Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1917-02-28
LETTER FROM AKRON, OHIO
DECORAHIAN WRITES ABOUT
BUSINESS CONDITIONS IN
EAST.
Scarcity of Food is Serious Prob
lem. Prices Very High.
Akron, Ohio,

AKRON, Onlo,
Feb. 25, 1917.
Dear Editor am leaving Akron
today, after the most interesting
two weeks l ever put in. Most of my
time was spent at the Goodyear fac
tory learning the construction of au-
tomobile tires and the rebuilding
and vulcanizing of worn or cut tires.
The labor employed in this i'm
mense factory is we'll paid and all
buildings very we'll lighted. Every
precaution possible has been taken
to protect the men from accidents,
but at that l can't just see what
would attract man to a factory
job. The plant is run in three
shifts of eight hours each, so produc-
tion goes on all day and all night
Between eighteen and twenty thous-
and people are employed and l was
told an average of five hundred quit
every day, and of course that many
have to be hired to take their places.
Some departments are paid each
day so that every day is pay day"
l supposed knew something
about tires after handling so many
of them, especially the past year,
but have learned so much, more in
the past two weeks here that what
/ knew of their construction, the
proper treatment of breaks, cuts,
blowouts, etc., does not look like
very much to me now. This school
that Goodyear conducts during the
winter fer the benefit of Goodyear
Service Stations only, is solely for
teaching the factory methods of do
ing tire repair work, tube vulcaniz-
ing and scientific tire inspection. A
bad blowout, when properly built up
and vulcanized, will outlast the bal
ance of the tire, but l have learned
that this when properly built UP
and vulcaniZed" means more than
one would ever imagine. / am very
enthusiastic over this work and
could write much longer on the sub
ject but there is chance that you
are not nearly as much interested
as l am
On reading these eastern papers I
always think how glad / am that l
live in a. part of the country that pro-
duces a great share of what these
people eat Our shortage of coal
during part of the winter was moth
ing compared to the scarcity of food
here in the east Some grocers are
selling potatoes by the dozen and
others do not handle them at all any
more; sugar is sold ten pounds to a
person, and with -four almost entire
" out it is pretty hard on the poor,
for the prices are two and three
times what they usually are.
Gasoline has also advanced one
and sl some cases two cents gal
lon. but I do not think we are going
to have, high priced gasoline all the
year. in fact firmly believe that be-
fore the season is over gasoline will
be comparatively cheap
have bought an immense amount
of automobile accessories both at
the automobile show in Chicago and
here. Am so sure there is going to
be a shortage early in the summer
of all auto supplies. especially metal
goods, that | have bought practical
ly our whole seasons wants for de-
livery early in the year. Needless to
saw, / am looking forward to, and
getting ready for, the greatest sea-
sons business we have ever had. The
fact that we have already grown to
such an extent that ii was necessary.
to lease another building to store
our surplus stock in is very crafty
ing.
Expect to be back home within a
few days. l have enjoyed the past
few weeks immensely, but not near
ly as much as I will the getting
back to DEBORAH. the biggest little
town in the whole world.
Very truly yours,
HARRY b. MONTGOMERY.