Our shop has an average of 75 men on its pay roll, making a Precision
Tool Room Grinder. Before the United States joined the forces of
Liberty we had felt a shortage of labor and had taken steps to break
in untrained men.
Thinking we were not large enough to inaugurate a Vestibule Training
Room, as it is generally understood, we inaugurated a system of
training men directly in our shop.
We sorted out applicants and put them in our shop, two at a time;
if they had never worked in a shop before we started them on simple
machines, such as the hack saw, centering machine, etc., in order
that they might get used to the noise and methods of the machine
shop. They were then advanced to Roughing Lathes, being given simple
jobs, such as turning and facing.
By having only two at a time the foreman was able to give them
personal supervision, without interfering with his regular work. As
they developed they were given more difficult jobs. We found, as a
rule, inside of sixty days such men made very fair machine hands.
We also broke men in on drill presses and shapers, using same tactics
and had very successful results. To give you an idea as to the class
of men from which we have made machine operators, we have working in
our shop to-day one bartender, piano tuner, street car conductor,
bricklayer, coal miner and an artist—self made. The other unskilled
men had had some previous experience on productive labor, either
running punching presses, nailing machines, or work requiring a
smattering of mechanical ability.
Our experience is that if you take a man over 30 that has become
disgusted from a blind alley profession, where there is no hope of
advancement, point out the possibilities of the machine tool trade,
and give him a living wage to start, even though at first he is not
worth it, he develops into a good and loyal man. They are, however,
like children, they have to be encouraged every so often by a
personal talk or suggestions from the head man.
Of course we have had our failures, but our successes have been in
the majority, so we are continuing to break in green help.
(Signed) ALBERT A. THAYER,
_Treasurer_.