors, of exhaustion and fatigue. "Pale, anaemic, dull
and expressionless" are the adjectives used to de-
scribe many of the boys who were examined, for
it was among these young workers that the most
serious effects on health were found. On the other
* Health of Munition Workers Committee. Interim Report.
Industrial Efficiency and Fatigue. Part II. Medical Studies.
London, February, 1917.
108
MUNITION WORKERS IN ENGLAND
hand, the workers on eight-hour shifts showed
a marked superiority in health, in general
appearance, and in efficiency. It was found that
"the proportion of physically unfit increased with
the length of hours of work." Though the investi-
gators stated that the amount of fatigue was less
than they had anticipated under the abnormal
conditions, they still felt that the effects of ex-
cessive overtime were so serious that an actual
shortage of labor would result unless hours should
be limited in the immediate future.
For adult males the Committee recommended a
maximum working week of sixty-five hours, in-
cluding all overtime; a concentration of overtime
on three or four days of the week which should
preferably be not consecutive, and a discontinu-
ance of working from Friday morning all through
Friday night and until Saturday noon. For women
and girls they recommended that continuous work
in excess of sixty hours a week be discontinued
as soon as practicable, since the strain of excessive
hours is without doubt even more serious for them
than for men. The need for overtime among
women, moreover, is not so pressing, because of a
large reserve of female labor. In regard to boys
who are used so widely to assist men, the Com-
mittee recommended, "though with great hesita-
tion," that they be permitted the same maximum
hours as men, but that substantial relief be pro-
vided at week-ends and that those under sixteen
should not be made to work more than sixty hours.
109
MUNITION WORKERS IN ENGLAND
Increased Production with Shorter Hours: A
special study,* published nearly eight months after
the first recommendations on hours, supplemented
the more general observations, and provided a
statistical basis for the conclusions of the Com-
mittee regarding the relation of working hours
to volume of production. In several large muni-
tion plants the output of different groups of
workers had been followed over periods of from
eighteen to twenty-seven weeks. In the case of
100 women engaged in turning fuse bodies, which
is moderately heavy work, a reduction in the aver-
age hours worked per week from 68.2 to 59.7 was
followed by a 23 per cent increase in hourly out-
put and a net rise in weekly output of 8 per cent.
This change effected also a decrease of two hours
in the amount of "broken" time per week. While
this reduction of working hours to sixty a week
proved so successful in increasing output, a fur-
ther decrease showed that an equally large output
could be maintained in fifty-six hours or even less.
That this remarkable rise in production rate was
effected without any change in machinery, tools,
raw materials or nature of the operation strength-
ens the validity of the findings. A possible in-
crease in skill among the operatives during the
period studied was another element carefully
tested and eliminated by the investigators.
Maximum Hours for War Time: Similar studies
*This study was undertaken for the Committee by Dr. H.
M. Vernon. The results were published in July, 1916, as
Memorandum No. 12, Statistical Information Concerning Out-
put in Relation to Hours of Work.
110
MUNITION WORKERS IN ENGLAND
were made of other groups of both men and
women employed at different kinds of labor. It
was found that the output of those engaged in
the heaviest type of work was the most favorably
affected by a reduction in hours. Especially was
this true of the younger workers who were more
sensitive to fatigue than adults. A group of boys
ranging in age from fourteen to seventeen years,
who were sizing base plugs, increased their hourly
rate by 42 per cent and their weekly output 19
per cent when their hours were reduced from
68.3 to 57. Satisfactory results also were secured
in the case of adult men. A group of 27 men
sizing fuses, a particularly fatiguing process,
increased their hourly rate 22 per cent, and their
total weekly output 10 per cent when the average
hours worked were decreased from 61.5 to 55.4.
The general conclusions drawn were that in time
of stress, for men engaged in very heavy work the
maximum hours from the point of view of high
production should be no more than fifty-six hours
a week ; for men on moderately heavy work, sixty ;
for men and boys on light work, seventy; for
women on moderately heavy work, fifty-six, and
for women on light work about sixty hours. It
is pointed out, however, that these were maximum
hours, that they imposed a great strain on opera-
tives— in many instances one too great to be borne
— and that, in fact, they applied only to the "fittest
who were strong enough to survive in the strug-
gle, not to the general mass of workers of all
classes who tried their hand at munition work."
Ill
MUNITION WORKERS IN ENGLAND
The "best hours for peace times" were consider-
ably shorter in each case, the report stated, but
whether it be a case of peace or war, the principle
of varying the hours according to the character
of the work, and the sex and age of the workers
should be observed. The investigators also advo-
cated speeding up the rate of production in order
to reduce the number of hours actually spent in
the factories and the institution of regular rest
pauses to break the long five-hour spells.
Shifts and Night Work: In order to run the
munition plants to maximum capacity, multiple-
shift systems had been widely adopted. Two kinds
of these were found : the double shift of twelve
hours each and the three eight-hour shifts. Men
workers were almost universally on the double
shift, and the Committee saw no reason for
change, since there was apparently no very ill
effect and the supply of men was too scant to
make the three-shift plan feasible. Women were
employed sometimes on the twelve-hour shift,
sometimes on the eight-hour shift. The recom-
mendation was made that the twelve-hour shift for
women be abandoned wherever the difficulties of
housing and transit for additional workers could
be overcome, that no girls under eighteen should
work at night, and that in no case should night
hours run over sixty a week. In the case
of boys again it did not seem practicable to
regulate their hours further, but it was urged that
night work be restricted to those over sixteen, and
that its effect on individual boys be carefully
112
MUNITION WORKERS IN ENGLAND
watched. The Committee, to clear up any mis-
apprehensions as to their attitude on night work
go on record as not considering it a good thing
in itself, but only as being preferable to excessive
overtime. The objections which they set forth
are : (1) it is uneconomical, because of the higher
wages and lower output; (2) supervision is often
unsatisfactory; (3) adequate lighting is difficult;
(4) workers cannot secure the necessary amount
of sleep during the day; and (5) digestion is de-
ranged by the unwonted meal hours.
There was considerable doubt in the minds of
the Committee's members at the beginning of their
work as to the relative merits of continuous and
discontinuous night work. Subsequently, as the
result of careful studies* of output and health
under the two systems, which were undertaken
for the Committee during 1916 by Dr. H. M. Ver-
non, Prof. Thomas Loveday, Mr. P. Sargant Flor-
ence and others, it was definitely established that
weekly alternation of day and night shifts is pro-
ductive of better output and better timekeeping
than continuous night work. The Committee,
therefore, urge that both for men and for women
continuous night shifts be abandoned. Incidental
to these studies, evidence was encountered of
larger output and greater efficiency among con-
tinuous day workers than among continuous night
workers. For example, in the case department of
* Health of Munition Workers Committee. Interim Report
Industrial Efficiency and Fatigue. Part I, pp. 26-40. London,
February, 1917.
113
MUNITION WORKERS IN ENGLAND
a cartridge factory 25 night workers during an
eleven-week period showed an inferiority in rate
of output to 84 day workers, which ranged from
13 to 21 per cent.
Rest Periods and Holidays: The common prac-
tice in regard to rest and meal periods on the
twelve-hour shift was to allow half an hour for
breakfast and an hour for dinner if the shift be-
gan at 6 a. m., or only an hour for dinner if it
began at 7 or 8, the worker being supposed in this
instance to have breakfasted before coming to
work. In the latter case the Committee recom-
mended a break in the morning for tea, especially
as many workers must travel such long distances
to reach their places of employment that break-
fast is taken very early and the wait until dinner
is too exhausting. On night shifts in many in-
stances only two half -hour periods were allowed.
The Committee recommended one hour and one
half-hour break, or two periods of three-quarters
of an hour, especially for women. On the eight-
hour shift it was customary to allow half an hour
for meal time, and this, they thought, was ade-
quate. In their opinion, also, the ordinary fac-
tory holidays should not be interfered with, as
these allowed needed recuperation from fatigue.
HEALTH AND HYGIENE
The study of hours of labor led the Newman
Committee, as the Health of Munition Workers
Committee is often called, inevitably to the con-
sideration of particular problems of health, such
114
MUNITION WORKERS IN ENGLAND
as fatigue and industrial disease, as well as the
allied topics of work accidents, factory sanitation,
and the like.*
Industrial Fatigue: The Committee, in their
study of industrial fatigue, went carefully into its
causation and its signs and symptoms, the rhythms
of action and rest and their relation to the work-
er's efficiency. Running through the entire con-
sideration of this subject is a recognition of the
relation between scientific management and indus-
trial fatigue. The achievements of Germany and
America in this direction are pointed to, and the
Committee, looking into the future, ventured to
hope "that the study of industrial fatigue and the
science of management based upon it, which is now
being forced into notice by immediate need, may
leave lasting results to benefit the industries of the
country during the succeeding years of peace."f
Fatigue is defined as "the sum of the results of ac-
tivity which show themselves in a diminished ca-
pacity for doing work," not to be determined in
its early stages, at least, by the subjective sensa-
tions of the worker, but by such objective signs as
decreased output, spoiled work, accidents, sick-
* Memoranda on these subjects are: No. 7, Industrial
Fatigue and Its Causes, January, 1916; No. 8, Special Indus-
trial Diseases, February, 1916 ; No. 9, Ventilation and Lighting
of Munition Factories and Workshops, January, 1916; No. 10,
Sickness and Injury, January, 1916; No. 14, Washing Facilities
and Baths, August, 1916; and No. 15, The Effect of Industrial
Conditions Upon Eyesight, October, 1916.
f It should be noted that scientific management as alluded to
in this report is concerned primarily with motion study. No
mention is made of time study combined with motion study.
115
MUNITION WORKERS IN ENGLAND
ness, lost time, or "staleness." Of these tests the
most direct is diminished production, and meas-
urements of the output of the shop and the indi-
vidual worker are suggested as indices. "Slack-
ing," which has been charged against the British
workers during the war, the Committee believed
to have been discontinued to a great extent
through patriotic incentive. Moreover, they held
that some deliberate "slacking" might actually
give an improved output by sparing wasteful fa-
tigue, and go even farther in saying that "it can-
not in such circumstances be said that a workman
so restraining himself, consciously or uncon-
sciously, is doing more to damage the output on
the whole than the employer who has arranged
overlong hours on the baseless assumption that
long hours mean high output." Evidence is pre-
sented from statements of employers indicating
that there was slacking, "often quite unconscious,"
in the twelve-hour shift, which was not found un-
der the three-shift system, and that without this
restraint the output for the twelve hours would be
even lower. On the whole, the Committee were
of the opinion that, although in isolated instances
intelligent precautions against fatigue had been
taken, munition workers in general had been al-
lowed to reach a state of reduced efficiency and
lowered health which might have been avoided had
proper attention been given to daily and weekly
rests.
An exceedingly valuable scientific study of in-
dustrial fatigue which should be mentioned in con-
116
MUNITION WORKERS IN ENGLAND
nection with the work of the Health of Munition
Workers Committee was made, not by this Com-
mittee, but for the British Home Office, by Prof.
A. F. Stanley Kent, and published in two reports.*
The first of these reports describes the methods
used in working out physiological tests for the
presence of fatigue, its degree and the worker's
power of recovery. The second presents a com-
prehensive application of these tests to workers
in seven different factories, over periods ranging
as long as three and a half months, together with
the findings based on the results of these experi-
ments. The most extensive studies made were
in a surgical dressings factory and an engineering
plant, both subject to extreme war pressure. Dr.
Kent's findings all support the recommendations
of the Health of Munition Workers Committee re-
garding the abolition of Sunday labor, reduction
of overtime, rest intervals, and the like. The most
important evidence for a country at war was that
showing the effect of fatigue and overtime on pro-
duction. It is shown that total daily output may
be actually diminished by the introduction of over-
time because increased fatigue affects the produc-
tion not alone of the actual overtime period, but
of the regular working hours as well. One
group of workers made an absolute increase in
output of over 5 per cent, as a result of shortening
their working day from twelve to ten hours. Un-
* Interim Report on an Investigation of Industrial Fatigue
by Physiological Methods (Cd. 8056), August, 1915, and Sec-
ond Interim Report on an Investigation of Industrial Fatigue
by Physiological Methods (Cd. 8335), August, 1916.
117
MUNITION WORKERS IN ENGLAND
satisfactory output during the early morning pe-
riod (6 to 8 a. m.) was attributed largely to lack
of rest, food, and to general discomfort in home
conditions, due, though indirectly, to excessive
hours of labor. Professor Loveday, who made a
special investigation* of the causes of broken time
for the Newman Committee, recommends in his
conclusions that all work before breakfast — a cus-
tom which prevails in many English factories —
should be abolished since it gives inferior output,
lowers health, and leads to poor attendance at
work.
Sickness Among Workers: The two factors
of sickness and injury often indicate the presence
of industrial fatigue. In relation to both of these
problems the Newman Committee formulated
programs for prevention and treatment, t After
pointing to the relation between bad industrial
conditions and ill health, the Committee urged that
employers give special attention to guarding
against cramped posture at work, prolonged or ex-
cessive muscular strain, poor ventilation, heating
and lighting, exposure to poisons, gases and dusts,
and, of course, against excessively long hours, es-
pecially at night. Personal hygiene on the part
of the employe was also emphasized as of impor-
tance, both to him and to his fellow workers. A
system of record-keeping was recommended for
* Health of Munition Workers Committee. Interim Re-
port. Industrial Efficiency and Fatigue. Part I, pp. 41-67.
London, February, 1917.
flbid, Memorandum No. 10, Sickness and Injury, London,
January. 1916,
118
MUNITION WORKERS IN ENGLAND
absences, sicknesses, and deaths, as a valuable in-
dex of the health of the workers. One of the lat-
est memoranda* issued presents a model medical
certificate to be used by physicians in accounting
for the absence of workers from their regular jobs.
In one munition plant with a force of 36,000,
where careful records were kept, it was found, in
a study of two departments, that the sickness rate
among men working overtime was 5.5 per cent as
against 3.7 per cent among those on double shift.
In one of these departments, among 1,000 men on
overtime the rate was as high as 8 per cent. The
monthly sickness rate for the entire plant rose
from 2.9 per cent in July, 1914, to over 4 per cent
in the first quarter of 1915, and in another large
plant the rate had risen to 7 per cent. These in-
creases were attributed to overtime, night work,
and the large number of new employes. More-
over, Professor Loveday concludes as a result of
his studies noted above that the amount of lost
time due to sickness is greatly underestimated in
factory records, and the proportion due to slack-
ness consequently overestimated. In instances
where an increase in sickness has not been noted
since the war, the fact is accounted for by high
wages and good canteen provision. The harmful
effect on health of long hours and especially of
Sunday labor is brought out by figures quoted also
by Professor Loveday. In one factory during the
spring when there was much Sunday work, "no
* Ibid, Memorandum No. 16, Medical Certificates for Muni-
tion Workers. London, February, 1917.
119
MUNITION WORKERS IN ENGLAND
fewer than 22 per cent of the men were at one time
sick; but the number of men on the sick-list in
August when Sunday work had been much re-
duced . . . was only a trifle over 4 per cent of the
whole body."
As part of a program of prevention, a prelimi-
nary medical examination was recommended for
all workers, and in special departments and dan-
ger zones a periodic examination as well. In some
plants this was the practice, and had been found
to be of great advantage. Such a system of exam-
inations and a program by which unfavorable
working conditions should be reduced to a mini-
mum represent the preventive side of the Com-
mittee's recommendations. For cases of actual
sickness they advised medical and nursing re-
sources for each plant.
Accidents: On the side of accident prevention
the Committee recommended, of course, the guard-
ing of machinery, the adoption of safety appli-
ances, the regulation of dangerous processes, ade-
quate lighting of the shops, and careful cleaning
of machinery. To further the co-operation of em-
ployes in avoiding accidents they advocated the
forming of committees of workers to investigate
all accidents occurring in the departments in which
they are at work. Employes should also be in-
structed in regard to accidents by the vigilant su-
pervision of the foreman and through the distri-
bution of leaflets and the posting of placards. A
certain number in each department should receive
training in first aid.
120
MUNITION WORKERS IN ENGLAND
Since injuries in munition factories occur almost
inevitably because of the dangerous nature of the
work, provision should be made for their prompt
and effective treatment. More careful attention
should be given to minor injuries which now often
go untreated and frequently develop serious com-
plications. For these, local dressing stations were
suggested, and for the more serious accidents a
central room with more elaborate equipment. Full
records should be kept of accidents and of their
treatment.
The urgent necessity for such provisions in mu-
nition plants was emphasized by figures supplied
by certain representative shops, showing the fre-
quency of accidents under the present abnormal
conditions. In 11 plants employing a total of
about 38,000 workers, 35,000 surgical dressings
had been performed during the first ten months of
1915. In still another munition factory, during
the fall of 1914, when working hours were from
8 a. m. to 5 :45 p. m., an average of 100 first-aid
dressings were performed each month per 1,000
employed, while in 1915, for the same period, on
the day shift from 8 a. m. to 8 p. m., the average
rose to 292 per 1,000 and on the night shift from
8 p. m. to 8 a. m., to 508.
Industrial Diseases: Industrial diseases con-
stitute a special phase of the health problem in the
manufacture of munitions and have been a cause
of serious concern to the Health of Munition
Workers Committee.* The most important poi-
* Health of Munition Workers Committee, Memorandum
No. 8, Special Industrial Diseases. London. February, 1916.
121
MUNITION WORKERS IN ENGLAND
sons to which workers in this industry are exposed
are lead, tetrachloride of ethane, nitrous fumes,
tetryl, fulminate of mercury, and tri-nitro-toluol.
Lead is used in making bullets, and in various sub-
sidiary processes; tetrachloride of ethane, an in-
gredient in the varnish applied to the wings and
bodies of aeroplanes, has been discovered only
since the beginning of the war as an industrial
poison; nitrous fumes are produced in the manu-
facture of almost all explosives ; tetryl, fulminate
of mercury, and the highly explosive T.N.T. (tri-
nitro-toluol) , of whose double dangers munition
workers have learned so much, are all three used
in making powders, but they may cause poisoning
even in handling the powder in loading shells or
primers. The first three of these poisons are the
more dangerous because they cause serious or
even fatal illness. The last three cause skin af-
fections, active dermatitis or eczema, and often
more serious disorders. In fact, instances of
death resulting from T.N.T. poisoning have been
noted in the English newspapers. In the case of
fulminate of mercury, regarding which complaints
have been made by workers in such an important
American munition center as Bridgeport, Conn.,
eczema is the usual affection, but mercurial poi-
soning, which is even more serious, may occur.
Certain fluids used in lubricating and cooling
metal may also cause eczema.
For each of the poisons mentioned a descrip-
tion of the resulting disease has been given by the
Committee as well as measures for prevention and
122
MUNITION WORKERS IN ENGLAND
treatment. Provision of proper washing facili-
ties and of protective overalls, periodic medical
examination, transference to other work of those
readily affected and the reduction of the period of
exposure through the absence of overtime are rec-
ommended as general steps to avoid industrial
poisoning. Exhaust ventilation was advocated
for drawing off fumes and dust; the wearing of
respirators as a protection against dust that can-
not be carried off by exhausts or allayed by wet-
ting; emergency helmets provided with a supply
of fresh air from without for those exposed to
escaping fumes; head coverings for women and
gauze veils to protect the faces of workers against
poisonous dust. As further general preventive
measures, it was urged that only healthy and tem-
perate persons be employed, and that none ex-
posed to poisons be permitted to begin work with-
out having taken food.
Washing Facilities : The importance of wash-
ing accommodations has been strongly emphasized
by the Committee not only for workers engaged
in processes involving poisons or excessive heat,
dust or dirt, but for the good health, efficiency and
self-respect of the entire force. One of their mem-
oranda* offers practical suggestions as to the most
suitable arrangements, both for washing facilities
and for baths.
Ventilation, Heating and Lighting: At a time
when so large a number of new plants were being
* Health of Munition Workers Committee. Washing Facili-
ties and Baths. Memorandum No. 14. London, August, 1916,
123
MUNITION WORKERS IN ENGLAND
erected and old ones enlarged, it was also fitting
that the importance of ventilation, heating and
lighting should be emphasized. This has been
done by the Health of Munition Workers Com-
mittee in pointing out the close connection between
proper provision for these three elements in fac-
tory construction and the maintenance of maxi-
mum output by the worker. Suggestions regard-
ing modern standards and methods were made by
them in considerable detail.*
Eye-Strain: Closely connected with the prob-
lem of lighting factories was the prevalence of
eye-strain and the danger of eye accidents among
munition workers.f Eyesight may be impaired
through exposure to intense heat, to industrial poi-
sons, or through "uncorrected errors of refrac-
tion." Special inquiry has revealed a large in-
crease not only of eye-strain, but also of eye in-
juries, among munition workers since the begin-
ning of the war, many of which were preventable.
For example, the wearing of proper guards or
goggles protects the eyes from flying particles and
colored glass lessens irritation where there is ex-
posure to brilliant light, as in acetylene welding.
The eyesight of operatives who are to be en-
gaged on fine work should be carefully tested. In
case of slight accident, first-aid treatment should
be provided to prevent serious after-effects. Since
* Health of Munition Workers Committee. Ventilation and
Lighting of Munition Factories and Workshops. Memoran^
dum No. 9. London, January, 1916.
t Ibid. The Effect of Industrial Conditions Upon Eyesight.
Memorandum No. 15. London, October, 1916.
124
MUNITION WORKERS IN ENGLAND
eye-strain is often concomitant with general fa-
tigue, it is bound to accompany overlong hours,
night work and undernourishment. Hence we
have again a plea — and a reason — for the im-
provement of working conditions in general.
Work Incentives as Health Factors*: Of all
the varied influences affecting the health and effi-
ciency of munition workers the most complex and
intricate are incentives to work. The Commit-
tee's investigators found that the better the or-
ganization and the better the hygienic environ-
ment, both in the factory and in the home, the
greater is the stimulus to activity on the part of
the worker. The main incentive, however, which
leads to greater output is wages. A piece rate
system which the worker can easily understand,
according to their findings, may be expected to
give a larger output than time wages, and the rise
and fall of earnings of individual workers under
such a system is another valuable indication of
their health and efficiency. It is important, also,
in order to have the desired result in output from
a piece-wage system that workers be prevented
from exhausting themselves through overspeed-
ing, that well-planned rest pauses be provided,
that workers be instructed in the most efficient
methods of performing processes of work, and
that hours be not too long to permit of opportunity
to enjoy what the wages can buy.
* Ibid. Interim Report. Industrial Efficiency and Fatigue.
Part I, pp. 69-84. London, February, 1917.
125
MUNITION WORKERS IN ENGLAND
GENERAL WELFARE PROVISION*
In addition to the factory environment and the
length of the work period, other factors which
do not come ordinarily within the jurisdiction of
the management distinctly affect the efficiency of
workers. Housing, transportation, canteens, and
the welfare of individual workers are the most im-
portant among them. The Newman Committee
very strongly recommend that through the ap-
pointment of welfare supervisors employers should
endeavor to control any detrimental effect on the
workers of poor housing, undernourishment, and
unfavorable living conditions.
Housing of Workers: The sudden influx into
districts surrounding munition plants has greatly
overtaxed the housing accommodations. In many
instances, dwellings intended for one family are
occupied by several, and beds are used in day and
night shifts. Before any comprehensive plan for
the increase of housing accommodations is under-
taken, inquiry is recommended into the extent of
the need, but pending action, the welfare super-
visor can help matters by keeping a register of
available houses and lodgings, by aiding workers
in need of rooms, and by notifying the manage-
ment when the supply is insufficient.
Transit: Because of the housing shortage,
many workers are forced to live at considerable
distance from their places of employment. Trav-
eling to and fro in overcrowded cars and trains,
* Health of Munition Workers Committee. Welfare Super-
vision. Memorandum No. 2. London, December, 1915.
126
MUNITION WORKERS IN ENGLAND
losing time by waiting, making long and tiresome
journeys, which further extend an overlong day or
night of work, decrease both efficiency and resist-
ance to disease. Workers were found who left
their homes daily before 5 a. m. and returned at 10
p. m. or later, leaving little more than six hours
for sleep — and family life. The Committee sug-
gested that the welfare supervisor ascertain the
means of transit used and the length of time spent
in traveling, indicate the need for increased trans-
portation to the right authorities, and suggest
modification of factory hours to suit existing tran-
sit conditions.
Industrial Canteens: "The munition worker,
like the soldier, requires good rations to enable
him to do good work." This fact the Committee
recognized in their recommendations regarding
canteens in the large war supply factories.* In
one of their earliest reports, they pointed out the
difficulty encountered by employes in securing
good food, when the employer has made no pro-
vision, and urged the establishment of industrial
canteens in all plants, but especially when workers
are employed in large numbers at night and are
unable to go home for a hot meal. They made
suggestions regarding dietary, cost of food, the
best type of canteen to adopt, as well as its man-
agement. It was conceded that it might be desir-
* Industrial Canteens, No. 3, November, 1915; Canteen Con-
struction and Equipment, No. 6, January, 1916 ; and Investiga-
tion of Workers' Food and Suggestions as to Dietary, No. 11,
July, 1916, London.
127
MUNITION WORKERS IN ENGLAND
able in certain districts and under restrictions to
sell alcoholic liquors.
Attention was also given to the actual physical
construction, location and equipment of industrial
canteens. A study of typical meals furnished to
munition workers in industrial canteens, served in
restaurants, or brought by them from home was
undertaken for the Newman Committee by one
of their members, Mr. Leonard E. Hill, in the
laboratories of the Medical Research Committee.
In his report Mr. Hill stressed the relation of
both physical and nervous fatigue to the workers'
daily diet, and with his analysis of the meals ex-
amined as a basis, made suggestions for a "well-
balanced minimum" dietary for canteens.
Individual Welfare: Aside from the help the
supervisor can render in solving problems of hous-
ing, transit, and food, even greater service can be
given in adjusting matters concerning the individ-
ual welfare of the worker which will be reflected
in the efficiency of the labor force. Such functions
include attention to cases of sickness or irregular
attendance at work in co-operation with the medi-
cal staff, observation of individual reactions to
night or Sunday work or overtime, planning for
recreation and education, and the maintenance of
proper discipline and conduct. The welfare
worker should also be in close touch with the en-
gagement of new labor or even attend to the actual
engaging of workers. He — or she — should also
investigate complaints and causes of dismissal.
The Committee were emphatic in their indorse-
128
MUNITION WORKERS IN ENGLAND
ment of welfare work for both men and women,
but recommended especially the appointment of
women supervisors where women and girls are
employed.
EMPLOYMENT OF WOMEN
Although the problems discussed in all the
memoranda of the Health of Munition Workers
Committee affect women as well as men, the em-
ployment of women since the outbreak of the war
has grown to such dimensions that a special re-
port has been devoted to recommendations in this
field.* The response of English women of all
classes to their country's call has been one of the
finest things of the war. Women of wage-earning
experience and those of none — university and art
students, teachers, secretaries, domestic servants,
clerks, laundresses, textile workers — old women
and young, married women and single, in a splen-
did spirit of patriotism, have volunteered in the
army of labor, and because of their enthusiasm
have achieved remarkable success. In Septem-
ber, 1916, the War Office published a report on
Women's War Work "for the use of recruiting
officers, military representatives and tribunals."
It lists some 29 double-columned pages of
processes in which women have been success-
fully employed in "temporary" replacement of
men, and in a large number of photographs shows
them engaged in such heavy jobs as coal-heaving,
* Health of Munition Workers Committee. Memorandum
No. 4, Employment of Women. London, January, 1916.
129
MUNITION WORKERS IN ENGLAND
stoking, boiler-making, cleaning locomotives and
other work which they have never before been
called on to do. Not alone have women taken up
men's tasks willingly, but they have accepted with-
out complaint conditions which were immediately
detrimental to efficiency and which would, if con-
tinued, be disastrous to health, and this at a time
above all times when the health of the present and
future mothers of the nation should be safe-
guarded.
Night work for women, especially in the muni-
tion industry, has been revived after almost a
century of disuse, and employment of married
women and of young girls has, of course, in-
creased. Hence it is of great importance to safe-
guard their period of employment. The Commit-
tee realized that in the emergency night work was
inevitable, but urged that its evils be mitigated by
careful supervision, by the provision of sufficient
pauses for rest and meals, and, where desirable,
by periodic change to the day shift. During the
meal hour on the twelve-hour night shift women
were found asleep beside their work, too ex-
hausted even to go to an attractive mess room to
get the food to sustain them during the remaining
hours of the night. The recommendations for
hours, shifts, overtime and rest pauses, for women
workers are substantially the same as those al-
ready given in the section on hours of work.* Em-
ployment of mothers with infants was deprecated
by the Committee, and the need of consideration
*See pages 109-114.
130
MUNITION WORKERS IN ENGLAND
in arranging hours of work for married women
was urged.
The questions of housing and transit were also
given further attention in relation to women's em-
ployment. Many women were forced to spend
two and three hours traveling each way to and
from work. This often meant "a day begun at 4
or even 3 :30 a. m., for work at 6 a. m., followed
by fourteen hours in the factory, and another two
or two and one-half hours on the journey back,"
ending finally "at 10 or 10:30 p. m., in a home or
lodging where the prevailing degree of overcrowd-
ing precludes all possibility of comfortable rest.
Beds are never empty and rooms never aired, for
in a badly crowded district the beds, like the occu-
pants, are organized in day and night shifts."
Moreover cars were so crowded that the women's
clothes were often torn in the struggle to get even
standing room. There was, therefore, crying need
for increased transportation which would also re-
lieve the housing situation. But even with im-
proved transit long journeys cruelly extended the
day. Hence it was all the more necessary to guard
against excessive working hours.
Good sanitary conditions in the factories are
especially important for women wage-earners.
Workrooms should be clean, bright and airy, well
warmed in winter and well lighted at night. Cloak-
rooms, washing facilities and sanitary conveni-
ences should be provided. For the protection es-
pecially of those unaccustomed to factory work,
the lifting or carrying of heavy weights and the
131
MUNITION WORKERS IN ENGLAND
strain of prolonged standing should be avoided.
It is recommended also that a woman physician
examine all applicants for employment. Careful
oversight by forewomen, nurses, and women wel-
fare supervisors in the fields of work, health and
general well-being was a point much emphasized.
In conclusion the Committee stated that in their
opinion if the present conditions surrounding the
employment of women continued, "it would be
impracticable to secure or maintain for an ex-
tended period the high maximum output of which
women are undoubtedly capable."
JUVENILE EMPLOYMENT
Special attention has been given also to the
problems of child labor in war time.* The Com-
mittee declare that: "At the present time, when
the war is destroying so much of its best manhood,
the nation is under special obligation to secure that
the rising generation grows up strong and hardy
both in body and character. It is necessary to
guard not only against immediate breakdown, but
also against the imposition of strains which may
stunt future growth and development." Such
strains were found in the long hours of work, by
day and by night, sometimes through seven days
in the week, in the poor housing and transit facili-
ties, and in the often unsatisfactory home condi-
tions. Factory inspectors bore witness to the more
* Health of Munition Workers Committee, Memorandum
No. 13, Juvenile Employment. London, August, 1916.
Ministry of Munitions. The Boy in Industry. London, 1917.
132
MUNITION WORKERS IN ENGLAND
marked fatigue produced by overtime and night
work on the adolescent than on the adult worker,
a menace not only to present health but to growth
and physical development. Moreover these chil-
dren had no leisure, no recreation, no opportunity
fdr continuing their education. Exemptions from
the legal age limit had been permitted.* In a case
cited boys of thirteen were allowed to work full
time in a large munition center, provided they at-
tended evening school. The Committee pointed
out that it was worse than useless to require such
attendance for boys who worked from 6 a. m.
until 5 p. m. or longer.
The problem of boy labor seemed more pressing
to the Committee than the employment of young
girls, since boys, who to a great extent were em-
ployed to assist men, worked the same hours as
men. Moreover boys under sixteen are said to
be even more delicate than girls of the same age.
The recommendations regarding hours are sim-
ilar to those already given. Boys should be per-
mitted, if the work requires it, and conditions of
employment are favorable, to work more than
twelve hours a day up to a weekly total of 65, but
* The latest published figures (October 16, 1916) give a total
of 14,915 children formally exempted on that date for agricul-
tural work, but give no estimate of the number released for
munition or other industrial employment. (Great Britain.
Board of Education. School Attendance and Employment in
Agriculture. Cd. 8171. December, 1916.) Mrs. Sidney Webb
estimates that in addition between 50,000 and 60,000 children
have left school for work without formal exemption, while Sir
James Yoxall believes that between 150,000 and 200,000 chil-
dren between eleven and thirteen have left school to go to
work.
133
MUNITION WORKERS IN ENGLAND
the overtime should be concentrated on three non-
consecutive evenings of the week. One day's rest
in seven should be assured. Night work should be
permitted for boys under sixteen and girls under
eighteen only when no other labor can be obtained.
Because of the greater adaptability of youth, it
was thought, when found absolutely necessary to
employ them at night, that they would suffer less
from weekly alternation of day and night shifts
than adult workers. Furthermore, as young per-
sons cannot profitably work for a continuous spell
of five hours (the maximum legal period) , short
rests should be allowed, and time for refreshment
when breakfast has necessarily been taken early.
Not only should the ordinary holidays be granted,
but, when possible, vacations of a week or
more.
The situation is further complicated for young
workers by overcrowding and bad home condi-
tions. One large munition center revealed numer-
ous cases in which three people slept together in
one bed. A case said to be typical was described,
in which a boy of fourteen slept in a bed with
two young men, while in the same room two young
girls slept in another bed. Because of the absence
of fathers at the front parental control was often
weakened. After a long day of work many chil-
dren were tempted to stay out late at the movies
or to dance, and their high earnings induced thrift-
lessness. Moreover an increase in juvenile crime
had become so marked, according to comments in
the press, that the Home Secretary had called a
134
MUNITION WORKERS IN ENGLAND
special conference of social workers to deal with
it. The Newman Committee recommended special
welfare workers for boys and outlined in detail
the duties of the "Boy Visitor." The Ministry of
Munitions has further emphasized the importance
of welfare work for boys and elaborated on the
functions of the supervisors in a special pamphlet
on "The Boy in Industry." The "Boy Visitor"
should watch carefully the physical condition of
the boys, visit them when sick, investigate other
causes of irregular attendance, receive and dis-
pose of complaints made either by employers or
boys, advise before any case of dismissal, look
into conditions of housing, transit and die-
tary, plan recreation, and promote plans for sav-
ing.
SUMMARY OF RECOMMENDATIONS
The reports of the Health of Munition Work-
ers Committee give evidence of an enlightened
and common-sense attitude toward the industrial
problems which the war has created. A headlong,
unthinking policy of blind haste had at first led
to the needless waste of precious human strength.
This panic has now given place to a realization of
the fact that increased output is to be gained
through the saving of the workers* health and
strength, and an increase in the labor force, not
through the taxing of endurance to the breaking
point. But there is still need to hold up standards.
These standards, as outlined by the Committee,
may be summarized as follows:
135
MUNITION WORKERS IN ENGLAND
I. HOURS OF WORK :
a. Seven-day labor should be abolished for
men, women and children.
b. Excessive overtime should be done away
with by the introduction of shifts.
c. Hours of labor should be adapted to
the age and sex of the worker and the
nature of the process to be performed.
d. Night work, where possible, should
be organized in eight-hour, rather than
twelve-hour, shifts, and in no case should
women work at night more than 60
hours a week. Its evils should be fur-
ther mitigated by sufficient rest periods
and by periodic change to the day shift.
e. Meal periods should be at least an
hour in length on twelve-hour shifts,
and half an hour on eight-hour shifts.
Further breaks should be allowed in
long five-hour spells.
II. HEALTH AND HYGIENE:
a. Industrial fatigue should be decreased
by a careful study of processes of work
and of the most economical method of
performing them.
b. Provision for both prevention and treat-
ment of work accidents, industrial dis-
ease, and other illness, should be made
in all munition plants.
c. Matters of factory sanitation such as
ventilation, heating, lighting, and wash-
136
MUNITION WORKERS IN ENGLAND
ing facilities should receive special at-
tention.
III. GENERAL WELFARE I
a. Improvement of housing and transit fa-
cilities should enlist the co-operation of
employers.
b. In the interests of health and efficiency,
all munition works should have canteens
where employes can secure hot food.
c. The appointment of welfare supervisors
is recommended in all factories.
d. Problems involved in the increased
employment of women and children
should receive the careful attention of
both managers and the government.
Special welfare workers should be as-
signed to their oversight.
SUBSEQUENT CONDITIONS
The Committee on the Health of Munition
Workers have not been fortunate enough to see
all their recommendations adopted. The news-
papers did not give publicity to their findings until
some time after the reports were actually sub-
mitted, and they were then subordinated to mat-
ters of greater popular interest. Furthermore,
while the government could make changes in the
factories it owned, control over private establish-
ments, which are in the majority, was not so
complete.
Definite progress has been made, however, in
137
MUNITION WORKERS IN ENGLAND
relieving the conditions which were the special
point of attack in the memoranda of the Commit-
tee. Sunday labor has been decreased as a result
of a circular issued by the Minister of Munitions
in January, 1916, recommending that Sunday
labor in "controlled" establishments be abolished.
As a result it was reported in Parliament on
March 30, 1916, that in 2,400 works inspected, 60
per cent had no Sunday work, and of the other
40 per cent, many were engaged only in repair
work and others were manned by voluntary week-
end workers. The attempt to relieve the strain
on regular employes of Sunday work has led to
the recruiting of a special force of week-end
workers, made up largely of women of the leisure
class, who volunteer their services for Sunday in
order that the factories may be kept running and
the regular workers released for rest. Dukes'
daughters and generals* ladies, artists and au-
thors, students and teachers, ministers' and law-
yers' wives, make up the membership of the pic-
turesque W. R. M. W. (Week-end Relief Munition
Workers). They are paid at the current rates,
and are "voluntary" only in the sense that they
offer to work of their own free will. An order
issued in April, 1917, has now made the abolition
of Sunday work in both government and controlled
plants of almost universal application.
No definite ruling regarding daily hours of work
seems thus far to have been issued by the Ministry
of Munitions, but in association with the Home
Office it has formed a committee to regulate hours
138
MUNITION WORKERS IN ENGLAND
as well as to secure a weekly day of rest for the
workers. The effect of the steps taken and the
vigor of their prosecution have been difficult to
ascertain, but the tendency has been to reduce the
amount of overtime. In August, 1916, in response
to a question put in Parliament, Dr. Addison of
the Munitions Ministry, who has since become
Minister of Munitions in the Lloyd George cab-
inet, stated that the special joint committee on
hours was taking steps to bring the hours for
women and girls in controlled establishments with-
in the sixty-hour limit allowed under the ordinary
provisions of the Factory Acts. In April, 1917,
a former investigator for the Newman Committee
reported that in government-owned munition
plants women were working on eight-hour shifts.
This was not because of any general order but
the result of action taken by the various local
munition committees in whose hands the power of
adjusting hours has been entrusted. The latest
report of the Chief Inspector of Factories and
Workshops remarks on the distinct tendency to-
ward a reduction in amount of latitude sought by
employers applying for overtime permits and a
general voluntary decrease in working hours.
The recommendation of the Newman Commit-
tee that the ordinary holidays should not be inter-
fered with was given a trial at Easter in 1916,
but Lloyd George, then Minister of Munitions,
claimed that in the fortnight which included
Easter Monday the output had been decreased
one-half. As a consequence, and also because of
139
MUNITION WORKERS IN ENGLAND
the extra need of munitions for the great offensive
on the Somme, the customary "bank" holidays at
Whitsuntide and in August were not granted.
Later, at the following Christmas and New Year's
(1917), two extra days of holiday were given to
make up for this omission, and in the spring of
1917 the usual Easter holiday was maintained.
Definite efforts have been made on the part of
the government to carry into effect the recommen-
dations of the Committee in regard to industrial
canteens. A Canteen Committee was appointed by
the Central Control Board (for liquor traffic) ,
in conjunction with the Munitions Ministry, to
assist firms in the construction and financing of
canteens. In June, 1916, it was reported that
canteens had been established in practically all the
government-owned factories, and that in the
"controlled" works the government had en-
couraged their introduction by subsidizing them,
either through permitting employers to pay the
expenses out of profits that would otherwise have
reverted to the national treasury, or by contribu-
ting half the costs incurred by voluntary agencies
such as the Young Women's Christian Association,
in establishing an industrial canteen. The Can-
teen Committee also published in October, 1916,
a pamphlet on Feeding the Munition Worker, as
a "comprehensive and practical guide" to canteen
construction and management.
Another important step affecting the general
well-being of the workers was the establishment
in the first quarter of 1916 of a special Welfare
140
MUNITION WORKERS IN ENGLAND
Department under the Ministry of Munitions, to
stimulate the development of welfare supervision
in the war factories. This department, under the
superintendence of Mr. B. S. Rowntree, also
undertakes inquiries into working conditions, in-
cluding hours of work and wages, endeavors to
correct evils where they are found, encourages the
provision of rest rooms and canteens, and through
a special private fund furnishes the means of
"healthful and invigorating" recreation. The ap-
pointment of at least one woman welfare worker
in each national plant is now required, and many
controlled factories are following suit. Excellent
results are said to have followed from the activi-
ties of these supervisors. In August, 1916, this
department was further empowered to make rules
regarding arrangements for meals, supply of
drinking water and protective clothing, ambulance
and first-aid provision, supply and use of seats in
workrooms, washing and locker facilities and su-
pervision of workers.
Some attempts have also been made to relieve
the housing situation in a few large munition cen-
ters, such as Sheffield and Woolwich, where the
government has either financed or subsidized the
building of houses and of temporary "huts" and
hostels. Dr. Addison, of the Munitions Ministry,
stated in August, 1916, that accommodations for
60,000 persons had been provided in the year pre-
vious and in some cases whole villages had been
built.
141
MUNITION WORKERS IN ENGLAND
Effort has been put forward by the government
to protect munition workers from industrial poi-
soning. Sets of rules have been drawn up, regu-
lating conditions of work in dangerous processes.
For example, an elaborate code of rules was issued
in February, 1917 for factories making or using
T. N. T. (Cd. 8494) . Among the protective meas-
ures required were the medical examination at
least once a week of each worker employed on a
T. N. T. process, the supplying of a half pint of
milk gratis to each worker every morning, pro-
vision for protective clothing and for washing it
at least once a week, and the required establish-
ment of canteens at every T. N. T. factory on the
principle that proper nourishment is essential for
resistance to industrial disease.
In a general way, also, the work of the Health
of Munition Workers Committee has improved
industrial conditions. Public interest has been
directed toward abuses, and a more intelligent atti-
tude created in regard to sources of labor diffi-
culties. The dissatisfaction of labor, however, has
been by no means eliminated, despite the fact that
the Munitions of War Amending Act, passed in
January, 1916, remedied the worst evils of the
leaving-certificate system and of the administra-
tion of the munition tribunals. The "dilution"
of labor has progressed so far, and the attitude of
both employers and the government has been such
as to make the trade unions fear that after the
war it will be well-nigh impossible for them to
142
MUNITION WORKERS IN ENGLAND
restore their ante-bellum status. Plans to mo-
bilize the whole population for national service,
civil as well as military, on a scale more compre-
hensive than ever before, are being pushed for-
ward with vigor by the Lloyd-George ministry, and
to make this mobilization effective the club of
industrial conscription is being held over the
heads of the British people. In the face of the
apparent weakening of their powers, however, the
unions are claiming large gains in numbers and
in strength, not alone among women, but also
among men, despite the heavy inroads which the
call to the colors has made in their membership.
The most immediate problem facing British
labor at present, however, is the question of
wages. The cost of living is soaring and wages
in many cases have not kept pace, notably among
women. The Munitions of War Amending Act
of January, 1916, authorized the Minister of Mu-
nitions to enforce minimum wages for munition
workers, but no action was taken which affected
the large body of women until July, 1916, when
a wage order* was issued which was designed to
do away with the sweating of women. This order
has aroused considerable antagonism in labor cir-
cles because its minimum rate becomes in effect
the maximum. The rate is fixed at 4Jd. an hour
for women of eighteen years or more employed at
work customarily done by women. Women who
have replaced skilled men (a small proportion of
*This is Statutory Order No. 447.
143
MUNITION WORKERS IN ENGLAND
those employed on munition work) are paid at
the same piece-work prices as men, although, ac-
cording to a prominent trade union man, because
they cannot turn out as much work, their earnings
are only about 75 per cent of what men make.
The wage for women who have replaced semi-
skilled or unskilled men was fixed according to an
order issued in May, 1916, at a time rate of one
pound a week. An improvement in the earnings
of women in this class of work was effected the
following December by an amendment providing
for the payment of a one-pound wage for a forty-
eight-hour week, with six pence as the hourly
rate for all work in excess of this period. A pound
now has no more purchasing power than 12 shill-
ings had before the war, and that sum had
been commonly recognized as a sweated rate
for women in industry. In January, 1917, pre-
vious wage orders were extended to cover women
in subsidiary trades engaged in munition making,
where hitherto women's wages had been so low
as to call forth a campaign of criticism. March
and April, 1917 saw substantial wage increases
for men chiefly in the engineering branches of
the munition industry and the promise of corre-
sponding increases for women workers.
Difficulties are being somewhat overcome, how-
ever, partly through concerted effort and partly
through a natural readjustment to what, it is now
apparent, will be a prolonged struggle. Due credit
144
MUNITION WORKERS IN ENGLAND
should be given to the English government for its
great achievement in industrial organization dur-
ing the past year and a half, and for its recogni-
tion of the importance of the human element in
efficiency of production ; but there is still need to
remember that in a long race it is endurance, not
sprinting, that wins.
145
MUNITION WORKERS IN FRANCE
AS DESCRIBED BY A BRITISH COMMISSION
FRANCE had been far more successful than
England in increasing her output of muni-
tions during the first year of the war. In
spite of the fact that one-eighth of the country and
five-eighths of the former "metallurgical produc-
tivity" were in the hands of the enemy, her manu-
factures had been enormous. The response to her
call for workers had been both more enthusiastic
and more immediate than England's.
It was, therefore, natural that the British gov-
ernment should turn to her ally for guidance, and
in November, 1915 the Director-General of Re-
cruiting for Munitions Work in England ap-
pointed a commission of four members* to visit
the industrial districts in France and report upon
the causes which had contributed to the enormous
increase in the production of munitions in that
country. The commission visited 23 factories in
different centers of the industry. A month later,
in December, 1915, it made its reportf giving a
* J. T. Brownlie, Chairman of Amalgamated Society of En-
gineers and member of National Advisory Committee and the
Central Munitions Labour Supply Committee ; Alexander
Duckham, Ministry of Munitions; D. J. Shackleton, Labour
Adviser, Ministry of Munitions; Allan M. Smith, Secretary
Engineering Employers' Federation and member Central
Munitions Labour Supply Committee. Two engineers experi-
enced in munition manufacture in Great Britain were attached
to the Commission.
t Ministry of Munitions. Report by Mission Appointed by
the Director-General of Recruiting for Munitions Work.
Output of Munitions in France. London, 1916.
146
MUNITION WORKERS IN FRANCE
brief account of the conditions prevailing in these
factories.
ORGANIZATION OF MUNITION INDUSTRY
One of the striking features of French organi-
zation they found to be the prevalence of the
small producer. There were 1,800 of these in
the Paris district alone. The work done in these
small shops was let out on sub-contract by the
large producer. The small French shops were
often manned by the members of a single family
who divided the work on their inadequate ma-
chinery into day and night shifts. Despite the
many handicaps their production was surprisingly
satisfactory, but from stories told it was apparent
that serious overwork, due to a spirit of self-
sacrifice, occurred frequently in these small estab-
lishments. One woman, whose husband was at
the front, literally worked herself to death in
superintending his shop, and he was then recalled
from the army to take her place.
Another feature of factory organization was
the high degree of specialization in product in
each plant, which resulted in an increase of repeti-
tive work involving less need for skill, greater
speed, and decrease in the amount of tool room
and inspection work required.
Apparently the English system of government
and "controlled" factories had not been adopted.
New factories had been erected, old ones extended,
and others adapted to the manufacture of muni-
tions, but in spite of the remarkable increase in
147
MUNITION WORKERS IN FRANCE
number of plants none had received either a sub-
sidy or a loan from the government.
The Commission gave high praise to the well-
planned layout of the new and remodeled shops
in avoiding congestion and in providing extra fa-
cilities for the transport of material, as well as to
the initiative and energy displayed by French
manufacturers in importing large quantities of
new machinery.
INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS
In the munition factories a large proportion of
the male labor is military, many of the men being
those who are not physically fit for active service,
but who are still mobilized and under military law.
Any attempt in England to employ soldiers in
munition plants under military law has met
active opposition by the trade unions, who con-
sidered it nothing less than industrial compulsion.
But France had had no counterpart of England's
difficulties with trade unionism. There had been
no strikes, no demands for general wage increases
or for the limitation of employers' profits, no op-
position to the "dilution" of labor or to the suspen-
sion of union rules of hours and wages. This lack
of friction may in part be due to the fact that a
large number of the workers are subject to mili-
tary discipline. The Commission were inclined to
impute it, however, to the intense patriotism of
the French.
Subsequent to the visit of the British Mission
to France, however, several strikes occurred in
148
MUNITION WORKERS IN FRANCE
the Paris district, arising out of a demand for
increased wages. As a result of these distur-
bances, in January, 1917, strikes were prohibited
and a system of compulsory arbitration estab-
lished.
HOURS OF WORK
The same general schedule of hours for muni-
tion plants prevailed in France as in England —
that is, the more common double shift of twelve
hours as well as the three eight-hour shifts. How-
ever, because of an absence of overtime beyond
the regular schedule and because of a long break
at noontime, customary in the working day in
France, which averages an hour and a half and
is sometimes two hours, there was at least no
marked evidence of fatigue. The intensity of
production and the almost entire absence of lost
time were the two tests by which this conclusion in
regard to fatigue was reached. In addition to the
fact that overtime was not worked, the change
from day to night shift, or vice versa, which is
made every two weeks, gave the workers twenty-
four hours off.
The customary starting hour for the day shift
was 6 or 7 a.m. Ten to twelve hours are worked
on this shift, and nine and a half to eleven on the
night shift.* The night shift began at 6, 7 or 8
p.m., and ran through to 5, 6 or 7 a.m., according
to the time of starting. The rest period at night
was often shorter than in the daytime, being
* The mean hours on day shift are 10 hours, 45 minutes, and
on night shift 10 hours, 10 minutes.
149
MUNITION WORKERS IN FRANCE
usually one hour, and sometimes, though rarely, as
short as half an hour, in which case the time was
paid for and the machines were not stopped. It
was claimed that night production equalled and
sometimes excelled that on the day shifts. Where
the three-shift plan has been adopted, there is no
break whatsoever for meals during the long eight-
hour spell, but "in some cases light refreshment
is taken while the work proceeds."
Two schedules for the triple shift were found
in use. According to the first schedule the first
shift ran from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m., the second from
2 to 10 p.m. and the third from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m.
On the other schedule the shifts ran from 4 a.m. to
12 noon, from 1 p.m. to 9 p.m. and from 8:45
p.m. to 4:15 a.m. Saturday hours on double and
triple shift systems were the same as those on
other days, but in some cases work stopped at noon
on Sunday.
Sunday Work: No statement was made as to
the prevalence of Sunday labor, but by implica-
tion the impression was conveyed that at least
part of Sunday is commonly a working day. The
change from day to night shift, however, gives a
twenty-four hour rest period every other week.
Lost Time: Lost time is dealt with severely
when it is due to avoidable causes, and this may
account for the strikingly small amount which oc-
curs. A first offense on the part of a civilian
brings a reprimand, a second sometimes a fine, but
more often dismissal. Military workers are dealt
with under military law.
ISO
MUNITION WORKERS IN FRANCE
WAGES
The question of wages, which did not come with-
in the jurisdiction of the Newman Committee, was
dealt with in the report of the Commission to
France. Piece rates were paid for almost every
type of work, and women received the same rate
as men. During their period of training, however,
workers were paid a time rate, usually the guaran-
teed minimum. The premium bonus system was
not in use anywhere. Some average daily earn-
ings are given in Appendix C of the report. For
men, the averages* ranged from 6.01 francs per
day for laborers to 10.42 francs for machine men
and 12.23 francs for skilled workers. For women,
the minimum was 3.53 francs and the mean 5.95.
These earnings, while low compared with Ameri-
can wages, seem to be somewhat in excess of
wages paid in France before the warf for work
of a similar nature, although the Commission
itself makes no comparison. But food prices and
the cost of living generally have advanced so much
* These averages are averages of the mean earnings per
shop and are not weighted according to the number of em-
ployes per shop.
fin 1911, in a report published by the French Minister of
Labor on wages and cost of living, the mean daily earnings
for day laborers was 5 francs in Paris and 3.26 francs in
other cities ; for metal workers 8.25 francs in Paris and 5.39 in
other cities; for iron founders 10 francs in Paris and 5.12
in other cities. In women's occupations, such as millinery,
the mean daily earnings were 5 francs in Paris and 2.48 in
other cities; for dressmakers 3.50 francs in Paris and 2.28 in
other cities. — Ministere du travail et de la prevoyance sociale.
Salaires et cout de 1'existence a diverses epoques. Paris, 1911.
pp. 22-23.
151
MUNITION WORKERS IN FRANCE
that the slight increase in wages does not in any
way compensate for the added drain on expendi-
tures. January, 1917, however, brought the es-
tablishment, by the French Minister of Munitions,
of a basic minimum hourly rate for women of .65
francs, equivalent to six pence, a standard for
which English women workers have thus far
struggled in vain. For men the basic minimum
rate was fixed at .80 francs an hour. The average
minimum hourly earnings for piecework were not
to fall below one franc for men or .75 francs for
women according to this order.
THE WOMEN WORKERS
The employment of women, of course, receives
special consideration in any discussion of war
work. As in England, French women have been
drawn into the munition industry from all em-
ployments and from non-industrial life. An in-
teresting table is presented in Appendix B of the
report, showing the former occupations of women
employed in one large plant and the processes of
work on which they are at present engaged.
Housewives, domestic servants, artists, hair-
dressers, clerks, florists, dressmakers, typists,
weavers, milliners, school teachers, lace makers,
those "of no profession," and many others are
listed. Housewives formed over 20 per cent of
the women employed, and in several departments
actually constituted the predominant group.
The work done by women covered practically
all processes. At the time of the visit of the Com-
152
MUNITION WORKERS IN FRANCE
mission they were beginning to be employed even
at some parts of setting up and tool making, in-
cluding the grinding of tool edges. It was thought
by some of the members of the Commission, how-
ever, that some of the work done would be con-
sidered in England to involve too severe a strain.
Women's output on "small work" equalled and
in some cases even exceeded that of men, while
on the heavy work, for the most part, their pro-
ductive power was of practically equal value.
Their hours of work were substantially the same,
except that there was a tendency to employ but
few women at night, which had under the double-
shift plan resulted practically in a day shift for
women and a night shift for men. Under the
three-shift system, however, women were em-
ployed at night, and the tendency was toward their
more frequent employment at night on the double
shift as well. An effort to overcome the fatigue
from congested transit was shown by the custom
of permitting women who were obliged to ride
to and from work to begin fifteen minutes later
than men, and leave fifteen minutes earlier.
For the most part, good sanitary conditions
were found in the French shops, as well as ade-
quate washing and locker facilities. Several fac-
tories supplied caps and overalls for women. No
other provision, however, against exposure to in-
dustrial poisons or accident, nor for medical serv-
ice within the factories was mentioned. Some
firms had woman superintendents of discipline, in
addition to forewomen, but employers were
153
MUNITION WORKERS IN FRANCE
divided in opinion as to the desirability of such a
plan.
TECHNICAL INSTRUCTION OF WORKERS
No provision had been made by the French
government for the technical instruction of un-
skilled men and women, and the necessary training
was given therefore in each factory. The average
period of training for women on machines was
a week, though it ranged from less than one day
to a fortnight. A man often taught a woman who
then took his place, taught another woman, and
then was replaced as a teacher by her pupil.
CAUSE OF INCREASED PRODUCTION
The Commission gave the highest praise to both
employers and workers. They believed that the
patriotic spirit on both sides was responsible for
the good timekeeping of workers, for freedom
from trade union restrictions, and for increased
intensity of production. Employers had stopped
at nothing to get the most adequate equipment.
While, as has been stated, no official limit had
been put on profits, as in England, neither had
there been any demand for it made by workers.
This freedom from restraint and the greater in-
centive for gain may have reacted favorably on the
output of munitions.* Though several incidental
factors were mentioned as in part responsible for
* A recent newspaper item, however, states that a committee
of the French Senate have brought charges against French
munition manufacturers of graft and excessive profits made
on government contracts.
154
^ MUNITION WORKERS IN FRANCE
the enormous manufacture of war materials, the
success was attributed almost wholly to the splen-
did spirit of devotion to the French cause shown
by workers and employers. The final conclusion
of the report, despite the presence of a trade union
member on the Commission, makes by implication
a thrust at English labor. It states that "the
people of France realize that they are at war, that
their one idea . . . is to bring the war to a suc-
cessful issue," and that, furthermore, the increase
of production is due to one cause, and one only,
and that is — patriotic enthusiasm.
155
BIBLIOGRAPHY
BOOKS AND REPORTS
British Association for the Advancement of
Science. Credit, Industry, and the War.
Edited by A. W. Kirkaldy. London, 1915.
Cole, G. D. H. Labour in War Time. London,
1915.
Great Britain. Board of Education. Annual Re-
port for 1915 of the Chief Medical Officer
of the Board of Education. London, 1916.
Board of Education. Summary of
returns supplied by County Local Educa-
tion Authorities of children excused from
school for employment in agriculture on
October 16, 1916. London, December,
1916.
Central Control Board (Liquor
Traffic). Canteen Committee. Feeding
the Munition Worker. London, October,
1916.
Home Office. First and Second
Interim Reports on an Investigation of
Industrial Fatigue by Physiological
Methods, by A. F. Stanley Kent, M.A.,
D.Sc., London, August, 1915 and 1916.
Home Office. Annual Reports of
the Chief Inspector of Factories and
Workshops for the Years 1914 and 1915.
London.
156
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Ministry of Munitions. The Boy
in Industry. London, 1917.
Ministry of Munitions. Notes on
the Employment of Women on Munitions
of War, with an Appendix on Training
of Munition Workers. London, February,
1916.
Ministry of Munitions. Health of
Munition Workers Committee.
Memoranda 1-16. London, 1915-1917.
1. Sunday Labour. 2. Welfare Super-
vision. 3. Industrial Canteens. 4. Em-
ployment of Women. 5. Hours of Work.
6. Canteen Construction and Equipment
(Appendix to No. 3). 7. Industrial Fa-
tigue and Its Causes. 8. Special Indus-
trial Diseases. 9. Ventilation and Light-
ing of Munition Factories and Workshops.
10. Sickness and Injury. 11. Investiga-
tion of Workers' Food and Suggestions
as to Dietary, by Leonard E. Hill, M.B.,
F.R.S. 12. Statistical Information Con-
cerning Output in Relation to Hours of
Work, by H. M. Vernon, M.D. 13. Ju-
venile Employment. 14. Washing Facili-
ties and Baths. 15. The Effect of Indus-
trial Conditions Upon Eyesight. 16.
Medical Certificates for Munition Work-
ers.
Interim Report. Industrial Efficiency
and Fatigue. London, February, 1917.
157
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Part I. Industrial and Statistical
Studies. Part II. Medical Studies.
Ministry of Munitions. Mission
Appointed by the Director-General of
Recruiting for Munitions Work. Report
on Output of Munitions in France. Lon-
don, 1916.
War Office. Women's War Work.
London, September, 1916.
Proud, E. Dorothea. Welfare Work, with fore-
word by the Right Honorable David
Lloyd George. London, July, 1916.
United States. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Monthly
Review. Washington.
Bureau of Labor Statistics. Bulle-
tins Nos. 221-223. Washington, April,
1917.
221. Hours, Fatigue and Health in British
Munition Factories. 222. Welfare Work
in British Munition Factories. 223. Em-
ployment of Women and Juveniles in Great
Britain during the War.
MAGAZINES AND NEWSPAPERS
Labour Woman (London)
Times (London)
Nation (London)
New Statesman (London)
New York Times
Spectator (London)
158
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