Brawn Wanted

In the maze of steel rails that stretches for miles along the New Jersey shore across from Manhattan, 8,000 loaded boxcars stood idle last week, waiting for their war freight to be moved to ships. The blight of manpower shortage had moved from New Jersey's tomato canning (TIME, Aug. 30) to an even more critical field.

The railroads needed 3,200 more men at once to 1) get the freight to the piers, 2) get the boxcars moving west for another load. Off on a manhunt went the War Manpower Commission and Railroad Retirement Board. Said WMC's Major Howard J. Lepper: "This is no sissy job. It calls for husky workers with a stiff backbone and plenty of muscle. But I'll even take women provided they have plenty of beef."

Two days of such newspaper appeals brought impressive results: 2,000 volunteers in 48 hours, including 100 Princeton University students, scores of husky lads from the athletic leagues sponsored by New Jersey police departments, three sailors on shore leave. Perhaps Major Lepper had found the magic formula for recruiting workers. Said the New York Sun: "There's something about a request for male brawn that can't be swept aside. It's like trying to walk by those muscle-testing machines at the fair."

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