Old Slater Mill
PAWTUCKET, R.I.
EST. 1790
PERFECTION IN TEXTILES-A SLATER FAMILY TRADITION SINCE 1790
THE SLATER NEWS
Vol. 3
Slater, S. C., August 9, 1945
No. 16
Slater Mill
SLATER, SO. CAROLINA
1973
Methodist Hosts
At Union Service
The second in a series of
community-wide cooperative
church services was held at the
Slater Methodist Church Sun-
day night, July 29.
The sermon of the occasion
was delivered by the Rev. J.
M. Dean, pastor of the Slater
Church of God. Rev. Dean, us-
ing as his subject, "A Finished
Work," brought a very timely
and inspiring message in which
he urged each one present to
do well the work which was his,
so that he could say with the
Apostle Paul, "I have fought
a good fight; I have finished my
course; I have kept the faith."
The service was presided
over by the Rev. P. G. Curry,
pastor of the Slater Mtehodist
Church. Special music was
rendered by a duet from the
Church or God, and by quartets
from the Methodist and Baptist
churches. The congregational
hymns were well sung, and
proved to be an inspiration and
blessing to all present.
The next in this regular fifth
Sunday night series will be
held at the Slater Baptist
Church on the fifth Sunday
night in September. The public
is cordially invited to attend
these union services, and the
local ministers are hoping that
a great many of our Slater
people will be present for the
September meeting.
The service held at the
Methodist church on July 29,
and the one held at the Church
of God on the fifth Sunday
night in April have both proved
to be great spiritual blessings
to those who attended. The
fellowship, cooperation, and
good will which prevail in these
services are striking, and it is
hoped that the fine spirit which
is manifested in these coopera-
tive worship services will per-
meate our village. As a result,
let us also hope that the people
of Slater will feel more deeply
the bond of unity and "one-
ness" which makes us " a com-
munity" and "a people."
Slater Girl Scouts Win
Coveted Medal For Work
Miss Patrica Summey, daugh-
ter of Mr. and Mrs. Roy Sum-
mey of Slater and Miss Elaine
Foster, daughter of Mr. and
Mrs. E. P. Foster of Slater,
have been awarded the Girl
Scout Service Pin which is
awarded to Girl Scouts, who
perform outstanding work in
the betterment of the Girl
Scout Organization and the
community in which they live.
These young ladies received
this Service Pen award for
more than 150 hours contribut-
ed in assisting with the play-
ground activities here at Slater
during the summer of 1944.
Both of these young ladies
have lived at Slater for a num-
(Con't. on page 3, col. 5)
Submarine Warfare Is Hazardous
For Men Who Fight Beneath Waves
After eight war patrols in the
Pacific, on three different sub-
marines and on missions rang-
ing all the way from the Aleu-
tions to the shores of Japan, 23-
year-old Electrician's Mate
Joseph C. Menderson believes
he knows whereof he speaks
when he says that reliable
equipment is more important to
the success and safety of the
submarine sailor than to any
other kind of fighting man,
whether on land, at sea or in
the air.
"We pigboat sailors live,
work and fight in a tight little
steel world crowded and cram-
med with complicated appara-
tus and machinery," says the
youthful sub veteran, who
switched from a peacetime job
of training race horses to track-
ing down Jap shipping all over
the wide stretches of the Pa-
cific. "Not only the boat itself
but every individual piece of
equipment must be 100 percent
in quality. In a pinch it may
make the difference between a
successful patrol and an official
announcement that your boat
is 'overdue and must be pre-
sumed lost.'
"Life on a submarine isn't all
excitement and adventure, as
some people think. There may
be days and weeks without ac-
tion, just prowling and waiting
for something to turn up - the
toughest kind of monotony in
cramped quarters, with no
recreation and few conven-
iences. We're submerged many
hours a day and the air gets
awfully bad. Danger? There's a
little bit of that too. But the
worst thing, we have to go
without mail for weeks at a
time. Not that we kick about
these things, you understand.
We submariners wouldn't trade
places with anybody on any
other kind of ship in the Fleet.
We're on subs because we think
they're tops.
"It's true, though, that when
we do get action it comes in
large doses. Take my third pa-
trol, for instance. We made our
first 'kill' on that run even be-
fore we reached our patrol
area. It was pretty small fry,
as ships go, but a Jap is a
Jap. It was a 300-ton fishing
craft, the kind they use a lot
for patrol work. We chased him
and we got within shooting
range. We sounded our battle
station surface alarm and man-
ned our 3-inch gun and 20-milli-
meters. The Jap didn't spot us
until we began firing. Several
of our 3-inch shells ripped into
him, wrecked his controls and
set him afire. He was heading
down to Davey Jones' Locker
when we left him.
"We proceeded on our way,
and no sooner did we arrive
on station than we ran into
two enemy cargo ships. The
Skipper called for full speed
and we went after them. One of
the Jap ships was too fast and
got away. But we nailed the
other, a 7,000-tonner. We put
four 'tin fish' into him and left
him ablaze and sinking.
"One morning a few days
later we sighted a big Jap
transport. She was crammed
with Nip soldiers. She was
traveling without escort, mov-
ing fast and zigzagging. We
went to our battle stations, let
go torpedoes and got two hits.
Two or three minutes later
(Con't on page 3, col. 1)
JAP WAR PRESENTS
VARIOUS PROBLEMS
Japanese war logistics pre-
sents a problem beyond solu-
tion by any nation other than
the United States. Our re-
sources assure us triumph. But
the process will be long and
arduous because:
We must, first, build overseas
bases that can accommodate the
men and supplies we shall ship
out;
We must, second, ferry across
7,000 miles of ocean millions of
men and millions of tons of sup-
plies;
We must, third, disperse
those men and supplies over a
combat area far larger than the
entire continent of Europe.
Logistics is a battle against
geography - a fight against
its time and distance and ship-
ping consequences. It has been
defined by General Brehon
Somervell, Commanding Gene-
ral, Army Service Forces, as
the art of getting the right
equipment at the right time-
and that, incidentally, is a pret-
ty good recipe also for victory.
The Japanese main force is
divided into three huge chunks
each of them comparable to
the Nazi Reich. There are the
Japanese home islands, 147,000
square miles of mountains -
123 peaks over 8,000 feet high
- a land naturally fortified
far stronger than the much-
propagandized National Re-
doubt of the Nazis.
There is Manchuko, whose
503,000 square mile plus Ko-
(Con't. on page 4, col. 1)
Softballers Play
Good Games Here
Since the close of our Slater
Softball League, a picked team,
under the direction of Ansel
McMakin, has been playing
leading teams from the Greater
Greenville Softball League.
Our first scheduled game was
with the Dr. Pepper team,
which is composed of players
from the Greenville Army Air
Base. A double-header was
played with them with scores
of 10 to 2 and 13 to 0, in favor
of the Dr. Pepper team.
On July 25, Squadron J, of
the Greenville Army Air Base,
played Slater, winning by the
score of 4 to 0. Beddingfield
pitched a one-hit for Squadron
J, Summey getting the only hit
for Slater, which was a single
in the sixth inning.
The next game was with the
Coca-Cola team of Greenville,
in which they won by a score
of 6 to 2. Outstanding fielding
plays were made in this game
by Thornton and Cook, out-
fielders on the Slater team.
On last Friday, the Medics,
of the Greenville Army Air
Base, played here in which was
the closet and best game so
far. Takacy pitched his best
game of the season, allowing
only 5 hits, one of which was a
home run, and walked only 2
men. Slater secured 3 hits, and
5 men were walked by pitchers
Huffman and Burmeister.
All three teams which have
played here from the Air Base
have asked to come back to
Slater for another game. Squad-
(Con't. on page 4, col. 4)
FACTS AND FIGURES
ABOUT NIP ISLANDS
To many of us, Japan is just
a spot on the map which we
are determined to eradicate.
Outside of the knowledge that
we are at war with Japan, few
of us are familiar with Japa-
nese history and vital statistics
concerning Japan.
The Japanese know their
homeland as Dai Nippon, which
means "Great Land of the Ris-
ing Sun!" Japan proper is com-
posed of five main islands, the
largest of which is Honshu.
The other four islands are Hok-
kaido, Kyusyu, Shikoku and
Taiwan (or Formosa). There
are 600 smaller islands.
Japan is one of the most
mountainous countries in the
world and is dotted with vol-
canoes, many of which are ac-
tive. One of the largest dor-
mant volcanoes is known as
Fjuiyama or "Fire-Goddess
Mountain" and is revered by
the Japanese as a deity. Tidal
waves and earthquakes occure
frequently in the Japanese is-
lands.
Under the Japanese consti-
tution of 1893, absolute religi-
ous freedom was guaranteed.
The chief forms of religion are
(1) Shintoism, with 13 sects;
(2) Buddhism, with 12 sects
and 26 denominations and (3)
Christianity, which embraces
1595 churches of the Roman
Catholic, Greek Catholic and
Protestant churches. Shrines,
independent of a n y religious
sect, are dedicated to illustri-
ous ancestors of the imperial
house and to Japanese who
(Con't on page 2, col. 4)
Boys' Club Enjoys
Day At Old Mill
The all-day trip, which the
Boys' Library Club recently
took to the old Wilkins' Mill
site, was a gala occasion for a
group of Slater youngsters. Ten
o'clock was the "starting
hour," but needless to say, the
boys began arriving at the Li-
brary shortly after nine. Each
boy carried his bathing suit and
a well-packed lunch box.
Since transportation is so
hard to obtain, the boys hiked
to the scene of the day's out-
ing.
Even though swimming was
the chief diversion, several of
the boys took time out to fish,
box, pitch horseshoes, and play
softball.
Lunch hour was thoroughly
enjoyed by all the boys, and
appetites, spurred on by the
hike and swim, were at their
height. Drinks for the lunch
were provided by the Slater
Community Association. Before
the boys ate their lunches, Rev.
Marvin Hembree returned
thanks.
The following members of
the club participated in the out-
ing: Billy Joe Huffman, Bobby
Johnson, James Johnson, Mick-
ey Ramsey, Kenneth Hester,
James Hester, Robert Hender-
son, Alton White, Donald Bar-
rett, Donald Burnette, Richard
Burnette, Lewis Vaughn, Ansel
McMakin, Jr., George Hopson,
Billy Vaughn, Jimmy Taylor,
Thomas Cox, and Richard Row-
land.
Also: Clarence Canham, Bob-
by Compton, Billy Compton,
Jimmy Hembree, Gene Adding-
ton, Sammy Johnson, Jack
Dean, Herbert Farthing, Bobby
Sprouse, Fred Revis, Jimmy
Revis, Ted Smith, Jimmy Lell,
Kenneth Waldrop, Buddy
Brown, and William Waddell.
The club sponsor, W. Earle
Reid, was assisted by the Rev.
Marvin Hembree, father of one
of the boys, and also by Ray
Johnson and Charles Jones,
local high school boys.
Hot Money Produced By
Cash Register At Cafe
We have heard of the state-
ment "hot money" all of our
lives, but had never knowingly
seen any until we discovered
the cash register at the Com-
munity Cafe smoking very
vigorously on a Sunday after-
noon a week or so ago.
It happened in this manner:
A couple in passing happened
to glance in the show window
at the Community Cafe and
noticed smoke oozing out of the
cash register. Becoming alarm-
ed, they called a passerby and
sent for a key to open the
establishment. Allen Suttle
soon appeared on the scene
with a key, and after entering,
it was discovered that no actual
harm had been done despite the
(Con't. on page 4, col. 2)
EN