Unskilled labor?

The immigration debate shouldn't even be a discussion. This is America, immigration is what we do. TheRaven previously explained immigration as both a moral cause and a saving grace with a look at the  unpleasant demographic alternative called "Europe". This post looks at anti-immigrant hysteria from a different angle.

There's a persistent myth that immigrants can't be trained for new vocations. The Right assumes that adults from low-tech environments lack the background necessary to acquire high-tech skills. Such assumptions are proclaimed as fact and spewed at a credulous, white audience. America's history refutes this notion several times over. This post provides only one example, in only one city, with a series of images obtained from the Library of Congress.

Three generations ago, America turned to its largest pool of unskilled people to fill a massive need for high-tech manufacturing labor. Recruiting an enormous army & navy while also embarking on an unprecedented surge in military manufacturing caused social norms to be tossed aside. The vast majority of this new manufacturing army had never held a wrench, power tool or had previously seen the inside of a factory, let alone operate hydraulic presses or master difficult skills such as welding. Most women who manned our factories during WW2 had zero prior experience with any manufacturing process, tool or concept because they were previously "housewives".

Welcome to Nashville, 1942.

Vultee Aircraft (California) bought Stinson Aircraft Corp. in 1940. Vultee paid $2.3 million for Stinson and got a recently completed, $2 million factory in the deal. A Time magazine report on the transaction noted Tennessee's "plentiful labor" and speculated that Vultee might expand the Stinson workforce ten-times over, to 7,000 employees. Time didn't mention that such expansion would depend heavily on a female work force.

These photos were taken for the Army in August 1942 and February 1943. While these photos appear to be staged, the women were genuine workers.

Click any image in post to view full size

Click any image in post to view full size

Click any image in post to view full size

The wartime economy caused the US female manufacturing workforce to roughly quadruple in just a few years. The Arsenal of Democracy legacy was built in large part by "a bunch of housewives", some of whom began their wartime employment with fewer job skills than less educated immigrants possess today.

Vultee went through several changes in ownership and was acquired by Vought in 2003. The original Vultee plant has grown to 2.1 million square feet. Aircraft components have been produced for over 70 years at 1431 Vultee Boulevard, Nashville, Tennessee. The legacy of a quickly-skilled workforce that made a big contribution lives on in Nashville, but not in the hearts or minds of Right-wing demagogues.

All photos: Library of Congress

Winners

Photo by TheRaven

Maysville, Ky. - Oct. 2008

Mammoth Problem

What or who killed off the mammoth?
 

Theories include asteroids and hunting. There's no concrete proof on the first. Ice age hunters needed extraordinary motivation to kill mighty beasts with mere pointed sticks. TheRaven's keen study of modern human behavior has led to a breakthrough theory of the mammoth's demise. By impersonating a crow and studying behavioral differences between human males and females, TheRaven was able to extrapolate backwards to root cause.
 

The mammoth were doomed the minute humans invented language. Important to this theory is realization that women must have invented language. Men had pointing and grunting and, given modern male behavior during football season, it's quite clear that, without women, men would still be pointing and grunting. Before women had their linguistic eureka, the mighty male hunters usually sat around the fire, worrying about their place in history. With grunts and gestures.
 

"Oy! Are we mighty hunters or are we going to spend eternity killing rabbits?"
 

We should kill mammoths!"

 

(Ice age hunters, in fact, mostly hunted arctic hares and on that score, weren't so mighty).
 

Other hunters said...
 

 "Are you bleedin' mad?"

 

(Oddly, they gestured and grunted with British accents)
 

"All we have are these poxy sticks!"

 

During one such exchange, at the other fire, women invented language. When they realized they could communicate with more than grunts and gestures (which was always less suitable for women) they cast about for topics...
 

"Let's talk about our feelings!"

 

The women all looked at each other, instantly realizing the power of language to leverage their feelings into a prehistoric form of remote control.
 

"No, how about....relationships!".

 

Shock at the existence of relationships quickly gave way to realization of the ultimate man-control. Smiles and nods all around were slightly tinged with sadness as the women realized that, at least in a fashion context, being able to talk about shoes was a few years in the future.
 

The men weren't talking yet, but they weren't deaf. Not knowing exactly what feelings or relationships were (many still don't), but fearing the worst, they frantically gestured and grunted to find a way out of their new predicament ....
 

"Er...hunting mammoth takes a lot more time than hunting rabbits".

 

Questioning looks around the fire.
 

"Yeah, that's means we won't be around for (fearful and confused looks all around) feelings and relationships!" (terror stricken looks on all their faces).
 

They stared at their pointed sticks with desperate religious fervor.
 

"You know, if we all stab the mammoth at the same time....it might work!".

 

Much relieved at dodging the terror of feelings and relationships, not to mention learning how to speak, the hunters truly became mighty and laid waste to the mammoth.
 

With pointed sticks.