Four
THE MILL WHISTLE
The
MILL WHISTLE
Issued Every Two Weeks By and For the Employees of
MARSHALL FIELD & COMPANY
MANUFACTURING DIVISION
SPRAY, NORTH CAROLINA j. u. NEWMAN JR., Editor
WILL YOL die tomorrow? One hundred and nine people
died yesterday, victims of automobile accidents. One hundred and nine
are dying today; one hundred and nine will die tomorrow. Statistics
show that one hundred and nine persons are killed each day by auto
mobiles. If the automobile was not such a useful, practically necessary
machine, it would be outlawed as the world’s most dangerous weapon.
But it isn’t a dangerous weapon. The automobile, in itself, is as harmless
as a tricycle. Why, then, does it cause so many deaths? That’s easy to
answer it is the operator that makes the machine so dangerous.
Three out of every ten cars you see on the highways today are at
least ten years old, and three out of every five are at least seven years
old. Yet there are some drivers—far too many!—who will take these
ancient machines out on the highways, step on the gas and send them
hurtling over the roads at speeds ranging from sixty miles an hour on
up to the machine’s capacity.
Are you one of these drivers? Your car, according to averages, is
approximately six years old. She was a good little old car a few years
ago, but that, remember, was a few years ago. Today she’s sort of old,
sort of shaky in spots, and sure as the dickens she ain’t what she used
to be. Yet, knowing this, are you tempted to step on the gas a little
harder when you see a long, straight stretch of road? If you are,
brother, you’re filing your name as a candidate for one of those one
hundred and nine people who will die tomorrow. Or you are preparing
to make yourself directly responsible for the death of a fellow human.
Deep in your heart you know the old car isn’t capable of doing what
she used to do. You know that some of the parts are old and worn,
liable to give away under severe pressure.
A few years ago, let’s suppose, you were a pretty good baseball,
football, or basketball player. You could move around fast, without
much phj'^sical effort and certainly without in,jury. You put everything
you had into the game and when it was over you felt swell, phvsically
and mentally.
Fine! Today you’re several years older. You look the same, feel as
if you could still get in there and give the young fellows a real tussle.
But you know better. You know that if you tried to do that you’d end
up in the hospital, or in bed. You’ve got too much sense to jeopardize
your future health and happiness just for a few minutes of fun. By the
same token, shouldn t you use that same sense to prevent lasting injury,
perhaps death, just for the sensation of a fast ride? Brother, it isn’t
woith it. A chain is only as strong as its weakest link, and an automo
bile is only as sound as its weakest part. And in cars seven to ten years
old there are bound to be w'eak parts. Treat those weak parts with the
respect due their age, else they will see to it that you never reach old
age. The reason cemeteries are so quiet is because the boys under the
headstones no longer try to find thrills; no longer try to pass the fellow
diiving just ahead of them. If you haven’t enough self-control to with
hold that urge to see what the old bus can do” you can rest assured
that the headstone will hold you down securely. The child that sticks
its finger into a pot of boiling water “to see if it is hot” quickly learns
that it is!
TALKING: Common sense must tell us that we must bore some
people with our talk as much as they bore us with their talk, but some
how or other we seldom stop to consider that. To most of us the things
we talk about are interesting, and for that reason they should also in
terest others. But does it?
Bill, let s say, is interested in machines, or anything mechanical.
rnijll
March 18, 1946
Jim is interested in literature,
reads good stories and enjoys
them. When Bill and Jim me
they, of course, talk about so
thing, and no one needs mo
than one guess to assume what
they talk about. Now Bill and
Jim are you and I. Neither cares
a hoot about the thing that inter
ests the other, but of necessity
they must pretend to listen po
litely. But each is bored to death.
That’s something to remember
when we talk with friends. There
are millions of things to talk
about other than our particular
hobbies. And it is not only inevit
able but fair that each of us
should be the subject of occasion
al gossip. It’s the law of averages!
PRODUCTS AND PRICES
Through the years Americans
have come to expect more and
more goods for more and more
people, at steadily decreasing
prices. This is a sound philosophy
which has stood the test of time.
When electricity first came into
use, the cost per kilowatt hour
was higher than it is today. As
more people junked their oil
lamps and wired their house^^
the cost of electricity was lowe!^^
ed to a point where nearly all
could afford it.
Actually there are a few eco-
nornic axioms which no amount
of tinkering by government, labor
or management can change. We
are well aware that there is a
direct connection between costs
and prices. We know, too, that
what each group or each indi
vidual gets out of the economic
pie is dependent upon what all
groups and all individuals collec
tively put into that pie. A decline
in production means a smaller
economic pie and a smaller seg
ment of that pie for each of us
as an individual.
We have been the greatest
country in the world because
without setback we have con
tinued to turn out more goods at
a smaller cost in human effort
and at a lower price to the con
sumer. If we are to keep on this
path of progress, management
must provide the technical assist
ance, while labor must furnisljjH
the manpower to operate th^
machinery which manufactures
the products.
During the war everyone “got