Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 16 November 1942 — Page 8

Ons More z 5 Days

YO MAKE YOUR Taide

J Que

A BILLION DOLLARS 1S YEAR

HE decisions a man makes at the point of a bayonet are pretty serious. He doesn’t have time to ask for advice, or search for precedents, or reflect: “How will this affect my future?” . Companies are a lot like people . . . . because they

~ are people. And today many companies, which

in their long lives have tried to be good, thoughtful citizens while advancing the world’s work, like other good citizens are finding themselves at bayonet-point, with time not for debate or reflection—but only for action. And so, although we at General Electric like

to think that we set ourselves a 1942 production

quota of a billion dollars in shipments, actually that quota was set for us—set by the guy with the bayonet.

A billion in shipments! * That is three times the

normal pre-war G-E volume. And it is made up of more kinds of war products, we have been told, than any other American company is making. Some of them are old and familiar things, fof which we have a special knack, such "as turbines, generators, motors, ship-propulsion gears, radio equipment, searchlights, aircraft instruments, incandescent and fluorescent lamps, superchargers, and plastics. Then there are others, military secrets without even a, name. Once this year we took an eightfigure order for something that hadn’t even been invented.

THE BEST INVESTMENT

It took a lot of experienced. scientists and engineers, new plants, and machinery to get our sights on that billion-dollar quota. It took a lot of production workers, too — there are now more

than 165,500 in the G-E family, and more than

a fourth of them are women.

More than courage and long hours of work have gone into this thing. When you're on the spot, you not only have to think fast, but you also have to give a little extra something to insure survival. For decades General Electric employees have been making valuable suggestions, drawing on their experience and knowledge to improve the job in hand. In 23 years, 132,665 such ideas have been used, and have brought $1,297,340 in awards fo the men and women who made the suggestions. And in a year like 1942, with critical materials short and new production ideas worth their. weight in human lives, the suggestion system has proved its worth anew. Already this year G-E employees have made 12,250 useful suggestions, which have brought them $115,000. What they will bring ultimately to the men who are fighting the long fight at the earth’s far

corners is much more important.

When black smoke hung tragically in the sky over Pearl Harbor and Cavite, in the disastrous December of 1941, more than 90 per cent of all General Electric's men and women

had subscribed for. War Bonds having a maturity

value of $21,385,375. Six months laters 96.4

IN THE WORLD IS IN THIS

per cent of a much larger number of employees had pledged an average of 10.3 per cent of their earnings for buying Bonds. And now members of the General Electric family are buying War

‘Bonds, by payroll subscription, at a rate of

more than $58,000,000 a year. .

~ These things we have done. These things any American would have done. These things we will continue to do—deliberately, determinedly, and relentlessly, until the last shot is fired and the last communique is issued. If more men are needed, we will march. Over fourteen thousand men from the G-E family are already in the armed services. If more production is needed, we will produce.

‘We will continue to buy War Bonds, and so will you. This is no time to argue with the business end of a bayonet. This is the time to fight.

General Electric Company, Schenectady, N. Y.

G-E WAR PRODUCTION January = September 1942

JANN FE8Y MART APR ¥ MAY JUNE JULY | AUG SEPT,

COUNTRY’S FUTURE