State

COOPERATION HAS PLAYED AN IMPORTANT PART IN THE PROGRESS OF GASTONIA Kt; IKK ICE T. HICKSON WHEN active minds, warm hearts, and willing hands get together, there’s always good fellowship, pleasant relations, and successful accomplishments. At least, that's the way it works out with the various component mem¬ bers of Gaston County’s Industrial family. On the football field, it's not so hard to point out the winning qualities — it's the punting, or the passing technique, or the running, or the interference which win games. In the Industrial field, the winning qualities are just as real, but not so evident they arc fair- mindedness. the live-and-let-live- attitude. a belief in freedom and the free enterprise system, am¬ bition. the ability to think for one's self, know-how. thrift. American¬ ism. and dozens of other intan¬ gibles. These are the qualities which win the games of happy living and good production. But from platitudes and intan¬ gibles. let’s get down to practical illustrations and tangible facts. Gaston County has grown into quite an industrial empire. Twenty-nine thousand people earn their livelihood directly from in¬ dustrial work: value of manu¬ factured products is $200 million annually; wages are $70 million annually; manufactured products find their market not only through¬ out the United States but in Canada. Latin America. Europe, the Orient, and in Africa. Because the principal manufactured prod¬ uct is textiles, the opinion persists among some people that textiles is the only product made here. This opinion is not correct, although the county is proud that it has VA million of the 23 million spinning spindles of the United States. In the last few years machinery manufacturing has grown tremen¬ dously in volume and in impor¬ tance'. and other diversified in¬ dustries also are finding a suitable environment here. What is this suitable environ¬ ment which is responsible for the unusual progress of the past and which gives challenging tokens for the future? Here’s one little picture which shows it in actual operation. The Industrial Committee of the Gastonia Chamber of Commerce. John A. Staples. Chairman, con¬ ceived a threefold plan for the in¬ dustrial workers, those fellows who day in and day out are found on the production line. First was a radio program which would be ed¬ ucational in its scope of informa¬ tion and would, as a quiz program, include only industrial workers as contestants. Second, was an Indus¬ trial Exposition which would dis¬ play the manufactured products of the county and the "end uses" where they are not processed locally into the finished form. Third, was a proposal to extend the public school curriculum to in¬ clude more vocational education and include a post-high school course to better fit for their life work those students who do not go to college. The first two of these objectives have been realized, the school enrichment requires more time to accomplish. Through the courtesy of WGNC. a local radio station, a 30-minute program was broadcast each Mon¬ day evening, beginning September 6. The script was written by a local man. Max A. Parrish, of Fire¬ stone Textiles. Incorporated, and Rex Edison, another local man acted as Master of Ceremonies. Both of these performed as pro¬ fessionals. Contestants were selected from the industrial workers who made up the studio audience, and the winning con¬ testant got as a prize each week a Bendix washing machine. Conso¬ lation prizes were donated by the merchants for those contestants who were unfortunate in their answers. One of the questions each week had to do with the identity of a successful local citizen who started at the bottom and worked up the hard way. Citizens who were so honored are F. C. Todd. Marshall Hilling, A. G. Myers, J. H. Separk. Gilmer Winget. Harold Mercer. I). R. LaFar. and S. A. Burts. These radio programs were un¬ usually well received by the public generally and particularly by the workers and the industrialists both of whom welcomed each op¬ portunity of fraternizing with each other and demonstrating their friendly interest. The programs ran through November 1 nine weeks. A survey conducted in 12 industrial plants, indicated that 95 per cent— an almost unbelieva¬ ble figure of the employees were listening to the program. The Gaston County Industrial Exposition used the Armory for its booth exhibit space and filled every available nook and cranny. The booths were beautifully decorated Left to right: Marshall Dilling. F. C. Todd. Robinson LaFar, J. II. Separk. Gilmore Winget, Harold Mercer. S. A. Burts and A. G. Myers. Each of these gentlemen was featured as the "Man of the Week" on the series of weekly broadcasts over Radio Station WGNC. Gastonia, which promoted and preceded the exposition. 24 THE STATE. DECEMBER 4. 1948