1915-07-05tt

“Fifteen hundred men, at least, will find employment at the International Harvester company’s plant, this city, within the course of two or three weeks.”

Hamilton Herald.  July 7, 1915.

In the months just before the outbreak of the Great War, the City of Hamilton, along with most of the rest of the world, was in the throes of a deep commercial depression. Most of the large factories in the city, if not closed down completely, had drastically reduced their work force.

Eleven months later, the local economic situation was quite. At a time, in July, 1915, when recruitment was experiencing a downturn, even as the need for more and more soldiers was all too pressing. Recruitment enthusiasm had certainly been impacted by the huge casualty numbers resulting from the war, and another major factor is that work was becoming plentiful once more, reducing the number of men volunteered just to have any kind of job at all.

A public announcement of the firm’s intentions was made by the management of the International Harvester company in the morning of July 7, 1915:

“On July 13, the great malleable casting department will resume operations, and it will only be a few days later before the entire concern is in full swing.

“AS many as two thousand men are often employed here, but for a short time, the concern will run with a pay-roll of about fifteen hundred emplyees.”¹

¹ “Fifteen Hundred Men Will Get Jobs: International Harvester Company Will Reopen Its Big Plant to Fill Orders for Western Canada.”

Hamilton Herald.   July 7, 1915

The International Harvester company’s expansion had nothing directly to do with orders for war materials but was more a reflection of increased orders from farmers for agricultural equipment. The reopening of the closed plant was seen as a very hopeful sign for other Hamilton factories:

“F. H. Whitten, of the Steel company of Canada, stated to the Herald this morning that any activity on the part of the implement manufacturing concerns would naturally be of great benefit to his company.  The steel company supplies much of the raw material required by the implement manufacturers.

“ ‘Will this mean that you will have to take on more men?’ he was asked.

“ ‘Not necessarily; but it will mean that the men we are employing will have steadier work,’ he replied.”¹

The other major agricultural implement manufactory in Hamilton at the time, the Oliver Chilled Plow Works, was on limited operations with a drastically reduced work force of about 250 men:

“It will be on full swing within a month, say the officials. It is expected that several hundreds of men will have to be taken on the pay-roll when the fall rush starts about August 1.”¹