THE MILLWHISTLlE
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W¥V "¥"■■’ Published by Fielderest Mills, ltic-~ Plants located in Spray, Draper and Leaksville, N. C and Fieldale, Vai^
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XVII
Spray, N. C., Monday, December 22, 1958
NO. 12
A Christmas Message
For the first time in many months our mills and
offices will close for several days this week so that
^’ieldcrest employees everywhere may celebrate the
great Christian holiday of Christmas. This is a special
holiday — different from the others. People are not
thinking of sporting events, stock car races, trips to the
heach or mountains.
This is the season when we think of family and
friends, of blessings past and present. We purchase
Sifts and presents to show our love and appreciation
those we hold dear. The world seems a better and
kindlier place because so many hearts, young and old,
®re touched by what we call “the Christmas Spirit.”
The old year is rapidly drawing to a close and next
'veek we will welcome in the New Year. It is natural
to look back over the year just ending. For Fieldcrest
Both our Fieldcrest and our Karastan sales de-
cline in sales and profits from the same period in 1957
fs a result of the general business recession. Starting
July conditions began to improve rapidly and the
^®st six months have shown a substantial improvement.
now appears that the final results for the entire
year will about equal and perhaps slightly improve
°ver 1957.
Employment and payrolls have been high during
*'he last six months with considerable overtime in most
•’^ills. Both our Fieldcrest and our Karastan sales de
partments have done excellent jobs in distributing our
beautiful products and we can be proud of them. Our
Production organization has again performed superbly
manufacturing and shipping our goods on time. We
hank you all for your cooperation, your loyalty, and
your good work.
You know that I always hesitate to predict what
he future may hold for us. World conditions are so
'^'icertain that many things could happen to upset any
^3lcuiations we might make. Foreign competition is a
^stinct threat to textile prosperity. I believe, however,
^hat the first half of 1959 will show considerable im
provement over the same period of 1958 and that a
^Continuation of present economic conditions in our
^ountry throughout 1959 would result in a good year
Or Fieldcrest. Let us all hope and work for the best.
In behalf of our Directors and all of my associates
our management group, I extend our sincere best
^^shes for a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year
311 of you and your families.
President
Strengths Told
At Sales Meeting
“Selling from Strength” was the keynote
of the Fieldcrest sales meeting held at the mills
Friday and Saturday, December 4 and 5. Talks
throughout the program emphasized this
therne, highlighting the teamwork of our pro
duction and sales forces and citing the know
how and spirit of the entire PMeldcrest
organization.
Here for the meeting were approximately 80 mem
bers of Fieldcrest Mills’ nation-wide sales organization
for domestic products, including officials of our Field
crest sales division from New York, representatives from
the various sales districts across the country, and St.
Marys sales and manufacturing officials.
The sales group was joined by over 100 manage
ment and staff persons from the mills. Several members
of the miUs’ management group participated in a pro
gram covering highlights of our manufacturing opera
tions.
The salesmen arrived by train at Danville Friday
morning and were met by three chartered busses which
brought them to the Company’s headquarters at Spray
and transported them from mill to mill as they toured
the plants to see new machinery and other capital im
provements.
At 11:30 a. m. Friday, the group convened at Meadow
Greens Country Club to hear talks by mill officials. At
a luncheon meeting the group heard President Harold
W. Whitcomb discuss the over-all strength of the Com
pany and review the progress made in the past five
years. Friday afternoon was devoted to completing the
salesmen’s tours of all of the mills and offices.
At the all-day meeting at the clubhouse Saturday,
F. W. Hoit, president of the Fieldcrest sales division, and
his staff unveiled the new lines of merchandise for
spring selling and presented advertising plans and the
new merchandising program for 1959.
A. S. Thompson, vice-president, sales, discussed the
strengthening of our sales force and told of plans for
the coming year. He presented D. M. Tracy, assistant
sales manager, shops, who discussed the Fieldcrest Shop
program, W. H. Johnson, Jr., manager of the distributor
department, and E. S. Klein, Jr., vice-president, specialty
sales, who discussed their respective programs.
See pages, 4, 5 and 8 for picture coverage of the
sales meeting and the product displays for employees
and the public.