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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
Possibilities for Female Labor in Piano Plants
The Shortage of Male Help Is Forcing Manufacturers to Utilize Women in
the Construction of Pianos and Players—Female Labor Has Proven Its Capa-
bility, Especially in Those Departments Where Deftness Is Most Essential
A careful canvass of the leading piano manu-
facturers of the country made by The Review
indicates that the labor situation generally has
not reached a point where the employment of
women in piano factories proper has been con-
sidered on a very broad basis. The piano man-
quite as well as by men. Piano manufacturers
who manufacture and assemble player actions
in their plants have for the most part been
employing women and girls for some time past
in taking care of work of that nature. In fact,
women have found places in player action
A Truckload of Girls Employed in the Udell Works
plants practically since the starting of this
ufacturers have advised The Review for the most
branch of the industry, and the piano manu-
part that they appreciate the likelihood of hav-
facturers who have themselves employed women
ing to resort to a general employment of women
in certain departments, as a means of solving
are in a position to have a fair knowledge of
the labor situation, if general conditions con-
their capabilities, the manner in which they
tinue as at present or develop in the future, ac- should be handled, and the sort of work in the
piano factory proper which they are capable of
performing.
One manufacturer states that women have
been, and are, employed in the action depart-
ment of his factory,
and have proved very
capable. Another sug-
gests that places can
be found for them in
t h e department de-
voted to action and
tone regulating, tun-
ing and perhaps ac-
tion
finishing.
It
would appear that the
employment of women
in piano and player
factories to some ex-
t e n t in times when
the labor market was
normal, should indi-
cate that they can fill
even more places in
such factories, under
the' l a b o r situation
that exists at present
or that promises to
develop in the future.
Woman at Sander in Udell Works
cording to present prospects. Several factories,
however, have used women in various depart-
ments and without exception report that their
work has measured up in every respect to that
of the men, and in_ the case of work requiring
considerable dexterity, in the handling and as-
sembling of small parts, have shown themselves
superior to the man in matters of accuracy.
As was reported in The Review recently, the
Lester Piano Co. has employed a goodly num-
ber of women in various parts of the factory
and has found that there are a surprising num-
ber of jobs that can be handled by female labor
machine room, running boring machines and
presses. We find that they are fully as reliable
and as dependable as male labor, and on any
light work we believe they are naturally more ef-
ficient, turning out a superior quality of work,
as they are of nature neater. As far as wages
are concerned they will average less than male
labor by about 20 per cent."
That women can be utilized with success in
handling piano case work is indicated by the
fact that they have been employed in many de-
partments of cabinet factories.
The Udell
Works, Indianapolis, the prominent manufac-
turers of music roll and talking machine rec-
ord cabinets, are perhaps the leaders in intro-
ducing female labor in their factories, and found
that women were able to do practically every
sort of work connected with the manufacture of
cabinets that was formerly handled by men.
As in the Lester Piano Co. factory the women
in the Udell Works are supplied with special
clothing designed in the form of bloomerlike
overalls for the purpose of eliminating the dan-
ger of the skirts getting caught in the machinery,
or otherwise interfering with the free movement
of the employe.
The Udell Works employ at the present time
twenty-three girls in the various departments of
the plant, many of whom operate somewhat
complicated machinery.
They have taken the
place of an equal number of men who have en-
tered the service.
In commenting upon the
efficiency of women, Tom Griffith, sales manager
of the Udell Works, said:
"They not only are doing the work, but they
are achieving results which are gratifying to the
factory managers.
We started this plan last
spring, and it did not seem to work out very well
at first. Now that we have it better organized
we are getting along fine.
"The plan really has worked out splendidly
It has been proved
by actual test t h a t
they can drill plates,
s t r i n g pianos and
even do rather rough
w o r k in t h e mill
room with complete
satisfaction.
One
prominent player ac-
tion manufacturer re-
ports that h i s com-
pany is using a great-
er proportion of fe-
Woman Operating Planer in a Piano Factory
male help right now than formerly with most
and we are well pleased with the results. We
excellent results.
He says: "We are even find that the women, after they thoroughly un-
using female labor in our mill room and in our
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