The Democratic banner. (Mt. Vernon, Ohio) 1898-192?, 1916-12-19
DELEGATION MEETS
ROYAL TREATMENT
Marvels Of Stupendous Fac
tory Interestingly
Described
(By ]. H. Jenkins.l

We left Mt. Vernon Dec. over the
@. A. G. G. at 1908 p. m. for Colum.
bus, arriving there about 2 2.to'clock
Went to the Overland salesroom at
corner of Gay and Fourth streets,
that is, headquarters of the Columbus
branch. We were the first arrivals,
but the number soon rolled UP to al
most 300. At o'clock, each one re-
ceived cane with an Overland pen.
nant attached; also a snow-white felt
hat with blue band around it with
the words, Columbus Branch" on the
front in gold-colored letters; also
Pullman tickets to Toledo and return.
AT p. M, we marched two abreast
to the Elks' Home on East Broad
street, where a bomtiful fye.course
dinner was served at the expense of
the Willys-Overland Co.
At 3 a. m. Friday we left for To
! ledo, arriving at the Overland yards
at s a. M, six delegations arriving
that morning. The movie man caught
each delegation as they marched 20
the administration building. Also u
picture of each delegation was taken
on the long steps in front of the ad-
ministration building. Each film was
finished and run off the same evening
at the large auditorium in the admin
istration building.
At $3.50 a. m, we had breakfast in
the dining hall which seats 600. Must
tell you something of this building.
It is SO feet wide. 373 feet long and
7 stories high The basement, or low
er story, is built of smooth white
stone. The other six are of beautiful
light-colored pressed brick. 1t has
floor space of 1865 900 square feet.
6SS windows occupying so per cent
of the entire wall space. 1t has four
passenger elevators and one large
freight elevator
This is one of the worlds largest
industrial office buildings. 1t provides
ideal work and welfare conditions for
1000 office employees, of which $50
are girls. 1t has a fine reception
room for the girls, large public re-
ception room, and an auditorium that
seats 500 people. The building is
nearly all finished in quarter-sawed
oak. John N. WHY'S office is finished
i'll black walnut.
From here, we went to the second
floor Of the new 300-car garage, where
the 1917 Overland and Willys Knight
cars were lined up On the first floor,
they were going out for demonstra-
tions, with most any car you might
choose. From here we started on
the trip through the factory in squads
of about 20, headed by guide, who
is factory expert. He is willing to
answer questions at all times an
also stopped at places of most inter
est and made explanations.
We were two hours, walking at u
good clip, making the trip through
but say, we didn't go all through the
factory, for II would take three
weeks, walking ten hours day, to go
J through every department. 1t is the
largest individual automobile factory
/ in the world. The present factory
space is 4,456,6S0 square feet, equal
to 1903 acres or 36 average city blocks,
25Ox5OO feet Taking in the yards, 1t
occupies 121 acres.
Number of employees is $4,000
Seven and three-luarters miles OF
railroad tracks in the factory yards
largest drop forging department in
the automobile industry; SO steam
hammers; $4,000 tons of steel forged
annually; total steel used more thar
$4,000 tons per year; giant press
largest yet built, 1000 tons pressure
presses 1000 chassis rails each day
from cold STEEL largest users o.
aluminium in the world, more thar
100000 lbs. used annually; more
than 100000 pounds of tin and leat
used for soldering each year; ten mil
lion pounds OF brass and copper used
annually; 100000 feet of steel tube
ing used in the annual output; fac
tory capacity 1000 cars per day.
Here recreatiohal and athletic &c
tivities among the army OF employee