quality FIRST THEN quantity Vol. 7; No. 3 PISGAH FOREST, N. C. NOT HOW MUCH BUT HOW WELL March, 194i> Most Ecustans To Have Victory Gardens K BEING FORMED Pirst Rehearsal Held March ^9th. Around 20 Now Taking Free Lessons. On Monday afternoon, March ®th., a group of Ecusta children ho had been participating in the ®Usic project, gathered for the of starting a beginners’ Thes6 children had been taking J'struniental instruction for sev- Weeks and had made such ex- ®*lent progress that it was decid- ° to start them into band work. Quite a number of children are taking instrumental lessons are learning to play instm- 0 of their choice; however, an advanced ones are , ending the beginners’ band re^ !?®®rsals. As soon as the others made sufficient progress have taW lessons they will be into the band group, j, Approximately 20 children of ^^usta employees are taking in- , Umental lessons and more are ‘^g added to the list as rapidly Possible. are between 50 and 60 cou taking part in the free . ^se of musical training being by the Company. All are sicT^ Part in the choral and mu- appreciation class. I^CORD GIFTS TO RED CROSS MADE ^.?**>Panies Match Contribu- Made By Employees. Total Is $6,000.00 ,^*?Ployees of Ecusta Paper coi Champagne Paper cor- tion Endless Belt corpora- Ig^Y^Fve a total of $3,000 in the iujt Cross drive which has ttijj .‘Closed, This amount was three companies, to j^?’^_tributing an amount equal .j-dividual employee donations. Ploy ® practice of matching em- for j ® 2nd company gifts dollar- "'hot!' • ^ has this year poured a the j six thousand dollars into CrojJ®3sury of the American Red Cfgj • This amounts to an in- Ust ^ almost two-thirds over donation, an increase Ofgg larger than the Red Cross tiongi'^^tion expected on a na- many employees live in county, a check for beg '^0 of the $6,000.00 total has Of o forwarded to the chairman Cfoj”® Henderson county Red Con^t ‘^’^^''0. The Transylvania ^ organization has been —Tam To Page Five scale. 3. 4. Message From The President At the time that the hearings before the National Labor Relations Board commenced, I promised to keep you informed concerning all developments. Since the hearings have now been concluded, I feel that I should make another report to you on the in tervening developments. As all of you know, the charges which remained against us involved six types of complaints. They were: 1. That we had discharged Lambert Baker be cause he was a member of the union. 2. That we had discharged William Brevard for the same reason. That we had threatened to assault various un ion agents and representatives. That we had actually assaulted certain un ion agents and representatives. 5. That we had sponsored and approved the campaign of the Citizens Committee of Tran sylvania County; and 6. That members of our supervisory organiza tion had at various times made anti-union re marks designed to interfere with the rights of employees to make their own decision about trade unionism, without coercion or in terference from the Companies. I am happy to report that four out of six of these charges were dismissed during the hearing, on the ground that there was no proof to support those charges. In other words, all three Companies have been acquitted and found innocent of charges 1, 3, 4, and 5. The remaining charges \vill be decided by the trial examiner within the next few months. I want you to understand that this is not a final decision, because everything that happened during the hearing is subject to review by the National Labor Relations Board in Washington. However, the devel opments which I have mentioned' above are highly important, and are to be regarded as a distinct vic tory for the position of the Company. I am, of course, deeply grateful and appreciative to the more than 1,000 of our employees who volun teered to testify on behalf of the Companies. Because of developments during the hearing, it w'as not nec essary to use your testimony but I am still thankful to you for your willingness to contribute support if needed. Let us all now return to our \vork, and forget about the issues and arguments \vhich a trial of this sort always creates. We have a very important job to do, but it cannot be accomplished unless we give it our entire thought and attention. I take this opportunity to extend my heartfelt' wishes for your happiness during the Easter Season and it is my sincere hope that we will all soon cele brate with our brave men and women in the armed forces a lasting and enduring peace. HARRY H. STRAUS, President ECUSTA PAPER CORPORATION CHAMPAGNE PAPER CORPORATION ENDLESS BELT CORPORATION COMPANY PLOTS AGAIN OFFERED WITHOUT CHARGE Food Situation This Year Is More Critical. Bigger And Better Gardens Wanted. In compliance with government requests for more food, it is under stood that most every Ecusta fam ily is planning a Victory Garden this year. For those who do not have space of their own and who wish to plant gardens, a few of the company plots are still available. Applica tion for one of these plots can be made in the Mill Office. The company land is now being plowed and prepared and as soon as this work is completed, it will be divided into plots and will then be ready for planting. It is expect ed that Ecustans who will use company plots will be able to be gin their planting within a few days. Last year a large part of the na tion’s food was produced in indi vidual Victory Gardens which were planted and cared for by millions of patriotic Americans. The gov ernment recently announced that approximately 40 per cent of the nation’s supply of table vegetables in 1944 was grown by these Vic tory gardeners. Ration points have again been —Turn To Page Five TO ORGANIZE A BASEBALL LEAGUE Much Interest Is Shown. Hope To Have More Teams This Season. The Recreation department has been given the go-ahead signal for the 194V baseball season and as soon ss plans can be made and weather permitting, the new sea son will get underway. Last year there were four teams in the Ecusta league and there was much fun for spectators as well as players. A meeting will be called this coming week with representatives from all departments attending to discuss plans for the formation of the 194V league. It is hoped that several of the departments will be able to enter teams. Since the weather has warmed up and the sun started shining in earnest, most all of the regulars and the fans have been clamoring for action. With the amount of interest already shown it looks like a good bet that there could be more teams this year than last