PAGE 8
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DECEMBER, 1956
SAFETY
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Merry Christmas and a Safe New Year
Free Enterprise
—From Page 2
which 36 to 46 cents goes to the
workers who produce those ma
terials. Nine cents goes for taxes,
of which four cents is paid to
government employees. Six
cents goes for depreciation, main
tenance, repairs and interest, two
cents for advertising and one
cent for research. That leaves 33
cents for the sales dollar of
which the employees get 29
cents. The remaining four cents
is profits, of which two cents is
set aside for tomorrow’s jobs by
reserves to buy new machines
and to expand the business.
THE REMAINING two cents
is paid to the stockholders, who
are the owners of the machines,
the tools and the factory build
ings which are used by the
workers to increase their earn
ing power. All told, approxi
mately 85 cents out of every dol
lar of sales by manufacturers
goes for salaries and wages.
“Let us tell the real facts
about who owns American busi
ness. Let us correct the impres
sion that it is owned by a mere
handful of individuals. Let us
point out that under some other
economic systems, industries are
owned by the government. Over
here industries are owned by the
people. Every one of the seventy
million Americans who has a
savings account, each of the one
hundred and fifteen million who
has a life insurance policy, and
each of the nine million who has
shares of stock or industrial
bonds, owns directly or indirect
ly a part of American industry.
"All OF THEM have a stake
in American business,” Mr. Fire
stone said, “and they should be
among the first to insist that
business concerns make profits.
Otherwise, their savings ac
counts, their life insurance pol
icies and their securities will be
of little value. Anything that
hurts business hurts them, per
sonally and individually, because
they are an integral part of busi
ness.
Six Teams In Basketball League
Six Firestone teams will play
in Gaston County basketball
leagues this season, which be
gins in early December. Partici
pating teams in the leagues rep
resent business establishments
and industries in the county.
Playing from Firestone will be
a men’s team in the City League,
a boys’ team in the Intermediate
League, a team for both boys
and girls in the Biddy League, a
team for teen-age girls, and one
for women.
Scheduled for the first game
of the season are the teener girls,
on December 4,
Games will be played at the
Armory, Memorial Hall, at tex
tile mills and other points in the
county.
The Firestone men's team has
been scheduled for night games.
Other games in which Firestone
teams participate will be played
in the afternoons throughout the
season.
Answers...
—To Quiz on page 7
1. The Mass of Christ.
2. No. Christmas was strictly a
religious holiday for the first
seven centuries.
3. No. The custom is largely
confined to countries of Teu
tonic origin.
4. “A Visit From St. Nicholas”,
better known as “ ’Twas The
Night Before Christmas,” by
Clement C. Moore.
5. Boniface, an English mis
sionary to Germany in the
Eighth Century.
6. No. Before the Fifth Cen
tury, various dates were assign
ed to the holiday.
7. St. Nicholas, bishop of Myra
in Lydia.
8. Melchior, Gaspar and Bal-
tasar.
9. Dasher, Dancer, Prancer,
Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Dunder
and Blitzen.
10. It is an Americanization of
the Dutch San Nicolaas, meaning
St. Nicholas.
11. Red and green.
12. The Eve of St. Nicholas.
Variety Club Has Dish Garden Project
The Variety Garden Club, which meets in the Girls Club at
Firestone, has as its fall and winter project the planting of dish
gardens to be given to residents of the Gaston County Home at
Dallas, and to shut-ins.
Dish gardens planted with narcissus and jonquil bulbs are be
ing provided for each member of the County Home. Variety window
gardens containing potted plants are being supplied shut-ins as the
needs are made known to Club members.
This garden-planting effort is being carried on by the Club
here in cooperation with the current emphasis on garden therapy
by the North Carolina Federation of Garden Clubs.
“If, individually, we devote
the same thought and energy
toward waging and winning this
battle of economic principles as
we have in the past devoted to
winning the battle of business
survival, there is no power on
the face of the earth which can
destroy the American system of
individual competitive free en
terprise. By each doing his part
we can and we will succeed in
keeping America strong.”
Employee’s Sister
Is Miss Optimist
Tommie Sue Barton, Gas
tonia’s “Miss Optimist of 1956,”
is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs.
Tommy Barton of 1959 Linwood
road and the sister of Jerrie Bar
ton, Main office. The mother of
Magazine Honors
Radio Globetrotter
A photograph and story of
Bobby E. Smith were prominent
ly placed in the November issue
of QST magazine, international
publication for amateur radio
operators. The story recognized
the son of John P. Smith, Cloth
Room, for his outstanding public
contribution as co-ordinator of
the Gastonia area emergency
communications program.
The photo in the magazine
showed young Smith in bed at
the controls of his short-wave
station W4DRC, in the Smith
home on Davis Park road. The
“ham” operator has been bed
ridden since involvement in an
automobile accident in 1946.
“Miss Optimist” is a former em
ployee in Quality Control.
The honor came to Miss Bar
ton from the local Optimist club,
which picked her to reign until
next November.
SHE WAS selected by a com
mittee led by Roland Bradley,
lieutenant governor of the 18th
Optimist District and past presi
dent of the local club.
As “Miss Optimist”, Tommie
Sue was official hostess during
the National Optimist Week ob
servance here in November.
“Miss Optimist” is a cheer
leader at Ashley High School,
where she is a senior this year.
Eighteen years old, she has olive
complexion, light brown hair
and dark brown eyes. She par
ticipates in the young people’s
activities at Loray Baptist
Church in the Firestone com
munity. Her hobbies are swim
ming and bowling.
Last year’s “Miss Optimist”
honor went to Miss Beatrice
Bradshaw, then a Time Study
typist here. She is now Mrs.
Randolph Falls of Ironton, Ohio.
A little neglect can cause
tragedy. Home fatalities head the
list of accidental deaths. Check
up, then clean up, paint up, fix
up, to protect your family from
expensive injury or fatal acci
dents. Make your home a safety
star home.
Four To Sing In Oratorio
When the Gastonia performances of the Christmas portion of
Handel’s “Messiah” are given this year, there will be four em
ployees from Main Office singing in the choir. They are Misses
Martha Kendrick, Helen Spencer, Myrtle Bradley, and Mrs. Eula
Wilson.
This year’s presentation of the immortal oratorio will be in
two performances—December 8 at 8 p.m., and December 9 at 3 p.m.,
both at First Methodist Church.
The “Messiah” here will be led by Donald Plott, director of
choral music at Davidson College.
New Home For Tech School
Extension Division, when Firestone Textiles
General Manager Harold Mercer presented the
property deed to the school.
The property is valued at $250,000 to $300,000,
as appraised by the Institute’s officials.
The donation of buildings includes the two
Firestone dormitories and the area between them,
heretofore known as. the Recreation Center. The
brick structures, containing approximately 40,-
000 square feet of floor space, will relieve the
crowded conditions at the North Carolina State
College school, operated here by the extension
division of the School of Engineering.
When the property was officially donated to
the school, C. C. Dawson, chairman of the ad
visory board of the Institute, stated that the
Firestone gift would relieve crowded conditions,
unite the school in a group of adjoining build
ings, make room for expansion, and provide space
for more recreational activities.
“From the standpoint of the Gaston Technical
Institute, it would seem that this property is al
most a life-saver,” remarked B. T. Dickson, ex
ecutive secretary of the Gastonia Chamber of
Commerce. “The buildings at 510 West Airline
avenue have been wholly inadequate during the
past two years, and the lot is not sufficiently
large to permit additional buildings to be erect
ed. Also the institute has been somewhat handi-
—From page 3
capped for lack of dormitory facilities.
“We are eagerly looking forward to the vastly
improved facilities which the Institute will have
in the Firestone property gift. We are sure that
the school’s growth and usefulness will be vast
ly increased thereby.”
The newly-elected president of the University,
William C. Friday, made this statement:
“The Consolidated University of North Caro-
lina is very grateful to the Firestone Company
for the magnificent gift of new quarters for the
Gaston Technical Institute. These facilities will
provide the Institute with the needed room ioV
the program expansion and also provide the
opportunity to train more young men in the
classes offered there.”
Dr. Carey H. Bostian, chancellor of North
Carolina State College said:
“The magnificent gift will enable the Gaston
Technical Institute to have quarters far superioi”
to those at the old location. We are grateful to
the citizens of Gastonia for providing quarter^
and for having cooperated with us in the opera'
tion of the Institute. The quarters have tbecorne
very crowded and are inadequate for conducting
a technical institute of an accredited nature. At
the new location, we look forward—with the con
tinued support of the people of Gastonia—to the
operation of a fully accredited Institute.”