PERFECTION IN TEXTILES—A SLATER FAMILY TRADITION SINCE 1790
[drawing of Old Slater Mill]
Old Slater Mill
PAWTUCKET, R. I.
EST. 1790
THE SLATER NEWS
Vol. 3 Slater, S. C., August 23, 1945 No. 17
[drawing of Slater Mill]
Slater Mill
SLATER, SO. CAROLINA
1943
[column 1]
Victory Day Brings Joy And Peace
To Hearts And Minds Of Slaterites
President Truman's announce-
ment at 7:00 on Tuesday even-
ing brought joy and gladness
to the hearts of all the people
of Slater, and the celebration
resulting therefrom was not
vociferous as in Greenville and
other cities throughout the na-
tion, but was celebrated in a
somewhat noisy manner.
A few minutes after the news
came over the radio, guns were
fired, automobile horns sound-
ed, church bells rang, the fire
siren sounded, and the mill
whistle blew all to the accom-
paniment of joyous shouts of
the citizens of this village.
In a few minutes after the
announcement, the mill closed
and remained closed until 8:00
Thursday morning, July 16th,
when operations were resumed.
Religious services were held at
the Slater Baptist Church with
a capacity congregation. This
service was not scheduled, but
people decided to go to the
House of God to express their
thanks to the Supreme Being
for victory and the cessation of
hostility.
As has been previously an-
nounced, a service was conduct-
ed at Slater Hall on Wednes-
day at 10:00 and was well at-
tended by many citizens of the
village. Appearing on the pro-
gram at Slater Hall were J. A.
White, Plant Manager, Frank
A. Cook, Industrial Relations
Manager, W. Earle Reid, Di-
rector of Educational Recrea-
tion, who presided, the Rev. J.
M. Dean, Pastor of the Slater
Church of God, Rev. Clyde M.
Johnson, Pastor of the Slater
Methodist Church, R. P. Can-
ham and Robert H. Atkinson,
Employment Manager, all of
whom spoke briefly. Various
ladies in the audience rose to
their feet and gave thanks to
Almighty God that the war had
ended in victory for the Allies.
Wednesday afternoon, many
Slaterites repaired to the Ball
Park where a baseball game
was played between boys from
the local Slater - Marietta
Schools and Travelers Rest
High School with Slater-Mari-
etta as the victors.
Regular midweek prayer
services were held in the three
Slater Churches on Wednesday
evening ,and reports reaching
us indicate these services were
well attended.
All places of business were
closed in Slater on Wednesday,
August 15th, but everything re-
sumed business on Thursday
morning with the exception of
the Slater Beauty Shop which
did not open until Friday morn-
ing.
After almost four years of
war, the people of Slater along
with the rest of the world con-
fidently look forward to an era
of peace, and as they turn their
eyes to the future, will en-
deavor to work so that there
will be an everlasting peace.
[column 2]
CHILDREN GET TRIP
FOR SUMMER WORK
On Monday, August 13, the
Slater Community Association
sponsored a tour of Greenville
for the children of intermediate
age who had helped with the
community parties or had par-
ticipated in the programs.
These children gave their serv-
ices to help make the Summer
Program a success.
A bus, provided by the As-
sociation, left Slater at 9:30 A.
M. Upon arrival in Greenville,
the group was taken to the
Coca-Cola plant. Mr. Jackson,
the superintendent, gave a
short explanation of how the
plant is operated, before con-
ducting the group through the
plant. Pamphlets describing
the plant and rulers were given
as souvenirs to each one.
The group was then taken to
the Woodside Building and
rode the elevator to the roof
for a view of the surrounding
countryside.
(Con't. on page 3, col. 1)
----------------------------------------
Program Reveals
Good Job Finished
During the summer, the Sla-
ter Community Association has
offered numbers of activities
for the children, young people
and adults of the community,
and on Thursday night, August
9th at 8:00 P. M., a public pro-
gram of entertainment was pre-
sented in Slater Hall by which
the adults were given an in-
sight into what their children
had been doing.
The following is a copy of
the program, and, also, names
of the children who participated:
PROGRAM
Slater Hall, August 9, 1945
Thursday, 8:00 P. M.
Welcome: Bobby Johnson
Reading: Judy Cox — "Tom-
boy"
Songs: "Let the Feet Go Tramp,
Tram, Tramp," "Twinkle,
Twinkle Little Star"
By: Judy Cox, Peggy and
Betty Scarce, Frances and
Barbara Hester, Mary Ann
and Patsy Tilley and Doris
Abernathy.
Reading: Molly White — "My
Dolly's Dress"
Songs: "Close as Pages in a
Book," "That's An Irish Lul-
laby," "You Belong to My
Heart"
By Patricia Summey, Mild-
red Connor, Josephine
Knight, and Lila Jean Clark.
Solo: Patricia Summey — "The
Boy Next Door"
Play: "Wildca Willie's Lucky
Number," Jessie White,
Josephine Knight, Patricia
Summey, Junior McMakin,
Con't on page 3, col. 2)
[column 3]
Local Residents
Return to Homes
From School Stay
Mrs. Virginia Duncan of
Marietta and Mrs. J. M. Dean,
Miss Faye Dean, Miss Ruby
Turner, Mrs. Joyce Turner and
Miss Mary Ann Turner of Sla-
ter have returned to their
homes after attending the
South Carolina Opportunity
School which was held at Co-
lumbia College this year from
July 8th through August 4th.
The theme of the school this
year was "Building a Better
South Carolina." Intensive
study was devoted to this sub-
ject. In addition to studying
about a better South Carolina,
students attending the school
were given the opportunity of
hearing prominent South Caro-
linians in various walks of life
to speak to them about their
work.
In this way, it is felt, that the
students who attended can de-
vote their lives in helping build
a better South Carolina by be-
ing better citizens in their re-
spective communities and by
taking part in all worthwhile
activities. Included in this, of
course, is a proper atmosphere,
and each student was taught
that Christ should be the center
of their lives.
The activities of the Oppor-
tunity School were climaxed by
the commencement exercises
held on the night of August
3rd in the Columbia College
Auditorium, at which time, an
interesting and original play
entitled, "South Carolina,
Yesterday, Today, and Tomor-
row," was presented by the stu-
dents. This play stressed such
things as good health, parks,
and gardens, home ownership,
South Carolina literature, mak-
ing a living in South Carolina,
job applications and great
South Carolinians, both white
and negro.
Attending the commencement
exercises, upon the invitation
of the ladies from our com-
(Con't. on page 2, col. 3)
-------------------------------------------
School Date Opening
Announced by Barnett
The Slater-Marietta School
will begin its 1945-46 session on
September 4 at 9:00 o'clock, ac-
cording to an announcement by
Superintendent J. H. Barnett.
The first and second grade
children will report to the
schoolhouse, along with the
other puils, on the opening
day.
Superintendent Barnett has
not announced the names of the
teachers for the coming session
as yet, but will no doubt do so
shortly.
The faculty will meet Sep-
tember 3 at 5:00 P. M. at the
schoolhouse to make final plans
for the year's work.
Enrollment will probably be
about the same as last year.
[column 4]
DEPARTMENT AWAITS
CONTEST RESULTS
Second shift employees of
the Preparation Department
are very enthused over their
Absentee Contest. The contest
started seven months ago, and
to date there are still two em-
ployees who haven't missed a
day from work since the con-
test began.
This is the way it works: The
name of each employee was
written on the bulletin board.
When an employee was absent
from work for any reason his
name was scratched from the
list. The two names remaining
on the list a present are Iva-
dell Hill and David Tolley, one
of whom will be the final prize
winner for excellent attend-
ance. All employees are very
proud of Mrs. Hill and Mr.
Tolley because of the interest
they have shown by being
present for work every day.
Employees are wondering if
the present contest will ever
end, as they say that the two
persons, whose names remain
on the board, will not miss
work unless someone ties them
up. At the close of this contest,
the second shifters plan to
start another.
Rites Conducted
At Slater Church
Commencement exercises for
Daily Vacation Bible School
were held at Slater Baptist
Church on the hour of regular
evening worship.
The children marched into
the auditorium in the manner
in which they were accustomed
to marching in for regular
daily activities. Two columns
of children were headed by
flag bearers, who carried the
Christian and the National
Flags.
Salutes were given to both
flags and to the Bible, and all
of the children responded very
heartily to these salutes.
The Beginner and Primary
children then marched up on
the rostrum and sang a couple
of songs they had learned dur-
ing the week. Perhaps nothing
in all the world is so heart
warming as a group of very
small children singing together,
and these sang exceptionally
well.
The Junior and Intermediate
group rendered the anthem
"Praise Ye The Lord," and
everyone who didn't hear that
song really missed a treat. They
sang with all of the enthusiasm
of youth plus a harmony that
blended well into an inspiring
song.
Cerftificates were awarded to
85 boys and girls for attend-
ance and satisfactory work.
The handicraft projects done
by the children were on display
in the Sunday School rooms of
the church.
[column 5]
Radio Recordings
Are Received Here
Recordings of a radio pro-
gram, which the Columbia
Broadcasting System presented
on January 29, 1945, have been
sent to our Industrial Rela-
tions Manager, Frank A. Cook,
by Commander H. N. Slater.
This program, "Science Fron-
tiers," was presented on
America's School of the Air,
and is called "Made to Order."
These records are of special in-
terest to the people of Slater, since
they tell something of the his-
tory and development of the
Slater Mills.
Recently our director of edu-
cational recreation played
these records in the library for
a group of plant overseers.
The recordings begin with a
letter written from London by
Samuel Slater to his mother in
1789, telling of his plans to
leave England and come to
America. In his letter he ex-
plains that the Arkwright tex-
tile plans are secret and that he
will not be allowed to take any
plans, patterns, or drawings
with him. Because of this pro-
hibitive fact, he memorized
every detail of the manufactur-
ing plans as he had learned
them in England.
The broadcast continued by
saying that America was young
in Samuel Slater's day, and
that it did not know its own
possibilities so far as natural
resources, etc., were concerned.
On the contrary, the textile
system of the old world was
well established.
A short while after his arri-
val in New York, Samuel Sla-
ter aligned himself with Moses
Brown, and began to draw on
his knowledge of the Ark-
wright plans which he had so
thoroughly memorized. Al-
though his principles were cor-
rect from the beginning, a little
time was required to iron out
the wrinkles. The American
textile industry was spurred on
by Eli Whitney's cotton gin,
and the three basic materials,
cotton, wool, and silk, were
soon turned into beautiful fab-
rics.
The recordings also tell
something of the beginnings of
rayon and nylon. In giving the
roll call of "textiles of tomor-
row," nylon, rayon, plastics,
and glass are each given a
prominent place.
The broadcast closed with
the very striking statement
that the "Chemists of today are
weaving the world of tomor-
row."
Our recreational director
plans to play these records for
the public sometime in the near
future. At this time, motion
pictures portraying various
Slater activities will be shown
as part of the evening's enter-
tainment. Further announce-
ment regarding the time for
this program of recordings and
films will be made soon.
EN