Part 15 (1/2)
”Those new uniforms are going to be about as good an 'ad' for Safety First as anything we could have,” remarked Uncle Jack, leading the way into the big machine shop. He had caught the admiring glances that had followed them from the older people and the longing looks that the boys and girls had sent after them all the way over.
”We haven't done our 'Day's Boost for Safety' yet, though,” said Betty.
”I don't know but we ought to do our good turn every morning before we start out on any trip--I just hate not to get my b.u.t.ton right side up till so late in the day!”
”Those girls have pretty neat looking uniforms of their own, haven't they?” said Bob, a little later, as they gazed down a long row of punch presses which were pouring out s.h.i.+ning streams of aluminum pin trays.
”What do they wear them for--just to look pretty?”
”You wouldn't have thought so,” laughed the forewoman, ”if you could have seen how they fought the first caps and ap.r.o.ns we tried to get them to wear. They _were_ homely things, even if they were life savers. So we kept at it till we got something so trim and pretty that the girls would rather wear it than not.”
”Life savers?” repeated Betty. ”How could caps and ap.r.o.ns save lives?
Oh--by not catching in the machinery?”
”Just so. It's easy for a girl's hair to be blown into the machines, or for a braid to swing against a whirling shaft, you see. Oh yes, we had several girls killed that way, before we tried this uniform. They used to wear dresses with baggy sleeves,--ragged ones, sometimes. Rings and bracelets are bad, too; and even these ap.r.o.ns, you'll notice, are b.u.t.toned back so they can't fly out against the wheels. Yes, the girls all like the idea now. The caps keep their hair from getting dusty or mussed up. Besides, we find it saves a good many girls' feelings, too, having them all dressed so much alike.”
The same good sense was shown in the other departments, in the working clothes worn by the men and boys.
”You won't find a man in this room with a necktie on,” the foreman told them. ”These are the biggest punch presses in our whole shop. A while ago one of the men got his necktie caught between the cogwheels and he was drawn into the machine head first. That was the end of that sort of thing in _this_ shop!
”Now, as you'll see, long sleeves and ragged or baggy overalls are things of the past. If a man does wear a long sleeve, he keeps it rolled up where it can't catch and cost him a hand or an arm.
”Watch the men and boys, and you'll see how careful they are not to look around while their machines are running. Before they start their machines, you'll find them looking all around to see there's n.o.body near who might get caught in the wheels or belt. These workmen are just as anxious to give the other fellow a square deal as anybody could be, once they catch the Safety First idea. It took some of them a long while to learn never to fool with the other fellow's machine--that's always dangerous, you know, just like a machine that's out of order. Our pressmen wouldn't think of starting up a machine which was out of order, or which they didn't understand--they'd report it to me at once.”
”What has been the result of all this Safety training--has it got the men to 'thinking Safety,' so you don't have so many accidents?” asked Uncle Jack.
The foreman's face glowed with pride. ”Why, it's got so now, sir, that even the youngsters are too wise to scuffle or play jokes on each other here in the shop. They've come to see how easy it is to fall against dangerous machinery or down a shaft or stairway. And as for throwing things at each other, the way they used to during the noon hour--nothing doing any more in that line.
”Would you believe it, we haven't had a bad accident in this shop since a year ago last July. That was when one of the boys on a punch press got the die clogged and tried to dig it out with his fingers instead of using a hook. That's about the last set of fingers this shop has lost; yes, sir. Before that, there was hardly a week went by but we had several hands crippled, and often somebody killed. Oh, this Safety First work is wonderful,--it's making things a lot safer for the working man!”
Uncle Jack told the kindly foreman what the twins were doing in Safety patrol work. Bob and Betty could see how proud the man was of the splendid Safety showing his shop was making. ”And it's a fine pair of Scout uniforms you and the little lady have,” he called after them.
”More power to you both--and to the Safety Scouts of America!”
”You seem very much interested in everything in these shops, Bob,” said his uncle, who could hardly drag him away.
”You'd better believe I am!” cried the boy, warmly. ”As soon as I get through school, I'm going to get a job in one of these factories and--well, I'm trying to make up my mind which shop it shall be!”
_One thing you always owe the other fellow--a square deal._--SURE POP
[Ill.u.s.tration]
ADVENTURE NUMBER EIGHTEEN
AN ADVENTURE IN SAFETY
Betty told Sure Pop what Bob had said about getting a job in one of the big mills by and by, and the little Colonel remembered it a few weeks later when he was showing several of the Safety Scouts through the steel mills.
”Do you think it will be one of these mills you'll pick out for your first job?”