- ?- THE WAYNESVILLE MOUNTAINEER -==^
County Farm Land Higher
Than Average In Nation
'Special to The Mountaineer'
NEW YORK ? Acre for acre,
farms in Haywood County com
mand higher prices than do those
in most other parts of the nation.
This is one of several encourag
ing aspects of the local farm prob
lem revealed in the Census Bu
reau's new Census of Agriculture.
The results of the survey are
being i.??ued in preliminary form
for each of the 3.067 counties in
the United States. It is the first
thorough study of the kind since
1950
It shows that the average value
of farms 'land plus buildings only)
in Haywood County is $233.34 an
acre, an increase over the 1950
figure. $152.73 and acre.
Thiais more than farmers can
get kfMheir property in most parts
of t43puntry. The average price
is $807 an acre. The local figure
is better, also than that for the
Southern States as a whole, $76.40
an acre. I
In terms of total dollars per
farm, values also rose locally since
the last census. The average value
in the county, excluding machinery
and equipment but including land
and buildings, has climbed to $12,
940 per farm, according to the cur
rent census. It "had been $9,201
per farm in 1950.
The downward drift of agricul
tural prices, which has become a
matter of major concern to the
entire nation, has meant an overall
decline in net farm income.
Its effect, according to the Agri
culture Department, has been
somewhat cushioned by the fact
that there has been a large drop
in farm population. The farm in
come. therefore, on a per capita
basis, has declined to a smaller
degree.
Some measure of relief is ex
pected through enactment by Con
gress of the President's soil bank
plan, which contemplates the re
tirement of roughly ten percent of
farm land now planted to crops.
This would mean, according to
the census data, the retirement of
up to 1,996 acres in Haywood
County where there were 19,961
acres normally planted to crops.
A postwar shortage of rice in the
Par East has increased wheat con
sumption there.
Robert Tharp Is
Taking Course
In Stone Settina
Robert F. Tharp, Jr.. left Friday
for a special course in jewelry re
pair, diamond and stone setting, at
Bowman Technical School, Lan
caster, Fa.
The course will take from four
to six weeks, Tharp said. The
watchmaker has been here for the
past four years, and is associated
with Kurt Cans.
He is a graduate of the Southern
College of Watchmaking. Memphis,
and worked in \\adosboro, and
Rock Hill befire coming to Waynes
ville.
A native of Brevard, he plans
to become a specialist in the jewel
ry repair, and mounting of pre
cious stones, as we I las watchmak
ing.
Familiar Site
NEW BRITAIN, Conn (API
When Raymond K Begley, ac
companied his son. Ray, Jr, into
the latter's classroom at Central
Junior High School, he thought a
desk in the center of the third row
looked familiar.
Lifting the lid, he found his
ow7n" "Initials RKB where he'd
carved them 25 years ago.
GE Executive Tells Club Importance Of Modernized Community Relations Plan
?'Both a company and communi
ty have responsibilities," J. T
Bailey, general manager of tlie
Outdoor Lighting Department of
General Electric Company, Hen
dersonville, told Rotarians here
Friday, as he talked on "Commun
ity Relations at General Electric."
Bailey said that until about ten
years ago General Electric con
fined its thinking relative to man
agement functions, primarily to
four basic areas ? engineering,
manufacturing, marketing and fi
nance.
"In the past ten years, however,
we have added a fifth area w hich
is proving to be equally important
?Employee and Plant Community
Relations. It is our feeling that
before one can have good com
munity relations, one must first
have good employee relations
Each employee is an ambassador
of his company either good or
bad ?? and his neighbors tend to j
believe hint rather than others
with wl oirt they come in contact." ]
he said. I
Continuing. Bailey pointed out.
"More and more in recent years, |
we have concerned ourselves with i
what our neighbors think beyond j
our plant walls. I
"In th past, many major com- I
panics felt secure in the knowl- ?
edge that, measured against ae- <
cepted standards, they ranked high 1
as good employers Wages compar- i
eU favorably with comparable jobs i
in local industry. Working condi- ,
tions generally rated in the same ,
top group. Employee benefit pro- i
grams were well established and
were the forerunners of today's i
practices. i
"Our company had always be
lieved in practicing good citizen
ship and in accepting a citizen's i
responsibility in all of the cities
where our plants were located
Local management and employees
were encouraged to take part in .
all worthy community activities
In spite of all these efforts, some
thing was lacking.
"Beyond these accepted activi
ties in which we were >. ngaged we
realized that we had to assume and
accept responsibility by doing our
part in encouraging businessmen,
the clergy, educators, and other
segments of the community to be
come more familiar with our prob
lems in serving and retaining our
customers and in providing maxi
mum work for our employess and,
ii'fter paying all of our bills, to
earn a fair profit for our share
owners.
"We realize that we must get
our community neighbors to: 11 >
understand that a profitable busi
ness is good for our community
neighbors; (2) benefits resulting
Iroin a profitable industry cannot
last unless the citizens understand
the system whith makes these
benefits possible; <3> fully ap
preciate that good paying jobs de
pend upon the success of local
businesses, including General Elec
tric.
"It was obvious," Bailey said,
"that we must prepare a carefullv
planned community relations pro
gram. It was necessary to realize
that ouv employees in our vari
ous communities are a product of
the environment and climate in
each community In which we oper
ate.
"In assessing community respon
sibilities, there is one most im
portant fact that must be clearly
understood ? that both the com
pany and the community have re
sponsibilities. Neither can hope
for even a degree of advantage at
the other's disadvantage. There
must be 'give' as well as 'take'
We also believe that each of our
communities, in which we oper
ate plants, has a right to know
who we are and what we are do
ing there. We need good commun
ity-wide understanding and ap
proval of our activities.
"At the time of our move to
Hendersonville, the Employee and
Plant Community Relations sec
tion set up headquarters there
prior to the move of the personnel.
Orientation meetings were held
with all now employees, discuss
ing our philosophies and manage
ment in the areas of wages, work
ing conditions, job security, and
personnel practices. We develop
ed a community mailing list w jiich
started uith all members of the
Chamber of Commcice and to this
we added thought leaders in the
community. Information letters,
reporting on our progress, were
mailed to these people. Copies of
our plant publications are still
mailed to these people,
"We have encouraged our man
agement representatives to take
part in civic activities, and they
an- now engaged fn some 150 dif
ferent activities around town
"Oil .November 5tlt we will hold
an Open House at which time we
will invite the entire community
to visit us at our plant and to learn
of our aims and objectives.
"We must realize that harmony
in our working relations does not
just happen ? it is the end result
of positive efforts to produce it ?
because there are too many factors
inherent in our working environ
ment which tend to produce the
opposite result.
"We need enough foresight and
understanding to put our best ef
forts forward and enough faith in
our people and our neighbors to
know that the seeds that we sow
with them will one day blossom
into strong trees and bear fruit
which will nourish us as we go
about the iob of building success
ful business," he concluded.
The new turnpike bridge over
the Delaware River near Edgely.
Pa., required 20,204 tons of steel
and 25,000 barrels of cement.
d\ i L-i : i. i
i{uun oquiun
MINERAL OIL . . 98c
$1.75 lludnut
CREME SHAMPOO . . . SJ.10
$1.25 Nestle
JjjAIR SPRAY . . 89c
Regular $1.00 Woodbury
CREME C AC
DEODORANT ... J\J
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