Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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ATMI Coi (Reprinted with permission from America's Textiles.) During the past year the Communications Committee of the American Textile Manufacturers Institute has focused on what committee chairman Robert M. Vance calls "a two-pronged attack"?an attack on import pruuiems ana me image ot me textile and apparel Industry In the eyes df a broad national audience. "Textile imports reached record levels last year," Vance, who is also chairman of Clinton Mills, told "America's Textiles." "We could see that beginning to happen, so we decided to draw that to the attention of the government right away. We also had to make sure that our own member companies understood the seriousness of the problem." Alerting government figures about the problem was one side of the attack. The other was to join together with the American Fiber Textile and Apparel Coalition, AFTAC, in devising a "Buy American" program that would appeal to the basic patriotism of the American consumer. This resulted in the "Crafted with Pride in the U.S.A." logo put on hang tags of American-made garments and textile products. "This became a very important part of our program to fight im?? v i 1 - (juris, vance explained. Members of the government do not always realize the enormous importance of the textile industry, Vance added. "There are more than two million people involved here; that's a lot of people dependent on the health of this industry. And they do well in it, as long as they can work." Vance's committee, working through the mills, also wanted to communicate with the workers themselves as to the importance of buying American products. "You see, our industry is active in almost all the states; employees themselves don't realize how broadly representative they are in the work force." m 1 Ser I Annive 5 Years Audrey Bolick No. 1 Maxine Blackwell No. 2 Carrie Williams Lydia Jimmy Brock Bailey John Anderson Bailey Larry Glover Geneva Johnny F. Lee Geneva Shirley Lolley Geneva James A. Wiggins Geneva John Terry Geneva Donald Warren Geneva Jerry Meadows Geneva 10 Years John A. Smith No. 2 LoisHeaton No. 2 Marian Coleman No. 2 Delois Johnson No. 2 Coley Lindsay Lydia Eddie Lindsay Lydia Lula Suber Lydia i nmittee V Robert M. Vance Vance has carried the message across the country, and has now seen other industries picking up the idea. "I've noticed, for example, in television ads for electric razors that they say: 'Made in America.' They obviously like the idea. And why not? We have found that the average American wants to buy domestically made goods, but many times can't find them." To see positive results from this program iajiII Hl/n (imn ~ 11 il. fin icjrvc mile, valine SOIU. I1UI Oil Ul lilt; companies have adopted the program yet, so Vance's committee feels it's the role of his group to get the message spread across the industry as to how useful the program can be. "It's up to us to get across to these companies the value of the program and the value of their informing the communities the importance of their industry." Vance said it doesn't make any difference whether it's a small town or New York or Dallas, wherever the textile and apparel industry is involved. "We have had more vice f; irsaries I mmmmmmS Ara Watson Lydia 15 Years Mary W. Ray Office Mack Parsons Office Joyce McWaters No. 2 Moses Dillard Lvdia Bertha Dillard Bailey Emily Vanpatten Bailey Allie Holbert Bailey 25 Years Barbara Young Office 30 Years Fred Cunningham Lydia 40 Years Perry Parrish No. 1 Vork media coverage than ever before, so we are obviously getting our message across to the media better than ever." That does not mean that Vance's committee does not have a battle with some areas of the media who are definitely anti-textile. "We are constantly trying to fight free traders and people like that who don't understand our problem, how we have enormous investment in the latest plants and equipment to remain competitive and keep people employed." Vance feels that the textile industry and us supporters nave Deen particularly successful in getting President Reagan to stand by his commitment to hold down the growth of imports to the growth of the domestic | industry as a whole. He admits it took a long time to do it?three years?"and if we had not had strong senators like Strom Thurmond, and Congressman Carroll Campbell, we wouldn't have been able to do it." Communicating with government and consumers is two ways of appoaching the problem of imports, but Vance's committee is also concerned with the attitudes of retailers. "We are doing our best to work with the retailers," Vance said, "but that is a different ball game entirely. We are putting out factual information about this that they are receiving too." Here the stress is on trying to gci me rcidiier 10 realize mar ir ne continues to increase his textile and apparel imports, he may be losing his customers who will be out of jobs and won't be able to afford even his cheap imports. After all, these two million textile workers constitute a large market with tremendous buying power. "The main thing is to convince them that there are a lot of things they could buy just as cheaply in this country," Vance said. "We speak at their meetings and we invite them to speak at ours to tell their side of the story." The Communications Committee is going to keep concentrating on these programs and the various approaches through ATM I and AFTAC and other related organizations. The textile industry knows that the Reagan Administration is basically against restrictions of trade. "But with regard to textiles, I think they realize that we are a special situation, because they see the number of joDS involved and how it's related to other industries." ' Vance has no illusions about the forces at play in an election year. "We'll have to continue to monitor the situation, whether it's a Republican or a Democratic administration. We'll have to stay on top of it." In summary, Vance said his committee's role in communication was "vital." "The ATMI is vital; none of this could have been accomplished in a vacuum. Senator Thurmond. a Republican, said he was very proud of what had been accomplished But even so. he said he wants to make sure this administration's commitment is fulfilled in order to insure a strong and vital textile industry and to protect the jobs of thousands of peo pie employed in tne textile and apparel sectors. That is pretty strong coming from one of the most important Republicans in the government, other than the President." fvA :l faster Sunday April 22, [ L" i 1984 page 9 ifl ft J K\k / *M James Edward King, Jr., is the three months old son of James and Melinda King, both Plant No. 2 employees. His grandparents are Ray and Sally Gossett, both Clinton No. 2 employees. Deadline Is Drawing Near To File For m.s. saiiey Scholarships Only a few more days remain for the Mercer Silas Bailey Scholarship hopefuls to sub mit their application for the three scholarships that are awarded annually to eligible applicants. The deadline for the 1984 applications is April 16. Each of the scholarships is worth a miwimum <t O r\r\r\ Ul- A- " iioaiiiiuiiiui 4>o,\j\j\j, pdyauie 10 me conege or university of the recipient's choice with the approval of the foundation. To be eligible, applicants must be graduating high school seniors with plans to enter college in the fall. They must have a parent employed by Clinton Mills, Inc. or M S. Bailey and Son, Bankers The employee parent must have two years continuous service. The Foundation also awards a number of interest-free college education loans valued at a maximum of $7,000 each. Since 1956, the Foundation has awarded scholarships and loans to numerous recipients who have become lawyers, teachers, business and professional leaders. Application forms are available from Mack Parsons in the Clinton Mills Main Office or Geneva Personnel Director Bob Dettmar.