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AUGUST, 1959
‘The City With A Future’
cited for its community and
public. service features.
Face of History Changed
At Ramsour's Mill
A few blocks north of town,
a monument under some oak
trees reminds the traveler that
on a meadow here was fought
the strangest battle of the
American Revolution. In the
bloody engagement of Ramsour’s
Mill on June 20, 1780, not a
British troop was present. The
battle of Whigs and Tories pit
ted relatives and friends a-
gainst each other.
Some historians contend that
the Whig victory directly set the
stage for British defeat at Kings
Mountain a few months later,
CHURCHES—The many
churches of Lincolnton and Lin
coln Counly are lasling monu
ments to the deep religious faith
of the area's pioneer home
makers. Here are the pillars of
First Baptist Church on East
Main street.
HELP THE MAINTENANCE
CREWS FOR YOUR SAFETY
Maintenance jobs are nearly
always in process somewhere
in the plant. You can help the
rnaintenance crews maintain a
good safety record by staying
out of roped off areas; not
bothering them or getting in
their way; leaving their equip
ment alone; and keeping out
froni under ladders and scaf
folds (where objects aloft can
be dislodged and fall). Don’t
start equipment on which they
are working.
Remember while their work
may be inconvenient to you at
the moment, it is necessary, re
sulting in a safer and better
place for you to work.
© AMERICAN MUTUAL LIAB. INS. CO.
—from page 3
and subsequent surrender of
Cornwallis at Yorktown.
On the battlesite, Lincolnton
people in recent years produced
and staged a drama titled,
“Thunder Over Carolina”.
Ramsour’s Mill battleground is
but one of many historical
treasures in and around Lincoln
ton. Other outstanding ones
are: A jail built in 1730; Schen-
ck-Warlick Cotton Mill site—
first textile mill south of the
Potomac; Woodside, birthplace
of James P. Henderson, first
governor of Texas; Old Vesuvi
us Iron Furnace.
More than History
In Town, County
Residents would have you
know that their town and coun
ty are not for the historically-
minded only. There is something
for everyone to enjoy.
Golf, swimming, boating,
hunting, fishing, and all organ
ized sports are fare for residents
and visitors. A well-organized
recreation program for young
sters is conducted by the city.
The Country Club has a 9-hole
golf course and a swimming
pool.
The city runs two swimming
pools in summer, and in one of
the city’s parks is a wading
pool for the kiddies.
A future dam on the Catawba
River promises to open a vast
new playground for Lincolnton
and Lincoln County.
OLD MILL SITE—Mrs. W. G. Hall and son Charles Ray ex
amine some plant life in a shaded ravine near the site of the
Schenck-Warlick mill, erected before 1816 two miles from Lincoln
ton. Equipment for America's first cotton mill south of the Potomac
River was hauled by oxcart from New England. The mill was burn
ed during the Civil War.
Sosebees Live
In Gastonia
Mr. and Mrs. David Vance
Sosebee are at home at 29
Overman avenue, after their
July 31 wedding at First Chris
tian Church in Gastonia.
Mrs. Sosebee, the former
Carolyn Sims, is a graduate of
Ashley High School and Caro
lina Business College, Charlotte.
She is employed by a local trav
el agency. Her mother, Mrs.
Emory Johnson, works in the
Cloth Room at Firestone.
Mr. Sosebee, son of Mr. and
Mrs. Homer V. Sosebee, attend
ed Gastonia public schools. He
is employed in a local textile
plant.
Five Added
To 15-Year
Roster
Addition of five names to
the 15-year service roster
brought the total number in
that category to 625 as of
July. Those who received
their lapel pins on the oc
casion of their 15th work an
niversary at Firestone are:
Opal Bradley, Carding;
Eunice W. Jacobs, Jack E.
Tino and Alden H. Hass,
Twisting (synthetics); Be
atrice McCarter, Main Office.
Ten Years
Romulus L. Richburg, Hubert
G. Taylor, Cordie S. Hardin and
Fred E. Elkins, Twisting (syn
thetics); Mae Massey Jones,
Weaving (cotton); Grady C.
Johnson, Shop.
Five Years
Harvey W. Burch, Fred D.
Thompson, Annie D. Humphrey
and Walter Irving, Twisting
(synthetics); Clarence L. Jolly,
Nylon Treating; Mae B. Foster,
Spooling.
The number of employees
with 20 or more years of service
stands at 321. Lloyd Lewis, plant
protection officer, was the last
added to that list in June.
□ □ □ When God writes “op
portunity” on one side of the
door. He writes “responsibility”
on the other side.
Education is not a require
ment for the production of ideas.
Think of Thomas A. Edison who
went to school only one day in
his life. His ideas made him
America's greatest inventor.
OUR RED RIVALS
Will Overtake You’
In Russia you marvel that Communism
has taken free enterprise’s strongest
drives—competition and incentive—and
put them to work on an individual and
group basis to an extent never dared by
free enterprise.
“I see you are making great use of com
petition,” you ask a guide.
“We have no competition,” he replies.
Then.you discover there are two different
words for competition: one means rivalry
with a capitalist connotation—a bad word
in Russia. But the word they use means
“emulation.” This they approve.
Collective Discipline in Industry
Incentives in this socialist competition
are negative as well as positive. You talk
with the woman editor of the plant paper.
It is employee-run but generally spon
sored by the trade union. She explains the
paper’s purpose; “To criticize the work of
workers and engineers, so they may be
ashamed of their work and improve; to
criticize the chiefs if they are not fair; to
publish production plans and new ideas;
to tell about the best workers in the fac
tory so others can emulate them.’’
Criticism by name in the plant paper is
only part of the grim process of collective
discipline. First step is reprimanding the
individual before his friends. A later step
—when necessary—is bringing him before
a public opinion court. Removal to a less
er job, or “in rare cases” dismissal, may
follow.
The union head explains that the union
is as anxious as the management, or “ad
ministration” as they call it, to bring for
ward production. The union is closely knit
with the Party, which set the objectives in
the first place.
Union membership is voluntary, but 99
and 9/10 per cent belong. Strikes are pro
hibited by law.
Yearly Outline of Production Plans
In the director’s office of the plant you
are visiting, there is a portrait of V. I.
Lenin. The deputy director in charge of
this particular meeting explains that the
plant director works under an administra
tion, under the district economic council.
He takes his plans there for approval, but
he has the responsibility for buying his
own materials, hiring his people, and ne
gotiating the sale of his products. He is
expected to meet the production plan that
is established for the year, and to make a
profit.
He explains that most of the workers
are paid by the piece, not the hour. Their
pay ranges from 600 to 1,820 rubles per
month. On the average they make 930
rubles per month. This would be $93 at
10 rubles to the dollar.
The deputy director says his own pay
is 3,000 rubles, plus bonuses earned for
“exceeding the plan.”
“How did you get the job?” asks a mem
ber of your party. The deputy director
says he was graduated from an institute,
went into the technologists’ department,
worked up to chief engineer, then this.
Employee wages are established in an
annual agreement with the trade union.
Someone asks: “Do you ever wish you
didn’t have a union to deal with?”
“Unions are helpful,” he says.
“But what if union and management
disagree?”
The government interpreter looks
around indulgently and explains: “They
don't disagree.”
Productivity and Wage Increases
“What is the basis of wage increases?”
another asks.
“Productivity. Advancement is on per
sonal ability. General wages go up as pro
ductivity goes up.
The same system prevails in other
plants you visit. Production pays the
wages, they tell you.
You have heard management in the
United States make the same case that
labor is making in a country where labor
wears the hat. Why aren’t the workers
complaining about wages, you wonder, un
til you remember the phrase “social obli
gation”.
Russians believe that they are working
not just for themselves; they are working
together for a goal: The building of Rus
sia. “We work half for the present and
half for the future,” they say. Half to
build their own standard of living, half to
make the red star the great light of the
world. To do this, they know they must
surpass America in all things—but most
of all, in industry.
“Do you think Russia can match Ameri
ca in production?” you ask in Moscow,
Kiev, Kharkov, Leningrad.
“We fall behind you now,” says a lab
oratory technician, “but our tempo is
greater. We will overtake you.”
"We'll Reach Your Standard of Living"
A professor: “Already we are nearly up
to you in output of some things like milk,
woolen cloth. We’ll reach your standard
of living in 10 to 15 years—maybe sooner.”
Other citizens share similar opinions.
On a flight between Minsk and Kiev,
you sit beside a young jet pilot of the
Soviet Air Force, relaxed in a gray leisure
jacket made of Kapron, the Russian nylon.
“Will your scientists get a rocket to the
moon before the United States does?” you
ask.
“Sooner,” he says. “Russia will put a
man on the moon in 10 years—even be
fore that. And Russian industry will pro
duce as much as America in five or 10
years.”
Then you think of the great contrast
between Russian living and American. It
is inconceivable that they could build up
their total economy in five or 10 years. It
will be good for Russia, if she can do it.
But you know, too, that it will also pose
a problem for America—in the world
market.
Third in a series of articles by Harold Mansfield, author of Vision and
The Challenge (United Kingdom), who recently visited the USSR with a dele
gation sponsored by the International Council of Industrial Editors. Before
going, the author learned the Russian language, so he could better make a
first-hand evaluation of Soviet efforts to outdo America industrially. Copy
right Harold Mansfield.