In reaching for material above the head, pushing trucks about and lifting boxes, it was desirable to have the waist as free as possible, and for this reason the bloomers were arranged to be supported from the shoulders by suspenders. To allow the bloomers to be removed readily, a backward fold was made over each hip, held by a button supplied by the makers and attached by the women to fit. They were made very full, with a band around the top, and were drawn

in by another band and buckle midway between the ankle and the calf of the leg.

The cloth was chosen for wearing qualities and color, so as not to show dirt readily and to be durable and fast. It is dark blue drilling such as is used by awning makers for that part of the awning upon which the name is painted, and it was shrunk before being cut, which is not done in all cases with the ready-made garments.

The suit was made to measure by one of the department

stores and delivered in twenty-four hours. Six costumes were made on these lines, varying slightly in detail, and all were entirely satisfactory to the women. Many who had

WOMAN OPERATING 72-FOOT, 5-TON CRANE IN CABLE AND TRANSFORMER WAREHOUSE

Shoes

We had some difficulty in finding a suitable shoe, and most of those in stock were either of very bad shape or else were not rugged enough for stock room requirements. There were two types which had been on the market for some time, neither of which was wholly satisfactory-the "Prescription" shoe at $6.50, and the "Nurses Panacea" shoe at $3.50. The former is a high grade semi-orthopedic shoe, but failed as

Cap

it was not rugged enough, and the latter, while being very easy on the feet, was not strong enough and soon lost its shape. After talking with our Medical Director, I was convinced that the proper line of procedure was to take some type of orthopedic shoe, of which the "Groundgripper" at $7.50 has worked out satisfactorily so far.

This was similar to that worn by nurses, except that it was reduced to the lowest terms and the cost was practically nothing. A cap was required because there is considerable dust about and also the work tends to get the hair out of place causing an untidy appearance.

Stockings

This requirement was not of much importance except that the color should be black and they should be strong. The ordinary cotton stockings selling in the stores at around 50c. a pair were acceptable.

Insignia

One of the standard costumes sold in the stores had on the sleeve the letters "N. S. S. A.," which we understood meant "National Service Suit of America." This caused considerable interest, and one woman who did not have the letters on her sleeve worked them on with a needle. This brought to my mind the possible advantage of having on the left sleeve some insignia which would appeal to one very much as the naval insignia does on the sleeves of the sailors, and as the work resulted from conditions due to the war it seemed to me well to carry out this idea by using the words "WAR SUPPLY SERVICE" as shown in the cut on page 143. The word "war" has since been dropped. At the time the photograph was taken I had this stenciled on with paint, but it was my intention to have it embroidered on by machine, which is, I think, an inexpensive operation, but the former plan was never changed.

There are some advantages to the women in wearing this costume other than those mentioned, especially the saving of more expensive clothing. When they are required to

paint or do similar mechanical work, their clothing would be seriously injured.

We attempted to do more than to provide women with a suitable dress in the choice of this costume, as this description is intended to show. We helped to raise materially the standard of the class of women who went into the work, and have already found an increasing number of promising applicants. While we do not care to say very much about the future after the men have all returned from the war, we are watching with a good deal of interest to see if the rearrangement of stock room work will not disclose the fact that quite a large portion of it is well within the ability of women in competition with men at the same wage.

Developments have been made in the handling of transil oil in barrels in the Detroit Edison Company and the Commonwealth Edison Company, along much the same lines, as is shown in the following description by Mr. C. E. Marden, general storekeeper, Commonwealth Edison Company, Chicago.

IMPROVED METHODS OF STORING BARRELS

The old method of piling oil barrels was to lay them on their side in a row, place planks on these for another row and so on. Under this method the lower row received all the

weight of the upper rows, and in a great many instances the barrels in the lower row were crushed. If for lack of space, it was necessary to place various grades of oil in one pile, to extract the barrel wanted and repile caused a great deal of work.

There is also another old method of storing oil barrels which is safer, but takes up a considerable amount of floor space, and that is to set them up on end.

We have installed in one of our warehouses an oil barrel rack made of 2-inch channel iron, 4 inch thick. The