TELL ME
Q. Should an employee gripe
or "blow his stack" on the job?
A. Yes, providing he does it
where it will do some good.
Some people fear the conse
quences of speaking their minds.
When you consider that griping
about government, taxes, man
agement and other subjects is a
sort of national pastime, “blow
ing your top” may have a
healthy influence if it is confin
ed to legitimate areas of com
plaint.
Some researchers have reason
to believe that — contrary to
popular notion—chronic gripers
are not necessarily ineffective
and unproductive people on
their jobs.
Instead of griping to some
one who cannot do anything
about it, who may misunder
stand you and even use your
gripe to damage you and your
employer, speak your convictions
to your supervisor. It is part of
his job to listen to you.
Q. What is one of the most
threatening dangers to eyesight?
A. Glaucoma. This disease re
sults from failure of the aqueous
humor (fluid content of the eye)
to drain properly when some an
atomical or functional defect
blocks the outflow. Increased
pressure on the optic nerves
causes dimness of vision. If un
checked, blindness results.
A large North Carolina in
dustry recently conducted a
screening project embracing 1,-
017 employee volunteers over 40
years of age. Discovered were 24
cases and 19 borderline or sus
pected cases of glaucoma. Only
one of the 24 who had the
disease reported having any
symptom or suspecting anything
wrong.
Medical research has turned
up important new drugs for
treating glaucoma. Short of
surgery itself, the ony weapon
in the past has been eyedrops
known as miotics which reduce
BRSC Meeting
Several members of supervi
sion attended the October 27
meeting of Blue Ridge Safety
Council, in Chase High School
cafeteria near Forest City. J. J.
Tarlton, superintendent of Ruth
erford County Schools, was the
after-dinner speaker.
Alvin Riley is president of
BRSC, an organization which
the inflow of aqueous humor in
the eyeball. Several recent drugs
have opened a new approach to
glaucoma control.
On glaucoma, here is good ad
vice from the National Society
for the Prevention of Blindness;
If you are age 40 or older, see
an eye specialist at least once
every two years. You may not
have any warning signs of ap
proaching eye disease. An ex
amination will find out for you.
Q. I'm just one person on the
job, performing one small task
as part of many operations that
produce a finished piece of
goods. How does quality work
manship—or the absence of it
on my part—affect me and my
job?
A. There are very few things
we do or say that do not af
fect others—and in turn, have
their effect on ourselves. This
goes for producing things for
others to buy and use.
Every single act of workman
ship that goes into a product can
mean the presence—or absence
—of the kind of quality that
customers are demanding these
days. The customer is the pro
ducer’s real boss. If the con
sumer can’t find quality and
fair price in one manufacturer’s
goods, he will go elsewhere to
search for them.
A lost customer can very well
mean a lost job for a worker on
the manufacturing line.
The more conscientious a
worker is about quality, the
more he benefits in the long
run. It works this way: The com
pany benefits by the improved
quality of the products going to
the customer. The employee
benefits because the quality of
his performance plays a big role
in his advancement, and in
product acceptance on the mar
ket. More satisfied customers
mean better and more secure
jobs.
promotes safety education in the
home, industry and in public
places—with emphasis on in
dustry. It is one of eight coun
cils sponsored by the North
Carolina Industrial Commission.
Quarterly meetings are held
at various places in the Blue
Ridge area which includes Gas
ton, Cleveland, Rutherford,
Burke, Polk, McDowell and Lin
coln counties.
Religion In Life:
Strength We Need
Television star Robert Young
tells how his young daughter
often talks to God following
her formal prayers.
Kathy usually asks for many
things. But one night, after her
lists of requests, she paused and
added: “And now, God, what
can I do for you?”
That question set Kathy’s
father to thinking seriously.
What can she—or I, or anyone—
do for God? he asked himself,
then came to this conclusion:
“Certainly I don’t know if we
can do anything for Him. But
I’ve decided that one way to
serve God is by taking a real
and continuing part in church
life. For me, there has been
no one great inspirational mo
ment. But, over a period of time,
my family and I have discovered
that church attendance and re
ligious experiences have added
new strength to our lives.
“It's a strength we all need—<
and a strength we don’t find in
any other source.”
During November a nation
wide observance of Religion in
American Life is underway. This
is a good time to find or renew
the Strength of Your Life. Then
you can "Light Their Life with
Faith."
On Committee
—From page 1
Rev. J. H. Acker, pastor of St.
Paul’s Baptist Church.
THE SON of Mr. and Mrs.
W’^allace Floyd of Clover, Route
2, Dr. Floyd is a graduate of
Howard University. He served
two years as a senior-grade
lieutenant in the Navy Dental
Corps during World War II.
Dr. Floyd is chairman of the
Gastonia Citizens Committee,
president of the Charlotte Medi
cal Society, president-elect of
the Old North State Dental So
ciety, and a member of the
board of directors of the Gaston
County Mental Health Associa
tion. He is chairman of the
board of stewards of St. Steph
en’s AME Zion Church, Gas
tonia.
Pound-for-pound, the nylon
yarn woven into fabric and used
to reinforce tires, is twice as
strong as steel. In every mile
of travel, the fabric “backbone’^
of a tire bends and flexes more
than 700 times. Tire engineers
rate nylon best in flex strength.
NOVEMBER, 1960 PAGE 2
A Picture
for an Autumn
This engineering project,
exhibiting the intricate skill
of a spider (finishing up at
center), glistened in the sun-
Many ideas that have revolu
tionized United States industry
didn’t originate with profession
al inventors. Some of the great
est ideas came into being
through company suggestion
boxes, “by accident” and as by
products of research projects.
History offers some examples.
An American naturalist in
Labrador noticed that the ex
treme cold instantly froze meat
left outside his shack. He ob
served that meat frozen in 40
and 50 degrees below zero
weather tasted better than the
same thing frozen in spring and
fall,
Back home in the States, he
mechanically quick-froze a
variety of foods. The frozen-
food business he launched was
sold in 1929 for $22 million.
Nicholas Appert, a French
man born in 1750, worked at
several jobs among which were
chef, pickier and candymaker.
Why not pack food in containers
like bottled drinks? he wonder
ed. When his idea proved it
self, all France hailed Appert
as a hero. Today, 150 years after
Appert’s idea, Americans alone
open more than 60 million cans
daily.
Englishman Harry Brearley in
1912 developed an alloy which
he hoped would solve the cor
rosion problem of gun barrels.
Then discovery of a new kind
of gun powder made corrosion-
resistant metal unnecessary.
But Brearley’s idea hadn’t
gone to waste. American indus
trialists found new applications
for the alloy, known today as
stainless steel. More than 650,-
000 tons of stainless are now
used by Americans every year.
light of an October morning.
The handiwork was done on
the seedpod stalk of a yucca
plant at the front entrance
of the Industrial Relations
annex.
Jewels of sparkling dew
made the web a picture of
natural beauty, only a few
brief days before leaves be
gan to drift and whisper of
another season of deep frost
and firelit nights.
It is a major part of manufac
ture in Firestone’s Steel Prod
ucts Field.
Do these idea stories offer any
suggestions as to how good
thinking can be turned into suc
cess — and cash? Three lessons
are apparent:
L A disappointment may be
giving you an opportunity to
create revolutionary ideas. One
key to making an idea pay off is
coming up with something that
will solve a problem.
2. Don’t be discouraged if
your idea doesn’t succeed at
first. An idea, however good,
may never pay off unless it is
used to accomplish something.
Try again and again.
3. Good, useful ideas are not
the exclusive property of pro
fessional inventors. The majority
of them come from average peo
ple who stay alert to opportuni
ties.
Party Winners
Four children of Firestone
families won prizes for “most
original and interesting” Hal
loween garb at Firestone Stores
and Horne’s Home & Auto Store
in Gastonia the night of Octo
ber 28.
Winners and their prizes were
Wayne Booth, portable radio,
and Iris Price, basketball, from
Horne’s; Tommy Lytton, porta
ble radio, and Nancy Jacobs,
flash camera, from the Firestone
Stores.
The occasion at the two stores
was a sale of bargains to em
ployees, combined with a party
for the youngsters.
IN HIS HANDS %
Some Tricks 1
That Teach
A few clever tricks of magic served to
drive home some timely lessons in safe
ty, at a regular quarterly safety meet
ing of supervisory personnel.
The sleight-of-hand artist visiting here
in October was Clyde Powell, magician
of the Lehigh Safety Shoe Company.
Mr, Powell was one of the first persons
to put on a hypnosis show over tele
vision.
For several years now, he has been
employing the medium of magic to
teach accident control in industry.
Thinking Can Be Turned Into Cash