OCTOBER, 1959
MHWi
PAGE 5
NEIGHBORLY—Mrs. D. L. Friday (left),
mother of Dr. William Friday, president of the
University of North Carolina, visits with Mrs.
J. L. Rhyne of Twisting. They are in front of the
Friday home, built in the early 1800s.
Dallas, N. C.
—From Page 3
Diversified Industry
When textiles came to the
county almost a hundred years
ago, the industry was establish
ed in the Dallas area. One mill
operates today. There is a plant
manufacturing knitted sports
wear. Other industries are sheet
metal works, bakeries and ma
chine shops.
Dallas was an educational cen
ter before the turn of the cen
tury. The Lutheran Church op
erated Gaston College here for
several years. The closing com
mencement was in the early
1900s.
Today, Dallas boasts an out
standing school system, with
some 1,800 enrolled through high
school grades.
Firestone people who are cit
izens of Dallas contribute to
programs of the numerous
churches there.
Besides the churches, schools
and other features in which her
residents take pride, Dallas peo
ple would have you remember
the area’s many points of his-
MARK OF THE PAST — Mildred McClure,
(left) and her aunt Letha G. Mahaffey of Spin
ning, at the old watering trough on the court
house lawn. This relic of hewn stone was a stand
ard fixture in the horse-transportation era.
HOUSES OF GOD—The many Dallas-area churches range from
historic ones like Philadelphia Lutheran and Long Creek Baptist—
both dating to the 1700s—to this modern home of Our Saviour
Lutheran Church on the New Dallas-Gastonia highway.
torical significance. In addition
to those already referred to,
these are of special interest;
1. Paysour House, 1850. Ex
tends to sidewalk, as do houses
in Old Salem and Williamsburg.
2. Matthew White Hotel, 1849,
a residence.
3. Ephraim Holland House,
1850. Has steps built by a Union
soldier and molded after State-
house steps in Raleigh.
4. Revolutionary cemetery at
Long Creek Baptist Church.
5. Jesse Holland House, 1848,
first brick house in Dallas, site
of first court in Gaston County.
6. Old Jail, 1847. H a n d-
wrought bars still on upper win
dows.
September Report Indicates
Sales, Income Highest Ever
Both sales and net income
were the highest ever attain
ed by the company for a first
nine-months period, a Sep
tember 10 report to Firestone
stockholders revealed.
The statement submitted by
chairman Harvey S. Firestone
Jr., and president Raymond C.
Firestone showed net sales of
the company and its subsidiaries
amounted to $847,453,946 for the
nine-month period ending July
31, 1959.
This was an increase of 11.5
per cent over the $759,719,839
for the same period of 1958,
ESTIMATED net income for
Net Sales
Other Income
the period was $44,675,914, com
pared with $35,118,046 last year,
an increase of 27.2 per cent.
Earnings on the common stock
were equivalent to $5.18 per
share this year, compared with
$4.16 per share last year. Pro
vision for domestic and foreign
taxes on income increased from
$34,400,000 last year to $43,500,-
000 for this year—or 26.5 per
cent.
The report pointed out that
the record sales and net income
for the nine-month period were
attained in the face of domestic
tire and rubber products plants
being closed by strike for al
most two months.
Nine Months Ended July 31
1959 1958
$847,453,946 $759,719,839
4,062,345 2,521,208
Total Income $851,516,291
Deduct:
Cost of Goods Sold,
Depreciation, Selling,
Administrative and General
Expenses and Interest $763,340,377
Domestic and Foreign
Taxes on Income 43,500,000
$762,241,047
$692,723,001
34,400,000
,840,377 $727,123,001
Estimated Net Income
Ped Share of Common Stock
$ 44,675,914 $ 35,118,046
5.18
4.16
‘Eyewitness’ Program Wrote History
Firestone wrote a great chap
ter in the history of mass com
munications, when it sponsored
the recent “Eyewitness to His
tory” TV series over CBS.
The epochal project of report
ing President Eisenhower’s sum
mer visits to heads of allied gov
ernments, and Soviet Premier
Khrushchev’s visit to the United
States began in late summer.
Chairman Harvey S. Firestone
Jr. said of the series; “Our com
pany presented these telecasts
to enable millions of Americans
to see and better understand
highlights of history in the mak
ing; to hear words of principal
characters in this great world
drama, and to learn from out
standing news correspondents
their interpretations of actions
which took place.
“These programs marked a
new era in global communica
tions. We were glad to report
the events pertaining to what
may well have been the most
critical period in world history.
Outcome of these historic meet
ings may be the turning point
toward better international re
lations.”
OUR RED RIVALS
Russia:
Fifth in a series of six articles by Harold Mansfield, author of Vision
and The Challenge (United Kingdom). The author visited the USSR recently,
with a delegation sponsored by the International Council of Industrial Editors.
Before his trip, he learned the Russian language, so he could better evaluate his
experience in the Land of the Red Star, and the people's aim at excelling
America industrially. Copyright; Harold Mansfield.
Wise To Her Faults
The Russian savings bank is an institution grow
ing in popularity. A typical one you visit reminds
you of a small U. S. postoffice. There is a writing
counter and two or three attendants’ windows, and
beyond a partition some women are sorting deposit
slips in a wooden box. They add on Chinese abacus
counting frames, clicking the beads of the ancient
devices that you have also seen used in the stores.
The manager invites you to the bank office where
a government interpreter explains the system of
Soviet banking, the six types of institutions: Agri
cultural, state, communal, industrial, foreign trade,
and savings. He describes a crude approach to the
use of checks—a sort of personal note from the
depositor, asking for a transfer of money to a bank
in another city, to pay for purchases there.
Goal for Tomorrow in Russia;
Plenty of Things for All
“Russians hope to produce plenty of things for
everyone some day,” you say. “Won’t you then need
things like personal accounts at banks and credit
accounts at stores, and checks to pay for goods and
services?” The interpreter steps in, laughs a little
without answering, then turns to another man’s
question.
You try again and the manager replies; “We don’t
have need for these things now. (Russians speak of
communism as something in the future rather than
the present.) “We will need neither checks nor
money.”
The contradiction is plain to see. The trend in
Russia is going opposite to the trend planned to
ward pure communism. A large state bank further
confirms this observation. The manager asks about
banking in America.
Business methods—even in government—have
just begun to make the improvements that Russian
science and production have been making in recent
years. The distance between the Chinese counting
frame at the bank and the electronic computer in
the Soviet science laboratory is typical of the glar
ing inconsistency between the country’s forward
drive and the cumbersome methods of communism
that are dragging it back. Clumsy office methods
and procedures; the bureaucratic ladder that must
be climbed for policy decisions; delay, dogma and
dictation, are fetters to progress.
"Prove Communism to the World
By 'Peaceful Competition'"
But Russia is getting wise to these faults. Trade
with the outside world will open her eyes and
sharpen her practices. Americans have often wrong
ly assumed that Russia could never do what she
says. But streamlining is already showing itself.
Meanwhile, America has her own trend to “big
government.” Even now—you reflect—there isn’t
too much difference between the length of the list
of ministers and policy-forming institutes in Moscow
and the list of agencies and committees in Wash
ington. Just different names.
So Russia is pushing Khrushchev’s program to
“prove communism to the world” through peaceful
competition.
Viewed from the distance of Soviet Russia, you
can see the danger in America’s own success. The
spoil of success is indulgence, you remember. And
it is hard to see how America can long keep her
world leadership in “peaceful competition” if she
indulges the luxuries of waste, half-hearted effort,
paying tribute to any group which can exact it
through power, and the bitterly-illusory inflation.
Not when Russia is living and breathing cost con
trol.