Gastonia, North Carolina • Bennettsville, South Carolina
Bowling Green, Kentucky JULY 1981
Firestone
°Bnaws
‘Most miles
per dollar’
53 vecirs
ago
This full-page advertisement
promoting Firestone Gum-Dipped
Tires (“Most Miles Per Dollar”)
is from the May 1928 American
Magetzine. The large-format (11”
X 16”) magazine (no longer pub
lished) featured the ad's photo/art
in a pinkish-brown tone with text
and display type in black.
Firestone-Gastonia plant pur
chaser Robert Spencer has the
framed ad in his office. A sales
representative gave it to him
several years ago.
Firestone perfected the Gum-
Dipping method of insulating
tire cords against internal heat
by a dip process in 1920. Note
that the ad also incorporates a
promotion for Company Founder
Harvey S. Firestone's cam
paigning for ‘Americans to pro
duce their own rubber.’
WHEN SPRING INVITES
With Firestone Gum-Dipped Tires on your car, Any trip in any car is more restfui‘~-cushionei
you who love Nature can revel id the joys of to the point of supreme comfort by Firestone
out-of-iioors;confidentofFirestontperform« Tires, And many thousands of extra miles
ance. Any road swings open to the car that are built in by the Firestone process of
carriesGum>Dipped Baliooos.Thereissafety Gum EMppiag. The Firestone Dealer near
inthebroad.many-angledtread.ltgivesasure fou is especially trained and e]uippcd to
hold.yetrespoaUsqutcklytowbeelandbrdic. give you “Better" service.
MOST M1L£S PER DOUAR
r(re$totte
AMERICANS SHOULD PRODUCE THEIR OWN RUBBER..
Textiles: 8-states leader
•Almost 7 of every 10 persons employed in the U.S. Tex
tile industry work in the 8-state Southern region — Alabama,
Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina,
South Carolina and Tennessee.
The region employs more textile workers than any other
and the textile industry remains the largest employer in
the manufacturing sector for most of the region.
But in 1980, employment in the Southern textile industry
dropped off by more than 20,000 workers, the largest
losses in Georgia and the Carolinas.
The Labor Department report noted that North Carolina
last year was the nation’s leader in textile employment,
with an average 248,000 workers. That was 28.8% of the
national textile employment and 42.3% of the region’s tex
tile force.
‘Changing industrial giant’
From filament to fabric
••A Firestone Textiles-Gastonia TC Weaving loom in
operation — the photo by DUKE POWER NEWS editor
William S. Yoder. It was part of a story in the NEWS May
issue on textiles as a “changing industrial giant.” A section,
“Wheels Roll On Textiles,” featured Firestone. It reviewed
the history of the Gastonia mill and told of its operation
today — 1,000,000 square feet of space, 1,200 employees
and a $12.3 payroll in 1980. The almost-exclusively syn
thetic material is processed through stages from filament to
twisted cord and woven into fabric, most of it about 5 feet
wide. . . Finished product is chemically treated for added
strength and other qualities, shipped to tire-assembly plants
and other customers around the world...”
Stock purchase
SI 1.74 is the most recent average
per share purchase price of Fire
stone common stock. Manufactur
ers Hanover Trust Company pur
chased it at that price, for accounts
of Firestone stock-buying employ
ees.
MHT. trustee for Firestone’s
Stock Purchase & Savings Plan,
calculates average per-share cost
by dividing the total purchase cost
of stocks for a given month by
total number of shares bought that
same month.
Firestone Fibers &
Textiles Company
NEW NAME
When consolidation of the Textiles Division and Syn
thetic Fibers Company is completed by early September,
the new name will be Firestone Fibers & Textiles Company.
In the change, the Hopewell, Va., fibers-producing fa
cility joins the plants at Gastonia, N.C., Bennettsville, S.C.,
Bowling Green, Ky., and Woodstock, Canada, as the com
bined division. It operates under the North American Tire
Group of The Firestone Tire & Rubber Company.
Gastonia is headquarters of the consolidated division.
All plants involved will continue to turn out the same pro
ducts “as before.”
July — Independence Month •
The patriotic song "My Country
'Tis of Thee" was first sung in
1834 at a picnic in Boston, Samuel
Frances Smith, a Baptist minister,
wrote the words which were joined
to a tune from a collection of old
German melodies. The British
"God Save The Queen" has the
same tune. The first verse of "My
Country'Tis of Thee". . .
My country 'tis of Thee.
Sweet land of liberty
of thee I sing.
Land where my fathers died.
Land of the Pilgrim's pride
From every mountain side
Let freedom ring!
The automotive car-care classes that Firestone
Stores offer nationwide to women drivers, incorporate
many suggestions on highway safety, travel con
venience, vehicle maintenance, dealing with emer
gencies, etc. Remembering some of those suggest
ions from a class at the Gastonia-Dixie Village
Firestone Store:
To solve the "it’s never there when you need it’’
problem, these items make up a "what every motorist
should have" kit in the vehicle’s glove drawer or
trunk.
Coins taped inside the glove compartment door for
an emergency telephone call, a ilashlight, first-aid
kit, white cloth to use for emergency signalling,
paper towels and some soap-and-towel packets.
Ya
‘What
every
motorist
should
have...’
i