State

Л ПО MW СЕ OF IX Dll ST НМЛ i. EXFAX SlOX Octave Blake driving Joe’s Pride. Colt Saved an Industry; Sulky Brought it to N. C. By RONALD KIRBY "Here's the way it really happened.” said the ex-aviator, inventor, and in¬ dustrialist. Then he told of the threads, some of them tenuous, which after many years of tugging, pulled two plants in North Carolina and gave this state one of its most dynamic part-time citizens. The story Octave Blake told was how nearly 2.500 jobs came riding into North Carolina on the pneumatic tires of a racing sulky. And how an un¬ promising colt met a payroll, an aging prophet introduced him to the South, and a shopping housewife sold him on a location. The colt came fir.'t. Blake's father. I. O. Blake, head of the Crystal Springs Company of New York, was a har¬ ness-racing fan. and gave his son a coll. It showed such poor promise that it was put to plowing, but later train¬ ing developed it into a winner. The coll was sold, and the father took the proceeds and invested them in Cana¬ dian Bonds for his son. Years later, Blake's Cornell Elec¬ trical Company, making radio and electrical parts and devices, ran into financial difficulties. Credit was not available, and it appeared the company was not going to be able to meet its payroll. Octave Blake bethought him¬ self of those bonds: took them out of the safety deposit box. sold them, and the proceeds squeaked him by the cri¬ sis. "It was just what I had to have,” he recalled. The invention of a new capacitor put Cornell on top of its field, and in 1933 the Cornell-Dubilier Company was formed. Combined sales of the two companies the previous year were about $500.000; now annual sales arc about $43 million. So much for the big company that grew from the little company that was saved by the money from the bonds bought by the colt that a father gave his boy. Octave Blake’s inherited in¬ terest in harness racing never dimin¬ ished. It led him, naturally, to "Uncle” Will Reynolds, himself a harness racer non parcil, whom he visited at Tangle- wood in Forsyth — Blake's first direct contact with North Carolina. Still later, S. B. Chapin of New York, developer of Myrtle Beach, who invested heavily also in the Sandhills, took him on a tour of the area and argued that "the greatest industrial possibilities in the world lie in the Carolinas.” He had a chance to become better acquainted with the region when he moved his horses to Pinchurst in 1943 for winter training. He talked to Al¬ bert I lifts about how Cornell-Dubilier was expanding, and the Pinchurst man put Blake in touch with the North Carolina Department of Conserva¬ tion and Development. Out of this contact grew the first Cornell-Dubilier plant in North Carolina — the one at Fuquay-Varina. Location of the huge plant at San¬ ford, built to employ over 2,000 per¬ sons. has a whimsical twist. Mr. Blake bought a home at Pinchurst and among its furnishings was a couch he did not need. A for-salc advertisement brought Mrs. Fred VonCannon of Sanford as a prospect. The newcomer remarked that he had been to Sanford (with Chapin) and considered it a fine industrial site, but understood he might have trouble employing enough people. "What kind of employees do you need?" asked the Sanford visitor. "We employ about 90 per cent girls," replied Blake. Mrs. VonCannon said there were plenty of girls in the Sanford area available for jobs. Out of this conver¬ sation grew a special labor census sponsored by the Chamber of Com¬ merce. newspaper and radio stations. Industrial agents of the Department of Conservation and Development and the Carolina Power and Light Com¬ pany were called in, and the result was the location of the new industry. Mrs. VonCannon. incidentally, didn't buy the couch. Blake told the story of his long as¬ sociations with North Carolina, and how they finally combined to bring him, his horses, and a part of his in¬ dustry’ back to stay. And behind the story — behind any story Octave Blake tells — are the hoofbeats of standard- breds. because no man ever had a more potent talisman than Blake has in his horses. When you smoke in his home, you dunk your ashes in hard-won trophies. They arc everywhere — so numerous that they overrun the special cabinets, and you will find yourself drinking from silver cups and eating breakfast off silver plates awarded colts bearing the THE STATE. Mapcm 13. 19S4 17