Make Brotherhood
A Year-Round
Practice
My Fellow Firestone Textiles
Employees and Your Families:
America is the home of the
greatest experiment in liber
ty and equal rights ever de
veloped by man. We have
demonstrated the ability of
people of good will to live
and work together in peace
and harmony, regardless of
differences in race, creed or
cultural background.
We need only to review
events of the past year, at
home and abroad, to be re
minded of the need to renew
our devotion to the ideal of
Brotherhood — giving to
others the same rights and
privileges we would like for
ourselves. Through this ideal
in action, we will be working
to eliminate intergroup prej
udices, while fostering better
understanding among all re
ligious and racial groups.
We have accomplished
much, but there is still a long
way to go. There are times
when we fail to measure up
to our democratic ideals and
to the basic teaching of the
Brotherhood of man under
the Fatherhood of God. Be
cause of this, it is important
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that we take inventory from
time to time and unite our
efforts to promote better un
derstanding and cooperation
among all peoples every
where.
While the practice of
Brotherhood is a day-to-day
action, we need to periodical
ly rededicate ourselves to the
cause of understanding and
fair play among men.
So, it is my hope that dur
ing Brotherhood Week this
year we will reconsider these
principles so as better to
know and appreciate each
other—to make Brotherhood
a year-round practice.
MaJJ
General Manager
BIGGEST SINGLE AWARD: $1,500
$55,853 For Ideas In 1960
People working in factories of the company received
$49,293 for suggestions adopted during 1960. For the same
period, sales and office personnel received $6,560 to make a
total of $55,853. Employees in plants and offices in the United
States, Canada, and five other countries earned the awards.
The company had paid some $1,290,000 for ideas, as the sug
gestion system began its 43rd consecutive year.
The year’s highest award went
to W. M. Jones, Akron produc
tion planning employee. He re
ceived $1,500 for a suggestion
on the sale of full-circle curing
tubes. J. A. Genovese and E. D.
Randolph of the Des Moines,
Iowa plant shared $1,400 for a
suggestion on the calendering
process.
Participation amounted to 277
suggestions submitted for each
1,000 employees. Of the 8,437
suggestions received, 2,591 were
adopted for a 28.9 percentage,
compared with 24.4 per cent
adopted in 1959.
Outstanding Record At Orange
The plant at Orange, Texas
had 2,556 suggestions submitted
☆ ☆ ☆
Suggestions
At Gastonia
A review of the suggestion
program at the Gastonia plant
for the 1959-60 fiscal year show
ed that 41 ideas were approved
out of a total 97. Outstanding
of these were two suggestions
from Horace Robinson and John
Fletcher, both of the Mechanical
department. Mr. Robinson was
awarded $200 for an idea on
time-delay relays for twister
frames; and Mr. Fletcher, $100
for his suggestion on replace
ment of twister rolls and stands.
for each 1,000 employees. This
is the highest ever reached by
any Firestone plant and is very
close to the highest ever report
ed by any organization in the
country, according to suggestion
system manager L. J. Alger.
Company-wide average is 277,
compared with the 272 average
of members of the National As
sociation of Suggestion Systems.
Other plants well above the
company average were Ben-
nettsville, S. C.; Wyandotte,
Mich.; Los Angeles, Calif.; and
Akrons Mechanical Building,
Synthetic, Plant 2, and Xylos.
Also included were the plants
at Port Elizabeth, South Africa;
Christchurch, New Zealand; and
Bombay, India.
The Orange plant also led in
the rate of adoptions with 353
per 1,000 employees. Wyandotte
had 180 and Christchurch, 179.
Total amount of awards paid
to factory employees increased
from $46,129 in 1959 to $49,293
in 1960. Plants contributing to
the increase in factory awards
included: Akron’s Plant 1, Me
chanical Building and Steel
Products; Des Moines, Iowa;
Memphis, Tenn.; Pottstown, Pa.;
Fall River, Mass.; Lake Charles,
La.; Ravenna (Ohio) Arsenal;
New Bedford, Mass ; Brentford,
England; Christchurch; and Port
Elizabeth.
Akron employees contributed
1,774 suggestions, of which 30.2
per cent were adopted. These
awards amounted to $13,535.
Boy Scout Drive
—Begins on page 1
leadership training; R. E. Wood,
advancement; George Trakas,
public relations; Robert Alex
ander, publicity; Thomas Ipock
Jr., civic service; Dr. Woodrow
Sugg, school relations; the Rev.
Yates Campbell, church rela
tions; Dr. W. L. Woody, health
and safety; Dan S. LaFar Sr.,
finance; Ralph Johnson, activi
ties; Dick Neilson, camping;
David R. LaFar III, reading;
R. M. Schiele, merit badge coun
selor.
Members of the commission
from Firestone are Messrs. John
son, safety supervisor; Ipock,
industrial relations manager;
Rape, carding overseer.
Community chairmen are Jud-
son Rhyne, Dallas; Joe White
hurst, Bessemer City; Joe B.
Putnam, Cherry ville; Reade
Joliffe, Cramerton.
King Cotton Is Moving West
Although most of the cotton produced in the United States
comes from the nine states of the Cotton Belt, growing of this
important fiber has been moving West.
Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma,
South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas account for more than 80
per cent of the country’s cotton acreage. Arizona, California and
New Mexico harvest some 8 per cent of the acreage, and most of
the remaining amount comes from North Carolina, Missouri and
Florida.
Safety: Retrospect And Prospect
People at the Gastonia plant
recorded 2,903,652.75 work-hours
during 1960 without a lost-time
injury. On the theory that in
dustrial injuries are caused—
and not usually the result of
fate — safety manager Ralph
Johnson commented:
"Our good record last year re
minds us that people don't have
to get hurt on the job. Safe con
ditions and safe performance
keep you from injury. Personal
safety depends on what you,
yourself, put into your job.
"One soldier doesn't make an
army . . . one player doesn't
make a team. So, one person
working carefully on the job is
part of the teamwork which pro
motes safety in production."
One good way to keep out of
hot water is to paddle your own FEBRUARY, 1961
canoe.—Card Grinder. i
PAGE 3
A Museum Hallom
Memory Of ^Old Ben’
Philadelphians weren’t too surprised to see a
giant Baldwin locomotive inch its way through
a hole in the wall of the Franklin Institute’s new
home on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway 28
years ago. The same engine runs today, carry
ing youngsters on an exciting trip inside the
Institute, for since its beginning in 1824, this
is the scene of unusual activity.
The Institute had marked its 50th anniversary
in 1874, with a national exhibition of products,
among them the ice cream soda—^sold for the
first time.
In 1938, the Franklin Institute got interna
tional headlines when foreign dignitaries came to
Philadelphia for the dedication of the national
memorial to Ben Franklin which is housed in
the Parkway building, along with a science mu
seum, planetarium, technical library and re
search laboratories.
Since then, the Institute has been mentioned
in articles ranging from the story of the exhibi
tion of “The world’s largest heart” in the science
museum, to development by the Laboratories of
“SADSAC”, a computer which solves problems
of missile heating and nuclear power-plant de
sign.
First A School Of "Mechanic Arts"
The Institute began as a school—not as a
museum or a research and development organi
zation. In 1824, Samuel Vaughan Merrick was
looking over a machine shop which he had in
herited. With no technical training, he decided
against becoming an apprentice, which in those
day was the only way to learn a trade.
So, he started a school: “The Franklin In-
The world last month noted the birth
day of Benjamin Franklin, historical fig
ure extraordinary, “Old Ben” lives on
in a national memorial to him, housed in
a Philadelphia building, along with a
science museum, planetarium, technical
library, and research laboratories.
stitute of the State of Pennsylvania for the Pro
motion of the Mechanic Arts”. The Institute,
which issued memberships, fast became the
capital for American scientists. Its library with
its patents collections, texts and periodicals grew
rapidly. Today the valuable old patents and
books help to make up the library of 160,000
volumes on scientific subjects, 65,000 pamphlets,
“runs” of around 1,500 domestic and foreign tech
nical periodicals, and a collection of American
and foreign patents.
Today—as in the past—the Franklin Institute
is aiding the government through research. In
its Laboratories behind and next door to ex
hibits, it is studying how an astronaut might use
star radiations as his compass and speedometer
when he is midway on a long journey into outer
space. This and other technical problems are
studied at the laboratories on the Ben Franklin
Parkway and at the Bartol Research Foundation
in nearby Swarthmore, Pa.
The laboratories also work for foundations
and a great variety of industries, to solve prob
lems that range from eye diseases to development
of adding machines and nuclear reactors.
Museum Has 400,000 Visitors Each Year
While this research and development is going
on behind closed doors, more than 400,000 visitors
each year tour the museum. They listen to their
own voice in the Bell Telephone Room; watch
the model railroad trains run; see paper being
made on a miniature Fourdrinier machine, and
view UNI VAC working on complex problems.
And many visitors take a quick trip to the
moon or Mars by way of the Institute Plane
tarium.
School children get attention from the In
stitute, for since its founding, one of its aims is
education of youth in science. Last year the
Institute tried a new approach to science educa
tion, with a special arrangement of lectures and
exhibits in cooperation with the public school
system of Philadelphia.
Besides students, many others come to the
Institute to hear lectures by famous scientists.
Each October on Medal Day, the Institute honors
men who have made notable contributions to
science. The Franklin Medalist’s address is read
by scientists throughout the world who receive
the Journal of the Franklin Institute. This peri
odical has been issued without interruption since
1826 for the reporting of scientific research
throughout the world.
Scientists, government officials and educators
are not the only ones who seek information at
the Franklin Institute. Because the Institute is
the national shrine to Ben Franklin, it gets
numerous requests every year from speakers who
want to use some of Old Ben's witticisms.
An oft-used one: “He that riseth late must trot
all day.”