Newark evening star and Newark advertiser., 1914-12-30

IN NEV|DENCE At
HARRISON PLANT
Officials of Wire Concern Tell
of Good Fortune to Help
Restore Confidence.

Believing that the restoration OF
conference will do much to effect a
change for the betterment Of condi-
tions in this country, the officers OF
the Driver Harris Company, of Harri-
son, have issued a report showing
their business to be In a fiourishine
condition and with prospects OF an in
crease In the output of the factory.
As q matter of fact, 1t was stated at
the plant today that the company has
enough orders on hand now to keep
the entire working force going until
next March.
The remarkable feature OF the con-
dition at the plant is the fact that
the directors have declared dividend
of seven and one-half per cent. on
their common and one and three
fourths per cent. on their preferred
stock to stockholders of record jan
uary l, 1915.
The common stock dividend deela-
ration is made up of the regular
quarterly dividend of per cent and
az per cent, which was deferred on
September /. This makes com
mon stock dividend of 17h per cent.
besides 7 per cent on the preferred
for the year of 1914
Frank L. Driver, president OF the
concern, said today.
The members OF the concern ara
firm believers in the American spirit
Of enterprise. and have felt from the
BEGINNING of the disastrous war
abroad that ii was sure to bring
about in course OF time immense op-
portunities to the Amer can manu-
facturer, disregarding foreign trade.
They think that this country with It's
population of hundred million peo-
pie can take care of very large per-
centage of the wares manufactured In
the United States. So with foreign
competition, which was taking the
life blood from the American manu-
facturer. due principally to the pres
ent farcical tariff laws, eliminated,
there is no reason why prosperity
should not be ours. All We want is
confidence. We have the advantages
of supply of raw materials, admirable
facilities, competent artisans and me-
chanics and the necessary funds to
work out successful enterprises.
"At the close of the year 1914, we
find business conditions TO be very
good. During the past year our sales
have shown an increase of about fif-
teen per cent over 1918, and the gem
eral character of the business done
has been very similar. We have
erected a new cold rolling mill, and
have been operating 1t for the past
several months. Having increased
our facilities for handling this class
of business, we expect during the
coming year to more than double
our output In cold rolled strip ma
terials and fiattened wire.
Zone branch Of our business Is the
manufacture Of special alloys used In
the making of many different types OF
electrical apparatus throughout the
entire world. Our business on certain
few of these specialtles has been quite
appreciabfy affected in the countries
now at war, but Notwithstanding this
we have by extra effort increased oul
sales in other fields. and the outlook
is very encouraging indeed. We have
been operating these works until
o'clock since November first, and have
kept our full force employed during
the entire past year
I'VE have recently received attrac
tive inquiries from neutral foreign
countries on materials previously
manufactured In Germany, and the
prospect of enlarging our production
In these particular commodities is
very good" The officers OF the com
pany, besides Mr.. Driver. are Airing
ton Bensel, vice president; George j.
Anthem, treasurer; M. c. Harris, score
tary.
The company employs about two
hundred hands. The plant is located
on Middlesex street and Railroad ave-
nue., just west of South Fourth street
Harrison.