188 



THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



© Committee on Public Information 



A ship's PROPELLER in THE MAKING 



For merchant vessels equipped with comparatively slow-moving engines, four-bladed pro- 

 pellers are used. The three-bladed propellers are usually used on fast merchant and naval 

 ships. The first screw man-of-war ever built in any country was the U. S. S. Princeton; of 

 1,000 tons, launched less than 80 years ago. 



rush and confusion of the early days, was 

 excessively high. In one great yard early 

 this year 141 men out of every 1,000 em- 

 ployed during one month were injured, 

 the average length of time lost by each 

 injured worker being 17 days. Five 

 months later the percentage of accidents 

 had been reduced nearly two-thirds, and 

 the average number of days lost from 

 work by the injured men did not exceed 

 six. 



The chief factor in bringing about this 

 gratifying decrease in casualties has been 

 the safety-first educational propaganda 

 upon which the directors of industrial 

 relations insist. Much of the credit is 

 due, too, to improved hospital facilities, 

 which enable injured men to receive im- 

 mediate treatment, thus greatly lessening 

 the danger of infection. 



The percentage of accidents in the ship- 

 yards throughout the country today is 



not as high as in the steel mills, but cor- 

 responds to the general industrial , rate. 

 The Submarine Boat Corporation of 

 Newark, N. J., which ranks second only 

 to Hog Island in size, having 28 ship- 

 ways, claims a world record for safety, 

 in that it launched four ships without a 

 fatality. 



HOUSING CONDITIONS WHICH AFFECT 

 MORALE 



In time of war the word morale comes 

 to have a significance so broad as to em- 

 brace all conditions which affect man's 

 social relations and physical surroundings 

 as well as his mental attitude, and the 

 morale of the shipbuilder, like that of 

 every other workman employed in an 

 essential industry, is of as far-reaching 

 importance in achieving ultimate victory 

 as is the stamina of the man who operates 

 a machine-gun or leads a bayonet charge. 



