Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1950-12-17
By Roder Wineet
Associafed Press Stoff Writer

Assoeiofed Press Sfofr writer
i NEW YORK, Dec. 16.-The mar
named to speed production Of
weapons for total war is a fight
ing graduate of Hell's Kitchen ir
New York.
Also in his 81 years he has beer
a Baptist deacon and Sunday
school teacher, and he enjoys hav-
ing orphans out to a quiet Sunday
dinner.
He is a production genius who
is paid 1928 a week by one OF
the worlds leading corporations
And today he isn't afraid to trade
punches with a man half his age
The man is Charles E. Wilson
president of General Electric Co
Mr.. Wilson, as director of the
new Office of Defense Mobilization
directly under President Truman
will have more power over indus
try than any agency in World
War II.
Charles Edward Wilson, presi-
dent of General Electric, is not to
be confused with Charles Erwin
Wilson, president of General Mo-
tors, nor with Charles Eben Will
son, vice president of Worthington
Pump & Machinery Corp. When
the Electric Wilson moved to the
New York suburbs of Scarsdale,
the Pump Wilson was just moving
away. Electric, Motors and Pump
Wilson all get each others mail at
times.
81 Years With Corporation.
Charles Edward Wilson is well
known in business, in Washington
bureaucracy, and in war.
In business he has a 51-year
record with General Electric. His
first taste of Washington's gov
ernmental intricacies came way
back in the MIRA days of 1888
when he was a deputy recovery
administrator.
In the last war Mr.. Wilson was
executive vice chairman of the
War Production Board. 1924.
He got undisputed authority to
do his job, and by his own defini-
ton he refused to be pushed
around by anyone.
His resignation from the WPB
in August of 1914 climaxed a
celebrated dispute with Donald
M. Nelson, chairman of the board.
Mr.. Wilson was born on the
West Side of New York in a house
which was torn down when the
Pennsylvania Railroad station was
built. His father, badly hurt in
the milling of crowds celebrating
the opening of Brooklyn Bridge,
died when he was three.
His father had been described
as an easy-going Irish book binder.
His mother was everything to the
boy. She raised him by working
as a practical nurse, and lived to
be 80.
Began as Messenger.
Charlie Wilson went to work for
the Sprague Electric Works at SO
week as Office boy and messen-
ger. Sprague was absorbed by
General Electric.
Mr.. Wilson today is paid
$275,000 a year in salary and
bonus. (The Government gets
most Of it in income taxes)
There Is one famous incident
to prove it. At a press conference
two years ago Mr.. Wilson was
explaining the company's record
earnings Of that year. One
writer. a young fellow, pressed
him closely about the high earn
ings. The questioning persisted
Mr.. Wilson's answers got shorter
and sharper in defense of GEES
right to profits earned with high
sales volume.
1t Ends in Smiles.
Suddenly Mr.. Wilson squared
away. Half a dozen men blocked
the proceeding. It ended in smiles
and handshakes, but not before
one wag asked whether General
Electric has a vice president-in-
charge of blocking punches.
But never get the idea that
Charlie Wilson is a brawler or
goes around picking fights.
AS one of his friends said: "Wil-
son has the CUTS to speak out
whom the time comes And he