The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

TUESDAY, APRIL 27, 1948 THE DAILY TIMES-GAZETTE PAGE NINk former G.M. igrant To U.S. ose In Industry rom Lowly Jobs "Detroit, April 27 (AP)--William S. Knudsen, 69, former resident of General Motors morning at his home here. Corporation, died early this ! The industrialist had been in poor health for more than # a year. His nhysician, Dr. Charles E. Lemmon, did not give a specific cause of death immedi-® ately. | Son of a Copenhagen customs | inspector, Knudsen came to the United States in 1899 and began work in a shipyard and as a shop- hand on the Erie Raliroad. ; Within 10 years he was assist- ant manager of a Buffalo concern which later merged with the Ford Motor Company. After work with Ford and Ireland and Matthews, | a Detroit manufacturing company, | he joined General Motors in 1922. | He became vice-president of the | firm in 1933 and four years later took over the presidency of the continent's largest manufacturer of automobiles. Aided Gevernment In June, 1940, Knudsen took a leave of absence to become a member of the National Defence Advisory Commission, serving | without pay, Three months later | he resigned to devote his energies |, to the huge defensive rearmament program initiated by President Roosevelt. William 8. ("Big Bill") Knudsen was a master producer in peace and war. Associates in the automo- bile industry acclaimed him as "the greatest production genius of mod- ern times" and associates in World War II credited his ability- to get things done with saving "countless American lives." . Some 30 years after he came to the United States in the steerage, the former Copenhagen bicycle as- sembler as knighted by the King of his native Denmark. During the intervening years he had worked as a shipyard laborer, railroad shop hand, $1.75-a-day bi- cycle mechanic, assistant manager of a Buffalo, N.Y. concern that made automobile parts, production manager of the Ford Motor Comp- any, president and general manager of Chevrolet and president of Gen- eral Motors Corporation. It was Knudsen who gave the motorcar industry its first 1,000,000 jfcar year and who later welded it in- to a tremendous fighting machine during the global struggle. InSeptember of 1940 he resigned the /General - Motors presidency, carrfing with it a salary that ran intokix figures, to devote his entire energies to the United States' re- armament program as a dollar.a- year nan. When thi¥ country enter- ed tle war he went directly from civiliin life to the rank of lieuten- ant general in the Army, the first person ever}to make such a long step, and adapted American indus- try to the yar effort. Henored for Accomplishments This was }is explanation for giv- ing up the presidency of the big- gest industjal corporation in the world to sgve his country: "This cowtry . . ., it has been pretty goodjo me ... I felt that if I could do mething, I'd like to do it." . .4ie plan we ' re plap production trouble "As the n was awarded the shooter, K Service eval for | ish@plishments" and an | Distingu i. for it, The gover- proclaimed "Knud. nied him its Distin- sMedal. Secretary of Patterson described . the foremost lead- n in this war" and ed: sight and ability he y pesaved this country mil- raujlars, but by expediting suuctionfof critical weapons he has saved puntless American lives." | Pattersol and General of the Ar- | Georg C. Marshall, chief of ff, said that Knudsen was the aster amorer who brought ord- er out of thaos -- a great producer and a grat war leader." He 4ave Credit to Others In thaiking him for his services fo the ation, President Harry 8S. Truma : . SIN ..i0zational genius in J 'Your om peacetime indus- transferringvar machine is one dry to s va Stories of the war « the grea the thanks not on- d has rican, but also the of every Allies who have de- shanks of #erican supplies and on pended ar'ot 2 inch, 235-pound -, But theclaimed all this. He Knudsen€at praise belongs first " said: "7@ Who have given their WILLIAM 8S. KNUDSEN lives to keep this country free; sec- ond, to our Army which took the tools we gave it and went out and brought home the bacon, and, third, to American industry for the man- ner in which it accepted and co-op- erated to meet the national emer- gency and the tremendous job it did." , In his war job, Knudsen travelled up and down the land for more than four years in his work of stimulating production. He travel- led more than 220,000 miles by air to visit 1,200 factories, solving the problems of new plants, manpower, materials, machine tools and vari- ous others, He also made a tour of South Pacific war fronts. Timekeeper Shortened Name After the war he returned to General Motors briefly in an ad- visory capacity and then became chairman of the Hupp Corpora' an a onetime automobile company that converted to the production automobile parts and equipment. Knudsen was not one of the automobile industry's pioneers, but he contributed as much to its de- velopment as did any other indivi- dual. Born in Copenhagen, Denmark, on March 25, 1879, he was one of 10 children of a customs inspector. He was christened Signius Wilhelm Poul Knudsen, becoming "Bill" Knudsen when the timekeeper in a Buffalo mill insisted on shortening the name. Thereafter he signed himself formally "William S.," but mostly it was just "Knudsen." He was with the Ford Motor Company from 1913 to 1921, during a period of its greatest expansion. After he had led Ford to a million- cars-a-year achievement he moved to Chevrolet and did the same thing there. Knudsen's break with Ford came over questions of policy and pro- | cedures. He once said he found many of his orders were being countermanded and upon investi- gation learned that Henry Ford himself was responsible. They Remained Friendly Although Knudsen remained on cordial terms with the elder Ford after he had put Chevrolet on a high volume production basis, he was reported to have declined an | invitation to see Ford in the midst of the Ford-Chevrolet production battle. It was rumored, but never confirmed, that Ford wanted the big Danish production genius back in his organization. His success in settling the pro- longed sitdown strike in General Motors in 1936-37 took him into the presidency of that corporation. Knudsen was executive vice-presi- dent of General Motors when the strike began. Some of those who participated in the conferences that led to its termination declared afterward that he was "the most human in his attitude." He himself declared he made concessions to end the strike be- cause "too many men wefe walk ing the streets out of work." Knudsen's formal education was obtained in Copenhagen schools and the = Government Technical School, where he became profi- cient in mathematics. He arrived in the United States in 1899 at the age of 20 and was standing hesit- antly at the top of the gangplank of a ship at Hoboken, N.J.,, taking in a view that awed him when a to thos: ra C.C.F. PUBLIC MEETING 8:00 P.M. TONIGHT Tuesday, April 27th SPEAKERS ARTHUR WILLIAMS C.C.F. ALISTAIR WI FEDERAL CANDIDATE STEWART M.P. NNIPEG NORTH EVERYONE WELCOME Meeting Sponsored by Trade Union CCF €lub of | Corporation President W. S. Knudsen Dies man directing passengers ashore yelled: Made Rapid Rise "Hurry up, you i" "I've been hurrying up since," said Knudsen in years. One of his first jobs was as a riveter for the Gas Engine and ower Co., of New York. There ere other jobs, with the Erie Railroad as a shop hand and with a Buffalo bicycle manufacturing company. Eventually the knack for produc- tion and the elimination of waste made him assistant general mana- ger of the John R. Keim Mills, Inc., in Buffalo. The Buffalo concern had con- tracts for the production of parts for the Ford Motor Company. In 1912 Ford took over the Keim Mills and in the following year Knudsen joined Ford. With Ford he revamped many production processes and supervised the construction of branch plants in Bordeaux, Copenhagen, and Cad- iz. During World War I he also had charge of rord boat-building activi- ties. ever later Became U. S. Citizen "I was given a great opportunity" was his explanation for having ac- complished so much. Leaving Ford in 1921, he became head of a Detroit metal processing company for a short period and in 1922 joingd General Motors. With the latter corporation he devoted most of - his time to developing Chevrolet into a competitor of Ford. Then in 1937 he became president of General Motors. Knudsen was married in Buffalo in 1911 to Miss: Clara Elizabeth Euler. They had one son and three daughters. - When he established the $250,000 Clara Elizabeth Fund in Flint, Mich., in 1937, to improve health conditions for mothers and babies, he said, in his heavily ac- cented voice: "Saving lives of babies and mothers appeals to me as a cause with which I can do honor to my wife." ship papers in 1914. Two Junior Boy's Clubs Organized At Brooklin Two Junior Boy's Clubs com- posed of boys from the Oshawa district were formed at a meeting held recently in the Township Hall, Brooklin. The two clubs are the Oshawa Kiwanis Grain Club and the Oshawa Dairy Calf Club. The Oshawa Kiwanis Grain Club is a new feature this year {and is being sponsored by the Oshawa Kiwanis Club. Each of the | boys in the club received, free of charge, two and one half bushels | of Certified seed, of the new Bea- | con Oats, from the Oshawa Ki- wanis Club. The boys must sow the seed, keep records of growth and cost of production, attend meetings and during the summer and | exhibit one peck of grain at Osh- awa Fair next fall. A team com- prising two boys will be picked to represent the club at the Provin- cial Judging = Competitions, at Guelph, in the fall. John Batty, Brooklin, is the Club leader this year. The officers of the club are: President, John Thom- son," Brooklin; Vice-President, Ev- erson Norton, R. 1, Locust Hill; Secretary, Lawrence Mountjoy, R. 2; Oshawa. The members of the club are: Douglas Jackson, R. 1, Brooklin; Clarence Beelby, c/o R. K. Hodg- son, - Claremont; Bill Cook, Green River; Harry Holmes, R. 2, Picker- ing; Gerald Teefy, R. 2, Picker- ing; Lawrence Mountjoy, R. 2, Oshawa, Douglas Love, R. 2, Osh- awa; John Thomson, Brooklin, R. 1; Everson Norton, R. 1, Locust Hill Hans Kahn, Myrtle; Alfred Jackson, R. 1; Brooklin; James J. Smart, c/o V. Teefy, R. 1, Picker- ing; Grant Pascoe, Taunton, R. 2; Edward Teefy, R. 2, Pickering; He took out American -citizen-, From Sea Victories to Scrap Fast being reduced to scrap metal, three mighty U.S, warships are shown in this airview as they were being stripped at Pt. Newark, N.J. At upver left is the Wyoming; upper right, the Idaho and, lower right, the New Mexico. The Wyoming alone was expected to supply 15,000 tons of scrap and the three ships were expected to yield 57,000 tons. Michael Michael, R. 1, Pickering; Bill Snowden, R. 2, Oshawa; Neil Berndt, ¢/o Earl Shirk, R. 1, Lo- cust Hill; Frank Wannacott, R. 1, Pickering; Doug Coates, R. 1, Brooklin. Dairy Calf Club The Oshawa Dairy Calf Club is sponsored by the South Ontario Agricultural Society. Each boy in the club must care for his calf during the summer, keep feeding records, attend meetings and show his calf at Oshawa' Fair in the fall. Two boys from this club will also represent their club at the Judging Competition, in Guelph. George McLaughlin, R. R. 1, Oshawa, is the Club leader this year. ; The officers of the club are-- President, Glen Glaspell, R.R. 2 Oshawa; Vice-President, Snowden, R.R. 2, Oshawa; Secre- tary, Maurice Jebson, R. R. 1, Oshawa. The members of the club are: Neil Berndt, c/o Earl Shirk, R. 1, Locust Hill; Ronald Werry, R. 1, Oshawa; Gerald Teefy, R. 2, Pickering; Bill Snowden, R. 2, Osh- awa; Maurice Jebson, R. 1, Osha- wa; Peter Carswell, R. 1, Colum~ bus; Michael Michael, R. 1, Pickering; Maurice O'Connor, R. 1, Pickering John Thomson, R. 1, Brooklin; Bobby Holliday, R. 1, Columbus; Edward Teefy, R. 2, Pickering; James J. Smart, c/o Vincent Teefy, R. 2, Pickering; Lawrence Mountjoy, R. 2, Osha- wa; Glen Glaspell, R. 2, Osha- wa; Frank 'Wannacott, R. 1, Pickering; Bobby Farndale, R. 1, Oshawa; Terence O'Connor, R. 1, Pickering. PALESTINE MAIL Ottawa, April 27 -- (CP) -- Dep- 'uty Postmaster General W. J. Turn- bull said yesterday that conditions in Palestine make it impossible to | guarantee the safe conduct of let- 2 Panel Doors 5/8" fir plywood Front Doors Untempered mason 3/4" Wall Paint oard compound ' Insul-bric Asphalt shingles N. OSHAWA Phone 4310 WE NOW HAVE AVAILABLE... Hardwood Flooring ite Lows Grade plywood poplar plywood cupboard door stock Foundation coating and caulking 1/4 & 3/4" cedar plywood Roll roof and building paper PRICE YARDS LIMITED WHITBY Phones 416-419 ( ters addressed to civilians. Mr. | Turnbull said that the registered letter service to civilians in Pales- tine has been suspended: Only service remaining is ordinary mail which is not guaranteed. Tillsonburg. Eleven Sentenced To Death As Spies Belgrade, April 27--(AP)--A mili- tary court at Ljubljana yesterday sentenced 11 persons to death as spies, sabcteurs and war criminals. Four otters were given 15 to 20 years at forced labor. The trial had been in progress for a week. Several of the accused had re- sponsible itions in Premier Tito's governmerlt, The indictment said the defendants organized a vast spy network inside Yugoslavia and even within the ranks of the ruling Communist party. The espionage was reported in favor of an un- named "foreign power." Joint Social At Ajax Legion MRS. A. BATHERSON Correspondent, Ajax, April 25.--A joint social was held at the Legion Hall on Tuesday, April 20 by members of the Cana- dian Legion and Ladies' Auxiliary and their friends. Feature attrac- tion of the evening was the amateur contest. Harry Brock acted as master of ceremonies. Prize win- ners were Mrs, Fred Lombard, Brock Street, a vocal solo; second, Bill Keetch, Nelson Street, solo and guitar; third, Mrs. Ben Severs, Glynn Street, vocal Solo, " Refreshments were served by the Ladies' Auxiliary social committee, Mrs. Rowland convener. The rest o the evening was spent in danc- ng. A meeting of the Women's Aux- iliary of the Catholic Church Ex- tension met on Wednesday, April 21 at the home of Mrs. J. Feather- stone. Five Ajax members were present. Plans were made for the silver tea to be held at Father Kyte's home, Church Street, Picker- ing, on May 16. Mr. and Mrs. John Dyckman and daughter, 38 Cedar Street, have left for Vancouver, B.C. Mrs. Peter Boyle, 36 Cedar Street spent the week-end at Golden Lake, Ontario, Sorry to hear that Mrs. Ward, Tudor Street, is ill at home; also Mrs. Frank Hickling, George Street, is in St. Michael's Hospital, and Jerry Batherson, Cedar Street, is on the sick list. A speedy recovery to all. Mr, and Mrs. William Hannon and family spent last week-end in They were accomp- - Some 16 Teeth An unusual youngster is David Patrick Davidson, son of Mr. and Mrs. K. K, Davidson of Regina, Sask, who at 15 months of age | can show 16 teeth, He was eight | weeks old when he began cutting | his first teeth and it was a month | ago the last of the 16 were added. | It's been two or three months since | Pat stopped eating baby food--now | he concentrates on fruit, vegetaljes, | potatoes and maybe a little bacon. anied by Mrs. Hannon"s sister, Miss Doreen Smith. { Ladies' Auxiliary of the Canadian | Legion held a euchre at the Legion | Hall on Thursday, April 22. Prize | winners were: Ladies, first, Mrs. | Stan English; second, Mrs. B. Han- | non; ow, Mrs. L. Bush. Men's: first, Fred Cruse; second, Ben Sev- | ers; third, Mr, Piper. Refreshments were served by Mrs. B, Hannon ant Mrs. Gordon Whyte. Next euch! is on May 13 at Legion Hall, EARLY DENTISTRY As early as 800 B.C. decaycl [teeth were filled with gold. Choose a 27 Cuil, BULOVA the ultimate in fine watchmaking The newest and the finest Its distinguished styling pays tribute to your good taste . . . its superb accuracy remains a source of pride through the years. At better Jewellers everywhere. / ) id HIS EXCELLENCY "DD" 21 Jewels $5250 Canada's Greatest Watch Value BULOVA World's Largest Manufacturer of Fine Watches 17 G. H. WOOD raised su turing 176 separate items. felt that business success where is that combination country now". \ money in 1923 to buy a tiny Toronto soap plant employing two workers. Since then his energy, industry and consistent emphasis on salesman- ship have built his company into the biggest sanitation products organization in Canada, manufac. Mr. WOOD says: "I've always from a combination of initiative salesmanship and harmony between labour and management; and no- certain of achieving results than right here at home in our own Between flicient ing vessels for comes more this tonnage. > ONE OF A SERIES PRESENTED BY TO PROMOTE - "5 Tobay, Canada's merchant navy ranks fourth in the world--next to those of the United States, Britain and Norway. Our ocean-going tonnage is now four times as _ great as before the war. In 1939 we had only 35 regular ocean-going ships-on our register. Now there are 153. The total of all our ships of over 1600 gross tons (including upper lakers, canal freighters and coastal passenger vessels) is now 386--representing gross registered tons of m over a million and a half erchant shipping! That maritime achievement is typical of the tremendous industrial and commercial developments which have created new and greater opportunities for all Canadians right here at-home in our own coun the wars, Canada built no sea-going ships of any size. Today we have 17 major, fully equipped yards, with over 100,000 tons of ship- ping under construction, includ- European and South American countries. Only ene-eighth of the total cargo entered and cleared at Canadiah ports was being carried by Canadian ships before the war. Last year our-own ships were handling well over half of ACE A FULLER REALIZATION BY CANADIANS OF CANADA'S PRESENT GRE DIANS OF CANADY RESENT GRE try today. BA ------ All Zill Cm------.| ATNESS