MEL-ROSE-GLEN THE VOICE OF MELROSE AND GLENN MILLS VnliitnA ^ MELROSE HOSIERY MILLS V U Ulllc O (Seamlegs and Full Fashion Plants) HIGH POINT, N. C., SEPT. ISSUE, 1949 GLENN HOSIERY MILLS (Infants* and Misses* Goods) No. 12 The Neon Sign Many favorable comments have been made about the new Melrose signs. Locally the Melrose sign is a beautiful and spectacular thing. The colors follow the Melrose letterhead in rose and green. It is the plan to tie in the electric sign with national advertising and with printed matter such as labels, pack aging. etc., using the word Melrose in script. Tha purpose of the sign is to makR an association in the minds of all interested persons, identify ing Melrose with the entire hosiery industry. When the public — and particularly buyers—think hosiery, we want them to think “Melrose.” One sign faces English Street, which is a thoroughfare, and the other sign faces the Southern Railway. Buyers, salesmen, indus trialists and others riding the Southern Railway are certain to see this artistic message—at least on occasion—and it is hoped that during the life of the sign the story of Melrose and High Point will be carried far. Incidentally some people have asked about the wiring of the sign: the answer is that our elec trician, “Shorty” Steed, hooked up the signs. ABOUT NYLON (Repeated by Request) The word “nylon” was manu factured—as synthetic as the ma terial it describes. It has no mean ing in Hself, but was chosen from several hundred suggestions be cause it is distinctive and easy to pronounce. This name for a new family of chemicals has become a new word in the English lan guage. The real beginning of nylon was in 1930, but the process was not generally known until 1938. A group of well trained organic chemists selected a problem known as “polymerization.” Polymer is a familiar process in the formation of rubber, the muscle of animals and men, casein of milk and cellu lose, in which smaller molecules, minute particles, unite to form larger molecules. One group of long-chain poly mers was called “superpolymers.” In 1930, in removing one of the “superpolymers” from a still, it was noted that it could be drawn out like a strand of taffy candy, but that when cooled it was not brittle, and the cooled strand could be drawn out to several times its original length. It could be tied in knots without breaking. The chem ists settled down to practical de velopment of the finding. The first nylon thread was made by forcing the polymer through a hypoder mic needle. The popular description of nylon is that it is made of coal, air and water. Actually, the chemical com pounds are carbon, nitrogen, oxy gen, and hydrogen found in these ingredients. These compounds are united to form “nylon salt” which is in no way related to common table salt, except that both “salts” are white. Nylon salt is made of two complex chemicals known as Adipic acid and hexamethylene di amine. Recent development has provided a way to get these two chemicals (with carbon, nitrogen, oxygen and hydrogen) from sources other than coal, air and water. Natural gas, or methane, and cyclohexane (made from ben zine) along with ammonia are used in the new process. (Cyclohexane is a naturally occurring component of petroleum and it is hoped that eventually this ingredient can be Continued (3n Page 2 A BOOST TO MELROSE AND TO HIGH POINT! HOSIERY MILLS HIGH POINT N.C. Shown above is the colorfully attractive neon sign which w'e recently had erected. Daily hundreds of people observe this sign, automobile, bus and train passengers, and countless pedestrians. It’s a real tribute to Melrose quality! CREDIT WHERE CREDIT IS DUE People who have been in the hosiery industry a long time report that conditions change, sometimes abruptly and with out explanation. Whatever the cause, we know that locally we have gone through one of the so-called slump periods. It was evident a year ago that the market was becoming more and more competitive. Although we thought we had been doing a good job during the war year? we started looking about to see where improvement could be made. The company appealed to the employees for cooperation in a two-point program: (1) improved quality, and (2) reduced cost. It was spelled out in detail what was meant by quality and cost reduction. We said quality work could create jobs. There has been an amazing response from workers in all departments and all mills. Now, it is quite evident that the analysis was correct and the results are paying off in putting the mills in a preferred position. Of course, side by side with employee cooperation, man agement has had to be especially alert day after day. It has meant, on occasion, sacrifice in offering goods at prices to move them. It has meant extra service of salesmen in the field. It has meant that management has matched workers’ cooperation with constant and alert supervision and manage ment. There are many evidences of this position. Melrose main tained its program at a comparatively high level when condi tions were at their worst. Melrose felt immediately the first signs of rally or pick up. Melrose is especially proud of the large number of new accounts that have been brought to the mills. At the present time more knitting machines are in oper ation than at any time since the new knitting building has been occupied. The finishing departments report that of 53 styles now in the Melrose line, 50 are definitely active. We do not know whether this is a genuine rally or only a spurt, but however it may turn out, there is reason to believe the above factors apply. The chief point of which story is that management recog nizes a swell job done by the Melrose employees. It could not have been done without the intelligent, helpful cooperation of supervisors and operators in all departments. GIRLS BOWLING If any employees are interested in getting up a bowling team, there is a meting at City Hall Thursday of this week at 7:30. WANTED: Addresses for the folowing em ployees : Mary Smith Roy Armstrong Emery Smith Tools Improve Material Welfare Tools are all the things used by man to produce other things, that is, goods and services. Tools are things made by man, and things made by natural pro cesses. Obviously, factory machines are tools. So are the buildings that house them and the land under the build ings. So are the various materials used up in production. So are the finished products while they are for sale. On the farm, the cleared, culti vated, and fertilized soil used to produce crops is just as much a tool as is the plow. So is the horse that pulls the plow. So are milk sheds, silos and barns. So is the wagon that carries the crops to market. So is the stock of seed and the fertilizer. So are the railroad trains and motor trucks that haul the goods. In the hands of storekeepers and their clerks, the inventories of goods for sale are part of the tools used to produce a service, just as are the store buildings and the store fixtures. Tools are all the things used by man to improve his material wel fare (that is, to produce goods and services) through changing the form, condition and place of nat ural resources. (This is the third in a series of six editorials which explain simply the basic economics which govern oil'’ lives. Text pnd illi;t't.'ationa are from “How We Live,” written by Fred G. Clark and Richard Stanton Rimanoczy and published by D. Van Nostrand Co., Inc., New York. They are by permission of the American Economic Founda tion.) SEPTEMBER NINTH September 9th is an important date for all members of the credit union. This date falls at the end of the second period of three months set by the State Examiner. An im portant meeting will be held in the Social Hall at 7:30. It is in this MEETING that issues are decided and decisions made. While loans have not been made during the two three-months periods, many hundreds of dollars have been collected and members have continued to deposit shares. The functions of the credit union are two-fold: (1) to provide a con venient way for members to save in any amount, (2) enable members who are willing to cooiform to rules of borrowing to get sums as needed for short periods at low interest. The Melrose Credit Union has assisted scores of employees in fi nancing various projects and needs. The plan is simple: some members deposit savings, others borrow and repay in regular amounts. The Board of the Credit Union has appealed to all borrowers to continue cooperating to make as good showing as possible when the examiner comes on the 9th. The Board also urges upon all members the importance of having as many members present as possible Fri day, September 9th. The Credit Union has proved to be a good thing and should have the active, intelligent assistance of the membership at this time. Everybody Helped: It Worked The electrician reports that of 570 fluorescent tubes tested, 90 were good. Of 104 starters tested, 40 were good. This sort of coopera tion proves that a “cut-down-on- waste” program can get results!