The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1921-01-13
SIMMONS DESCRIBES
kEN0SHA'S FUTURE

day. He spoke of the great output of
the Kenosha mills and the mills allied
with it and the part that Kenosha men
had had in the development of an in
dutry which had been crippled when
German-made machines and German
made dyes had been withdrawn with
the coming of war. He told of the
triumph of American industry in the
development of fast dyes and better
dyes and declared that American man
ufacturers would never again be de-
pendent on any foreign country for the
life-blood Of their industry He sound
ed note Of warning on account of
the failure Of American textile COM
panies to meet demands of the new
trade developed in South American
countries and sounded similar note
in connection with competition with
japanese hosiery makers.
Ferris Tells of Beds.
The romance of the bed and the
one-third of the life" was the burden
of the talk by James Ferris, superin-
tendent of Simmons company. He told
of the way the big Kenosha plant was
converting 500 miles of old steel rail
into comfortable beds annually. He
told of the 100000 beds made in Ke-
nosha last year; of a vast development
of the Simmons company in the manu-
facture of mattresses, bringing it to
the place where eight plants were now
making the company the greatest man
ufacturer of mattresses in the nation,
just as the company had made the
greatest number Of beds. He spoke
of new developments Of the industry
and the change from an assembling
plant to a plant where an entire prod
uct was produced. He brought the
spirit Of optimism and declared that
business was steadily growing better
and he declared that he believed that
within thirty days things would be
coming back to near normal conditions.
Wagons and Brass.
Secretary Lund of the Balm Wagon
company told the story of the devel-
opment of the wagon from the prairie
schooner to the easy turning cart built
for the Island of Madagascar.
G. M. Fritch told of the wonderful
developments of the brass industry
and the work of the Kenosha branch
Of the American Brass company. He
spoke of it's products and the demands
for it and declared that "the brass
company has something on nearly ev-
cry person in Kenosha."
Lynn T. Hannahs discussed the man
ufacture of furniture and more init
mately the manufacture Of living room
tables for which the Kenosha plant is
noted. He spoke especially interesting
of the great development of the veneer
as material for furniture.
Ralph Y. Cooper told of the under
wear-the things next to every man
and woman-and pointed out the big
advance that had been made in these
manufacturing interests. He showed
that the Cooper Underwear company
with it's $50 employees in plants in
Kenosha and Manistee annually con-
verified into underwear 100000 pounds
of cotton and wool and 100000 yards
of woven cloth, while 100000 pearl
buttons are necessary to meet the de-
mands.
Romance in Wire Rope.
W. 7. Marlatt, editor and publisher
of the Evening News, spoke on 'The
Making of Newspaper" and the con-
Guiding industrial talk was given by
Jessel s. Whyte, who told Of the MAX
ing of wire rope and who weaved into
the story the romance of the war
which was brought about in the laying
| of the great mine barrage in the North
Seas. Mr.. Whyte told of the necessity
of making wire rope right on account
of the fact that it was used for pur-
poses which meant life and death. He
| gave an interesting description Of the
winding Of the strands into the cable
and told of the many uses to which
this. rope was put. He gave an inter
esting piece of news when he told Of
contract by which the great Mar
shall Field building in Chicago was to
have its elevators equipped with the
new Kenosha product He told of the
part that wire rope had played in max
ing the world safe for democracy and
said that more than 100000 feet Of
wire rope, some of it made in Keno
sha, had been used in the construction
Of the famous North Sea barrage. He
declared that the / enosha factory was
now making aeroplane stream lines
and that this was the first factory in
America to make this rope in keeping
with the British specifications.
Ma AL Dell