Net Sales
And Income
Set Record
Net sales and net income
during Firestone’s first nine
months of the 1959-60 fiscal
year were the highest ever
reached by the company and
its subsidiaries during the
same period of any year in
its history.
The quarterly report by chair
man Harvey S. Firestone Jr. and
president Raymond C. Firestone
showed these figures:
• Net sales amounted to $883,-
639,399 for the nine months end
ed July 31, 1960, compared to
$847,453,946 for the same period
last year, an increase of 4.3 per
cent.
• Estimated net income was
$46,096,273 compared with $44,-
675,914 last year, an increase of
3.2 per cent. Earnings were
equivalent to $1.74 per share of
common stock, compared with
$1.69 per share last year. Pro
vision of $45,050,000 has been
made for domestic, state and
foreign taxes on income as com
pared with $43,500,000 for last
year.
THIS PROGRESS, in the face
of increasingly intense compe
tition in the rubber industry, led
president Firestone to have this
word for employees: “The new
record for sales and earnings
was made possible by the out
standing efforts of all Firestone
people. It is appreciated.”
He urged all members of the
organization to keep on improv
ing the work and productivity
to help the company to make
use of opportunities open for
growth. Mr. Firestone made
these additional observations:
:; We have reason to believe
that the next five years will be
a period of growth and expan
sion in the rubber industry. This
—More on page 6
Tir«$ton«
srsw
GASTONIA
Freedom is noi ihe right io do
whatever we want. It is the
privilege of doing what we
ought to do. It is not private
license; it is public responsibili
ty. It is not freeing ourselves; it
is binding ourselves for the good
of all.—Robert R. Brown
VOLUME IX
GASTONIA, NORTH CAROLINA, OCTOBER, 1960
NUMBER 10
HAVE YOURS?
Auto Decals
Distributed
☆ ☆ ☆
New identification stickers for
employees’ motor vehicles were
being issued in September.
Many people have already plac
ed the colorful decals on the in
side left rear glass of their ve
hicles.
Whether you drive to work in
your car or not, you are entitled
to a sticker.
Do you have yours? The In
dustrial Relations office has it,
if you haven’t picked it up.
Primary purpose of the decals
is for protection of employees’
reservations in the five major
parking areas at the plant on all
three shifts, and for other use
ful identification. For example,
once a preoccupied employee
left a car running, with doors
locked, and went on the job.
The number on the parking
sticker led someone in the In
dustrial Relations office to lo
cate the owners keys and cut
off the engine.
In another instance, an em
ployee was passing a car on a
country road. The sticker on the
other car indicated the motorist
to be a fellow employee. When
Policewoman Dorothy Grant helps children on their way from
Abernethy School, as they cross at Vance street and West Second
avenue. She is the wife of Thomas A. Grant of Methods and Stand
ards at Firestone.
Drive With Extra Care
P LEASE remember to drive carefully, especially
during this season of the year when schools are back
in session. Some children—many of whom are going
to school for the first time—may not be as careful as
they should be. And older children sometimes forget
to watch out for traffic, too.
So, slow down and drive with extra care, especially
in school zones and residential areas.
— —The Master M^eaver
OCTOBER 4 - NOVEMBER 2
Give The Most
The United Way
JERRY BARTON of Main Of
fice was among the earliest to
get her auto sticker. The bright
oval decal sports the company
colors of red and white, with
identification numbers in black.
he stopped to visit, he learned
that his fellow traveler was hav
ing mechanical trouble, so gave
him a helping hand to send him
on his way.
This is the season for giv
ing or pledging to the annual
employees United Fund ap
peal, conducted each year in
conjunction with the Great
er Gastonia Fund campaign.
It seeks to raise operating
expenses for participating
community agencies for the
next 12 months.
For the Gastonia appeal, a
minimum need of $179,815 has
been set, to be pledged between
October 4 and November 2. Con
tributors' one gift, one time will
help next year's operation of 23
community-welfare Fund agen
cies.
Each year Firestone Textiles
people make up a major con
tribution toward the total Gas
tonia goal. More than once it has
been the largest single contribu
tion to the fund appeal.
Volunteer Workers
As in past years, volunteer
solicitors have distributed pledge
cards to all employees. In keep
ing with the Greater Gastonia
fund effort, “fair-share giving”
at Firestone is the theme of the
United Fund program this year.
—More on page 3
Off-Job Injuries Were High
Eighty-nine injuries occurring off-the-job were listed
from 19 Firestone plants during the 31 days of May, the most
recent “Off-the-Job Safety Month.”
During the same time, only three on-the-job injuries
were reported in the same plants. No fatalities resulted from
any of the mishaps.
The ratio of almost 30 to 1 compares with the 21 to 1
ratio during a similar campaign in December of 1959, when
105 off-job injuries were recorded, compared to 5 in the
plants.
Plants in Des Moines, Iowa; Ravenna, Ohio; New Castle,
Ind.; Orange, Texas; Bennettsville, S. C.; and Magnolia, Ark.
reported no off-job injuries. Akron plants led with 37, while
Los Angeles had 13; Memphis, 10.
Falls were the cause of 29 of the injuries with a further
breakdown this way: Struck by object, 14; auto mishaps, 13;
machinery and tools, 9; sports, 7; burns, 6; improper lifting,
5; others, 6. Sixty-two of the total number occurred in the
home with 15 listed as transportation mishaps.
KEEP IT FLYING
Newest landmark on the
plant grounds is the official
safely flag, with its Green
Cross emblem of Ihe Nation
al Safety Council. The en
sign is hoisted each day
above ihe giani board at the
planl main entrance, as a
constant reminder of safe
performance at work and
off-the-job, too. "Let's keep
it flying high—and proudly,"
says safety supervisor Ralph
Johnson.
‘Green Years’ Ahead If You Meet Challenge
The 1960 decade will be a
time of prosperity. It will
have its reverses, its share of
those who fall by the way.
But if you move now to meet
its challenges with well-
thought-out plans on sound
forecasts and market apprais
als, the ‘Green Years’ lie
ahead.
This is the sum of a recent
talk by J. T. Gaboon, manager of
Firestone’s marketing research
department. He spoke at the
1960 annual meeting of the
Molded, Extruded, Lathe - Cut
and Chemically-Blown Sponge
Products Subdivision of the
Rubber Manufacturers’ Associa
tion, meeting at Skytop, Pa.
But Mr. Cahoon cautioned that
everyone won’t be eating “high
on the hog’’. To insure 16 years
of good eating, we are all going
to have to do a lot of cultivat
ing, hybridizing, plowing and
field work,” he figured.
Productivity gains will be
made because of advances in the
science of management, mechan
ization and research, he noted.
“The rise will be at least as fast
in the 1960s as it was in the
1950s. And the most important
thing that will make the 60s bet
ter than the 50s is that there will
be at least 40 million more peo
ple in the market place.”
Additional observations which
Mr. Cahoon made:
• Companies with products
that sell to the young and the
aged will find these two mar
kets—the below 18 years and
the over 65—to be the fastest-
growing population groups.
• There will be continued
geographical shifts in population
in the 1960s. There will be an
even greater and accelerated
concentration of people in met
ropolitan areas, with most in
crease in the suburbs.
• The most important non-au-
tomotive-industry customers are
for hardware, agriculture ma
chinery, service equipment,
small and large household ap
pliances, housewares, toys, com
munication equipment, general
industrial machinery and equip
ment, metalworking machinery
and important food uses.
• The do - it - yourself trend
will continue to increase produc
tion and sales of hardware
items, and the farm-to-city pop
ulation shift will call upon the
agricultural industry to increase
its production all along.