February 25. 1918 



Hardwood Record — Veneer & Panel Section 



31 



The Mechanic's Call Has Come 



The Shipyards Need the Services of a Quarter of a MilHon Workers 



I HE. COUNTRY'S CALL has gone out to mechan- ditions under which the work will be done are as good 



ics to volunteer in the army of shipbuilders that as circumstances will allow, and vastly better than the 



will bridge the Atlantic with vessels and carry soldier expects at the front. In fact, this volunteer army 



the vra.r into the enemy's country. The govern- of shipbuilders must render the soldier's condition better 



ment has the material, the yards, the machinery, and the by making it possible to keep him supplied with food, 



money to build 6,000,000 tons of ships a year, and it is clothes, medicine, arms, and ammunition. In this war. 



calling for workmen to help do the work. A quarter of 

 a million men are wanted, and the call has come to every 

 man who can help. The work in a shipyard is so diversi- 

 fied that every person can be of assistance who can do 

 any kind of carpentering, any 

 kind of metal working, electrical 

 work, wiring, foundry, painting, 

 plumbing. In fact, almost every 

 class of mechanic is wanted. 



The Germans have insolently 

 proclaimed that America could 

 not build ships in sufficient num- 

 bers to have any effect on the 

 war. These false prophets of the 

 kaiser are in for a rude awaken- 

 ing. It is not the first time they 

 have missed their calculations in 

 this war, and they will miss it 

 again, as they vv^ill find out when 

 the string of ships crossing the 

 Atlantic from our shores to Eu- 

 rope shall be so closely packed 

 that the lookouts on the masts 

 will never be out of sight of 

 other ships from one side of the 

 sea to the other. 



That is what is going to hap- 

 pen, and you, if you are handy 

 with any kind of tools, are 

 wanted to help do this great 

 work and put the final crimp in Germany. 



TIIK MAX (1|- IHE HOUR 



all must stand shoulder to shoulder and help, whether 

 wielding a bayonet at the front or a riveting machine in 

 our ship yards. 



Men who volunteer for the ship work will be called 

 as needed and will be assigned 

 to the particular work that they 

 are best qualified to do. Each 

 man will be employed in the 

 line which he best understands. 

 It is believed that we now 

 have half a million fighters in 

 Europe. There will be two 

 million there in due time, if the 

 kaiser and Hindenburg do not 

 bump the ceiling in the mean- 

 time. That enormous army 

 needs supplies in vast quantities, 

 and all depends on ships. We 

 shall get the ships, the supplies 

 shall go across, and the war will 

 be won by the patriot in the 

 shop and shipyard as well as by 

 the patriot who touches off the 

 cannon that will speed the 

 kaiser's troops on their home- 

 ward hike. 



The mechanics who can help 

 build ships should not delay 

 offering their services, for now 

 is the time. The sooner we can 



put every ounce of our strength into the blow^. the quicker 

 Those who are actually at work in the ship yards will it will all be over. It is reported that the southern pine 

 be exempt from the draft. Instead of going to the mills are turning out a million feet of ship timber a day, 

 trenches, they will do their fighting with hammers and and the western mills and the northern mills are pro- 

 saws, and every blow will go to the mark as quickly ducing at a speed that was never heard of in the past, 

 and as surely as if it were a bullet fired from a front The Atlantic will be bridged with ships, and the call has 

 trench. The workers writh tools will back up the soldiers gone forth for help. When Nelson's fleet sailed against 

 with machine guns. the enemy's line at Trafalgar, the admiral's masthead 

 It is urged, therefore, that mechanics go at once to the displayed the short and simple reminder: "England ex- 

 nearest enrollment agent of the United States Public pects every man to do his duty." That was sufficient, 

 Service Reserve of the Labor Department, or to the local and victory was complete before the sun went dov^^n. 

 enrollment agent of his State Council of Defense, and A similar call has gone out to the Americans now, and 



register themselves as willing to work in the shipyards 

 if needed; then to retain their present positions until 

 called personally for service. 



TTie wages are good, the hours eight a day, and con- 



there is no question what the response will be, and that 

 the final result will be like that at Trafalgar. But the re- 

 sponse to be most effective must be prompt, for a day lost 

 now means many days and possibly lives lost in the future. 



