i6 
LAND & WATER 
April 12, 1917 
In a Munition Factory 
By Phyllis Bottome 
IT is one of the ironies of the times that though the 
business of war is to destroy, the makers of destruc- 
tion appear to be the most humane and well-cared 
for specimens of humanity. No one who h;is 
\'isited a new munition factory can fail to be struck by 
the enormous improvement in the status of the worker, 
?ind the corresponding improvement in the quantity and 
quality of the work. 
The new machinerv with its incalculable results, its 
automatic economies and its bafHing ingenuity of design, 
is by far the lesser miracle. Men have always sought 
out many inventions ; it has only belatedly occurred to 
them that the human element needed for the e.xecution 
of their plans is more capable of de\'elopment than any 
machine. It has been left to war to produce employers 
whose care for their workpeople has tapped vmknown 
and imdreamed of human resources. 
In the munition factor\' which the present writer was 
permitted to \ isit, the human element was seen at its best. 
There are several thousand girls and men employed in the 
production of shell fuzes. The work hours are necessarily 
long. On three days a week the girls work from 8 a.m. 
to 9 p.m., on two days from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m., and 
Saturdays from 8 a.m. till 12.45 p.m., and yet in spite of 
these hours the women not only looked well, but they had 
an air of alertness and liveliness which comes from a 
reserve of strength and is the exact opposite of fatigue 
and lowered vitality. They looked keen. Some of the 
reasons for their well-being were ob\ious, tlie big shops 
were well lighted and ventilated. The girls were sensibly 
dressed and around the actual buildings was space and 
air. Two large mess rooms ha\-e been added to the works 
for the use of the women, and they are supplied with 
lunch (milk and biscuits) and tea, free. 
No Haphazard Methods 
These little breaks and light refreshments mean that 
the women's powers are not allowed to flag, the edge is 
taken off their fatigue and their spirits and bodies kept 
on a higher level of efficiency. Hot dinners consisting of 
meat, two vegetables and bread can be bought for 4|d. 
and pudding for id. or 2d. The health of the women 
workers in this factory has not been left to chance or 
arrived at by haphazard methods. 
The wife of the works manager and nine female super- 
visors under her direction devote their whole time and 
energy to what is known as the " Welfare Department." 
The workers consist of two trained nurses, a matron, an 
assistant matron, a night matron, a visitor of sick and 
absent girls, a hostel supervisor, mess room manager, 
and an assistant mess room manager for night work. 
These women do their work as far as possible not on the 
girls, as if they were lumps of material to be welded into 
shape by a superior hand, but wilh them, as if they were 
friendly fellow workers of experience, on whose counsel 
and kindly offices the girls can naturally rely. 
The welfare department combines with its other 
activities the function of an employment bureau ; this 
work is under the direct supervision of the manager's 
wife. All applications for labour are addressed to this 
department, reports are made at the end of two and four 
weeks on all new girls, and all official releases (required 
when a girl leaves) are signed by the woman in charge 
of the employment office. In this way the welfare de- 
partment is brought into direct touch with all girls 
throughout their " works " life, from the very start 
up to the time that they leave. In addition, when a new 
girl is engaged, she has an interview with the matron, 
.vho takes down particulars as to her health, home 
.-ircumstances, etc., on an index card, with as much 
display of friendliness and as little display of index 
card as possible. 
The welfare department has made a special study of 
dealing with complaints. Many of the girls employed 
are neither accustomed to regular work nor to the 
business of receiving and looking after their wages. A 
system has be^n started by which any girl wishing to make 
a complaint or who does not undrr^tand any of the 
business regulations, can obtain a form from, her fore- 
woman, and put it in a complaint box, whence it will be 
immediately taken and the point in question be* ex- 
plained to iier, or otherwise dealt with. 
In the centre of these works is a small garden, with 
shaded seats surrounding a founta:in. Whenever it is 
hue girls can use the breaks of twenty minutes for lunch 
and tea to be out in the fresh air, without fatigue and with 
something that resembles nature and beauty to take 
the place of the monotony of their machines. Standing 
close to the garden is a small and charming little house 
looking like a Swiss chalet. This is the Emergency 
Hospital. It has five beds and a surgery. Any girl who 
feels ill is given a hospital pass by her forewoman, which 
she takes across to the hospital, and after receiving 
treatment is either sent home or allowed to lie down and 
rest till she is fit to return to work. No casual or inter- 
mittent sVstem regulates the care of sick girls. The fore- 
woman of each department has special " sick forms " 
on which she writes the names of any girls absent from 
ill-health, with particulars of the work upon which she is 
engaged. Fi\-e of the welfare workers hold a committee 
on these reports twice a week. A woman visitor \'isits 
the girls and submits her opinion of the cases to the 
committee. 
Sometimes a fortnight at the sea is settled upon and 
entirely re-starts and invigorates a delicate or anamic 
girl. Often special nourishment is indicated and given 
at the firm's expense. If the work is considered 
too hard for the girl the question is discussed with 
her and something more suitable discovered. Very 
often advice and common sense are substituted for the 
more usual course of medicine and a break-down. 
The difficulties of housing and the usual social problems 
are of course enormous, and made more difficult by the 
sudden growth of the small munition towns. They 
are met by this firm with various expedients. The 
manager's wife and some of her fellow-workers visit 
the lodgings in the neighbourhood and keep a list of all 
those thatvare suitable for the girls. They also run an 
excellent small hostel. No visitor visits the lodgings 
of any girl who dislikes it ; so far only 4 out of 400 have 
preferred to be left out of the scheme. 
The hostel, run by a young and enthusiastic super- 
visor, accommodates fifty girls at the rate of los. and lis. 
a week a head for board and lodging. Rules are as few 
and as simple as possible. There is a comfortable sitting- 
room with books and papers and a piano, and a dining 
room with that last touch of fashionable privacy-— 
separate tables. Drilling and ambulance classes are 
held once a week for girl guides, and in the summer 
there is a swimming club. 
The firm takes a great interest in a girl's club in the 
town, where dancing, drilling, singing and games take place 
every evening, and there is a weekly entertainment to 
which the members may each bring a friend of either 
sex. Indirectly, and perhaps the more successfully, little 
touches of refinement and civilising grace are introduced 
and meet with the swiftest of. responses. In the big 
mess room of the works, table cloths are used, plants 
are on the table, and china has been provided. The 
girls do much to look after the appearance of the rooms 
themselves. A captain' has been appointed • by their 
suggestion, at each table, and assists the one lady supcr- 
\isor present in keeping order. 
These women are not working for revenge ; they are 
beating the Germans, not because they hate the Germans 
but in order to support their own men in the trenches. 
If you multiply this factory by several thousands, if you 
think of the spirit in them, of the length of hours never 
grudged, of youth strained and never regretting the 
strain, of skill, strength and endurance flung fearlessly 
into a new and exhausting form of labour, and when you 
remember the satisfaction on the faces you have watched, 
bending intently over their machines, you will feel very 
sure that their work will succeed. They will beat the 
Germans and afterwards perhaps they will understand, 
that what they made with their hands to destroy human 
beings, has sa\-ed humanitv. 
