Kankakee Valley Post, Volume 17, Number 3, DeMotte, Jasper County, 6 December 1946 — BEHIND THE SCENES [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

BEHIND THE SCENES

M AMERICAN BUSINESS

By JOHN CRADDOCK

New York, Dec. 2 Recent statistics of automobile production draw a fairly clear picture of one of the fundamental weaknesses of the present economic situation—inefficient production. It has contributed perhaps more to smaller company profits and to higher prices for the things we buy than have higher wages. In a comparison of wages, employment and production for January, 1941, and July, 1946, the Automobile Manufacturers Association reports weekly wages for the 1946 month as 76 per cent higher and the number of workers 25 per cent greater than five years ago. How’ever, the incentive of higher wages and the advantage of a substantially larger working force were accompanied by a decrease of more than 40 per cent in production. That is a condition which can not continue to exist without affecting ithte, whole national economy, which includes the jobs, the income and the standard of living of all of us. Work creates wealth and conversely the less work we do the less wealth we have. Carried to its ultimate, we would all quit work entirely and eventually we would all have nothing. Postwar travel luxury The Great Northern Railway, which has played a major part in the development of American’s great Pacific northwest, soon will be blazing new trials over the nation’s rails when it takes delivery of five complete 12-car trains from Pullman-Standard Car Manufacturing Company, world’s largest builder of passenger Some of the coaches, which will comprise the “Empire Builder’’

trains, already have been delivered iby Pullman-Standard, while the diners and utility cars are in advanced stages of contraction. A i group of 25 sleepers of most modern design have been laid down. ; Four of the trains will b'e operI ated by the Great Northern and I the fifth by the Burlington, w’hich 1 operates Great Northern trains between Chicago and St. Paul, Minn, i The sleeping equipment < will incorporate a wide variety of sleeping accomodations featuring largely the single occupancy Roomette design. Twenty of the cars will be all-sleeper, while five will be a combination of sleeping facilities with buffet-lounge observation ends. Following the trend of the nation’s railroads to adopt a color “trade mark,” the Great NorthernBurlington train exteriors will be painted in alternating broad bands of olive green and deep orange. Things to come —Sun-visors, automobile windshields, goggles and packing materials made of a new plastic which will transmit visible light, but will absorb ultraviolet rays and infra-red rays. A new L “image intensifier,” which will make visible in the dark outlines too dim to be seen by ordinary eye sight. A helicopter with insecticide blowers for use. in dusting and spraying crops. Experiments have been declared successful not only in orchards and vineyards, but also for such crops as potatoes, peas, beans, squash and onins. A new aircraft muffler which is said to eliminate 90 per cent of the noise from an engine exhaust. A non-glare, electric selfdefrosting windshield which operates independently of the automobile’s heating system. The heat is created by an electric-conducting coating opplied between the two pieces of safety glass. A device to lifet and lower awnings from the interior of the house. It is constructed of aluminum parts. A dog leash which may be -lengthened by pressing a button on the handle. It has a stainless steel cable fitted with a chome-plated alloy steel hook. The new electronic blanket of Simmons gets a nod from Thea Tewi, recently voted top lingerie designer, who is pleased that it will enable women to wear sheer nightgowns eVen on winter nights. Enter Holly Carter The eighty-seventh anniversary of the Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company was marked recently by the food chain’s official entry into the ice cream business. Offering a house brand, labeled Holly Carte?, the company selected Milwaukee as its proving ground. The new produced by the White House Milk Company, an A & P Wisconsin affiliate. To help customers avoid the necessity of hurrying home to prevent ice cream from melting, the new Holly Carter departments offer the cream in “jiffy” bags with dry-ice. Judging by the crowds at its test markets, A & P has scored another mass dis- i tribution triumph.