The Daily Worker Newspaper, October 8, 1926, Page 4

Page Yor: => ei —_—_—_—_—_—_—_—_—_—— THE DAILY WOR _ RUBBER BARONS RUN CLOSE RACE WITH FORD IN EXPLOITING MEN TO SUPPLY TIRES FOR FLIVVERS By THURBER LEWIS. sa PEATE LOND ENP ear “Industrial Assembly” ° mediately fired when his success in IEN Henry Ford dramatically other independent producer, Ford is one of the few big survivors in the By |. AMTER. ' A aed Mi a ehh made the annotincement that his | V@r between the industrialist and the HE situation in the rubber tire industry of Akron is beginning to develop.| raepar| thousand employes |nancier. Ho is still free to take ex- Both the rubber manufacturers and the rubber workers realize that the | Would work five Instead of five and a|Perimental steps that but few other situation is getting more intense day by day. half days @ week, thousands of |!arge producers could afford or would Perhaps the best evidence of this {s the fact that a member of the r workers’ organization who ran for election as member of the Good- was im-4+—— the primaries was announced. Why did Goodyear resort to this act of ter- rorism in this “parliament of the workers?” The reason is that Good- year realizes that the workers know what is going on in the industry and are beginning to sense the need of organization in erder to put an end to the effrontery of the bosses. 43,000 Workers In Akron, ‘AT is the situation in Akron? There are 43,000 workers in the rubber tire industry of Akron, rep- resenting the vast majority of the rubber workers of Ohio—the biggest rubber state in the country—and pro- ducing 52 per cent of the rubber tires of the country. More than half— 30,000—of these workers afte employed | in two plants—the Goodyear Rubber and Tire company and the Goodrich Rubber and Tire company, the re- mainder being in the Seiberling, Firestone, Mohawk, General, etc. These rubber workers are among the worst exploited that is, the point of view of production and remuneration. In 1923 the average pay of the workers was $1,586. From 1923 on, the profits of the rubber bar- ons increased, until in 1925 they earn- ed the highest profits in the history of the rubber industry. At the same time, the production increased from $391,000,000 to $556,000,000 or 42 per cent while the wages declined from $1,584 to $1,519 or a decrease of 4.1 per cent. The Workers Know. HE workers in the shops know what the exploitation is. Thus, in one department, they used to employ a mold turning out one tire, the hand- ling of the tire requiring three work- ers. Now they employ six molds turn- ing out six tires, and only four men are required. Speed-up is the curse of the rubber industry. The foreman and supervis- ors stand behind the men, driving them on. But there is something more coercive than the foreman’s warnings: the fact that if the work- ers do not work at maximum speed, they will not earn enuf to live on. “Base” Rate Scale Used. EH work is based on the base rate —a scale established arbitrarily. scale, but the amount changes from} day to day. Thus by speeding up the workers, and demanding an ever greatey production, the base rate will remain the same, but the worker is _ exploited to an ever higher degree The experiment is tried out on one worker, and when it is discovered that he can produce a larger quan- tity than hitherto, all the workers are compelled to equal that production. Scale Also Reduced. HERE are instances, however, in which the base rate itself is low- ered. Thus @ year ago a worker re- ceived $1 for an operation, three months ago it was reduced to 82 cents, and now amounts only to 66 cents.. Production has increased, for the rubber barons use this stimulus, in “addition to the one mentioned above, to force the men to work -harder in order to earn the money that they did before. kong rubber industry is working at fast pace, owing to the fact that the spring season was slow and now Doing Their Bit to Save Daily Worker (Special to The Dally Worker) BOSTON, Oct. 6.—The following appeal was issued to the Lettish Party faction in Boston: Responding to the present emerg- ency of Tha DAILY WORKER, the comrades of the Boston Lettish Fract- fon are rushing their bit of support. Encloset please find a check for $100 a6 a contribution from the Lettish comrades of Boston. We pledge our- _ Selves to work hard during the com- “ing days and to raise more funds for oar DAILY WORKDR, for this is the yery first and foremost duty of every ,cComrade at the present time — TO |} SAVE THE DAILY WORKER AND | KEEP THE DAILY WORKER ALIVE tor the revolutionary movement. All | together, comrades: ~- All for the Pie & WORKER. The Lettish com- ,}rades of Boston will do their share to the best of their ability. pat’ MELE. THE BRITISH MINERS’ CHILDEN! in the country, | regarding exploitation from | the demand must be met. In spite of the fact that local men are being discharged, more men are being put on, ers—men who know little about or- ganization, and who will “appreciate’” the “fine” conditions in the Akron rubber industry, These men are am- enable to the foremen and bosses in the shops for a while, but then they too begin to understand the cutting system undef which they are work- ing. These men are fighters—ifidividual- ists, who have been compelled to rely on their own resources, and when they find that the “Eldorado” that they expected is only a plain field of battle, on which the workers at the present time are getting worsted, they turn to the same methods that the northerners are using. We are the workers ‘doing to counteract the effect of the situa- tion? The workers are organizi and the Rubber Workers Union of America is the goal they have set themselves, A large number of work- ers have already found their way in- the bosses, and the other intimidating methods that they employ, Thus, for instance, the men on one shift are sometimes told that there pany takes on more men on another shift. The reports of the rubber com- pany officials indicate at times that conditions are not what they should be. The purpose is clear: to create a spirit of insecurity in the minds of the workers, so that they will accept any conditions.in order to hold onto their jobs. Men Are Militant. He eos reports, however, have no effect on the workers. Many of. them are disgusted, and do not hesi- tate to express their disgust. A sharp spirit of discontent gave rise to the union, and now the union is giving organized expression to it in the form of a weekly paper called “The Rub- ber Worker.” This paper has created a sensation among the workers, and according to reports, even the rubber manufacturers recognize thatethe rub- ber workers are on the right path. The “Rubber Worker” has formu- Formulate Demands, HESE demands are $40 a week minimum wage, equal pay for men, women and young. workers for the same 8-hour day, 40-hour week, no speed-up, guaranteed full year’s work, | Sy in Boston Speed-Up Kills Three right of organization. These demands are meeting with a lively response from the workers, who in 1925 helped to make the $21,000,000 profits for Goodyear, $17,000,000 for United States Rubber, $17,000,000 for Good- rich, $3,500,000 for Miller and $1,244,000 for Sieberling. What has been the workers’ share in this pros- perity? A reduction of wages and in- tensified speed-up, HAT is going to be the outcome? The “Rubber Worker” states that without organization nothing will jbe accomplished, and therefore the right of organization and recognition of the union by the employers is the central demand. From all appearances and judging. by the manner in which the rubber workers are carrying on their work, is Uicatinll lla all mall blister Eo Nee ease darn will soon realize it, Workers Every Hour in Industry, Says Expert (Special to The Da Daily Worker) ATLANTIC CITY, N. J., Oct. 6,— Three workers are killed on an aver- age every hour by industry in the Unite’ States, according to figures submitted by F. H. Lewinski Corwin, director of Hospital Information Bu- rean of New, York, Corwin gave his statistics to the 28th annual convention of the Amer- ican Hospital Association. Every year 700,000..workers are disabled for at least four weeks, he said. accidents are increasing, ployers’ so-called Corwin showed. The reasons he gave: general speed- ing up of workers; increased number of new men taken on after the last depression; safety work retarted since war and safety engineers taken off company payrolls to allow welfare departments without expert technical knowledge to handle safety, Industrial despite em- safety campaigns, Dept. of Aédeulboes Cites Armour Grain Co. WASHINGTON, Oct. * 6.—Charg- ing that the Armour Grain Company attempted to manipulate the price of grain on the Chicago Board of Trade, Secretary of Agriculture Jardine has issued a citation under the grain fta- tures act calling upon the company to show cause why an order should not be issued directing all contacts markets to refuse it trading privi- leges, The companies prefer southern- to the uriion, despite the terrorism of will be little work, whereas the com- people who don’t know anything about the Ford system thot Henry made a monumental contribution to human progress, In doing this, Ford did make one contribution: he placed the question 6f the five-day week out in the open and got millions of workers to thinking about it. But the five-day week that they are thinking about is not the five-day week that Ford is “giving” his workers. The workers in the Ford plants work as much, if not more, than any group of workers in the country. The difference is that they work in a more concentrated form. cient machinery. and tools. The co- worker with that of another could not be more perfect. Production _ goes forward smoothly, methodically, and with certainty. ward rapidly. The big cost in pro- duction is the labor cost, To cut this down, labor has to be speeded-up and ‘mproved machinery introduced, Ford art. of the marrow of his workers’ bones na shorter time than any other boss. Work Harder. workers two days rest a week it is a sure sign that-he is preparing to A worker in the Ford plant, despite the eight-hour work “day, least two days a week to recover from the terrific drain on his vitality that the steady and exhaustive labor in the’ Ford factory takes. There is no such thing-as a standard system in the Ford plant. Methods and ma- chinery are changed as rapidly as newer, methods and machinery are found that will cut down labor costs. This means speed-up for the men. The five-day week is the direct rehult of this Ford policy. It means simply that every man workigg for Ford will hereafter do. the same work in five days that he formerly did in five and one half, This being true, there is not much benevolence to be found in the fact that the pay of the men will remain the same. Ford Is Survivor. OWEVER, despite these facts which prove that Ford has given his workers nothing that they-are not paying for in full, there are certain ers in the country who could do what Ford has done in this regard. There are certain characteristics about the Ford industry not common to most. For instance, Ford and his immediate family control the entire Ford indus- try and all its subsidiaries. He con- trols every share of stock in the in- stitution. He has no board of direc- tors clamoring for dividends. He is the sole boss. This gives Ford a lot |of leeway in management not en- joyed by many bosses. * Ford is the king of free-lance cap- italists. The huge personal profits of the industry and the fact that it is of a vertical nature has placed Ford less at the mercy of the banks than any It is true | that they have remarkable and efil- | ordination of the function of every | But it also goes for- is the world’s greatest master at this He cah squeeze more effort out HEN Ford decides to give his work them harder for the other five. needs at be permitted to make. HEN there is this to be considered: Ford {s now engaged in a trade war. His opponent is the General Motors Co, which has started a pro- gram of cheap production calculated to take some of his business away Ford’s Competitor — J.P MORGAN For the first time in its industrial career, the Ford Motor Co. is faced with the most powerful combinatton of capital in the world, backed by Wall Street, which Is competing with Ford in cheap caf production. Here is the king of Wall Street, from him, Ford has gotten home the first blow. He hag hit the General Motors Co. in theig weakest spot— production, precisely where Ford is strongest. This will immediately give Ford the pick of the labor market /and assure him a les#éxpensive labor turn-over, At the same time he will maintain his production level and when it has become,gufficiently sta- bilized under the newksystem he will go about ee ee There is also the huge jing value of this “philanthropic” concession to the workers. It is hard\for most people That rate, however, has no meaning |lated the demands of the workers— additional and informative facts io. uadstaiand eet Hokus gore ~—iwhatever. A worker knows that he|@emands that arise out of the situa-|about Ford’s five-day week. First, GENIN a hie spot uomathing. the ‘must turn out products for that|tion in the rubber industry itself. there are very few other manufactur- takes it out of their ‘hides. i Des pe is an angi@6n the five-day week that outsideljof fairly sound conjecture can only; be definitely known by Ford’s engineers them- selves, But here it 18: When you work mei five and a half days a week you use five and a half days worth of equipment. Ford is now working his. men five days a week. In that time they are produc- ing as much as they did in five and a half. There is thus a half day saved on plant and equipment outlay. The maintenance is cut down, the overhead is reduced. It is a distinct saving to the owner,, Thus Ford is saving money by GIVING his men the KER five-day week. workers saving? All this helps Ford in his battle with General Motors. It also in- creases his personal prestige and adds to his already very large personal vanity—at the expense, mind you, of his “workers. Five Days Work. HE fiveday week is good. Sooner or later all workers will have the five-day week and mayWe less, But not Ford’s kind. Ford gets the extra day or half day right back out of your bones. Ther kind of a fivoday week that militant unionists want is a five- day week with FIVE DAYS WORK and when later the workers go after a four-day week they will want that many days work. You can expend as much energy RUNNING a city block as you can WALKING a mile. That is the lesson that Ford's workers are learning, The only way the slaves in the great Ford industry will get a REAL five-day week is by organizing and fighting for it. That was the way the organized American workers won re- cognition for the eight-hour day. They had to fight many long and bit- ter struggles to get it. Workers Powerless. OTHING suits the bosses better than to have a willing lot of un- organized human material with which they can do as they please. That is what Ford likes and that is what he has. His two hundred thousand work- ers, collectively, haven't a single word to say about the Ford plant for which they are mainly responsible, Ford pays his men six dollars a day be- cause he can get more work out of them, They haven't got anything to say about it. It is entirely up to the management. Ford has found it more profitable to ‘give them six dollars a day, an eight-hour day and a five-day week. But he gets it back and then some. His annual profits are astound- ing. A big portion of them he puts back into the business, which grows and results in ever more profit each succeeding year. All this on the sweat and blood of the workers in his plant. And they haven't got any- thing to say abput it. Workers Have Rights. TPHE point is that they have a right to a say in the plant that their muscles and work and time make Possible, It is true that management is necessary. It is true that the work- ers can benefit by improved methods, labor saving-machinery and efficient production. But when that production has as its main purpose profits and when these profits come from the labor.of the workers—they have every right to have something to say about the conditions of their work. ND until the workers in the Ford plant assert this right they will continue to be automatons, entirely at the mercy of “efficiency exferts” and speed-up methods, instead of MEN selling a commodity, labor power, to the boss on the highest terms that the power of organization can extract. This is the right of all workers, Until the workers in the Ford plant, and in the entire automobile industry for that matter, make this plain to their bosses they shall have to be satisfied with GIFTS, such as Ford has given them and for which they pay double in geturn, But what are the The Future for. Workers in the Automobile Industry Head of the Automobile and Aircraft Workers’ Union "Kami people read in the daily press the stories of the fortunes being made in the automobile industry. Facts and figures are given to prove it and is tfue. How many stop to think about the many who make the mil- lions for the few? The automobile industry is not very old, about twenty-five years, but in those few years Henry Ford has be- world. There are many lesser lights, do as an illustration, Ford Gets The Difference. est ear on the market, and for that reason if no other Henry gets the repatetfon of being the greatest men in the United States. His car is cheap, but his enormous fortune was made on the difference between what he paid the workers and what he charged for the car they made, Ford has made some clever moves when it comes to getting publicity, and one of the greatest was when he made the announcement that all his employes would be paid five dollars a day. That was an increase to some but many of his workers would have made twice that amount for the same amount of work in many other shops. In fact in one trim shop the men work. ing on Ford work made more then twice as much as did a Ford worker. Did the press say anything about the six months a Ford worker put th at $2.78 a day before getting the five a day? When Ford announced he would em- ploy men who were freed from the Michigan siate prison again he wis ven the world's blessing. But, who ould fit into his prison like system, ter than men who had already been ined in a prison school? = /_ come one of the richest men in the but as’ he is so well known he. will ORD'S workers produce the cheap- Most Recent Bunk, (HE most recent bunk is about thé five days’ work with six days’ pay. Men™are speeded up, less time allow- ed for their tasks. The conveyers move faster, for when Ford wants-a little more speed, more production, he *|speeds up the convéyers and the men must move faster, The worker works five days and he gets paid for just five days at his old-rate per day. More could be said about Ford and his system, it would fill a good big book, but of other automobile firms a little must be said too, ~ Most Efficient. if loge automobile imdustry grew very rapidly, and as) it came at a time when other industries had paved the way to modern eflfeiency it took ad- vantage of the opportunity. So it be- came the most efficient and can get more work out a man then any other industry, Itneeded men and it paid more than other industries. hat is, a man could earn more money by having the opportunity to work harder. , There was little opposition to the will of the employers bogertne the in- dustry grew faster than’ a labor or- ganization could, and many workers felt they needed no grganization be- cause they earned as much or more then they did at their old trade or line of work. Many of them were from farms or small towns and they not only felt they could stand as in- dividuals, but big town » conditions seemed wonderful to them, The movie and the dance hall made life worth living and they qvere young and strong and could work. hard, 48-Hour Week PwoEwork , ices are cut evety so often, mo) » work demanded for the same mone and it will not task, Aystom, less of the amount of his labor, the auto worker will be a poorly paid worker. While many other workers are gaining a 40 or a 44-hour week the auto worker stild works 48 and 50 hours a week as a rule. A few figures will prove some in- teresting facts, In 4924 the General Motors made over 51 millions and in 1925 they made over 116 millions ot dollars. The -first half of 1926 was more then fifty per cent better sas first half of 1925. The Chrysler madw m 1924 over 4 millions and in 1925 over 17 millions with prospects for a much better profit in 1926, On all cars with the exception of Fords, 43 dollars mvre on each car was made in 1925 then in 1924, This regardless of the fact that every com- pany was reducing the price of the car, HIS will continue as long as the auto worker thinks he does not need an organization, Wages in the trimming. department of one of Fisher's plants was $1.26 an hour in 1920, Noweby working a great deal harder they make a dollar an hour at @ pace that kills, In the Packard plant |* 26 men putting on deck who were paid 70 cents an hour were fired and 26 men at 54 cents an hour replaced them. The two mentioned items are only a small fraction of what can be heard of every day fa the ctty ot Detroit, The day for the Fae jorker to unite with other worker: be near et hand, he has been a bear for hard work and punishment. How much more he will stand is hard to say, but | with the competition in the automobile business getting keener and will surely, get badly handled Ford Takes It Out of Their Bones a a oS SE Ea OE BE OEE EP PO EEE OEE he. FORD FIVE-DAY WEEK MANEUVER DIRECTLY CONNECTED WITH FIGHT OF WORKERS AND A. F. OF L. MEET | (Continued from page 1) day week at the Ford Motor Co.? Re- member, first it was $5 a day, and now it is five days a week. In the first place, continuous: strug: gle on the part of organized labor in all industries has brought the skilled worker in a few instances within reaching distance of the Ford stand- ard and in some instances has carried him beyond it. The five-day week is now demanded as labor's next ad- vance in the slogans of the vanguard of the American labor movement. No Longer Safe. The militant union furriers of New York have already won a 40-hour or five-day week and more pay. The Ford $5-a*day wage hag been advanced to $6 a day. But the $6-a-day wage alone would no longer safeguard the Ford Motor Co, from dangerously sug- gestive comments on the benefits to the workers of trade unions. _* The annual convention of the Amer- ican Federation of Labor is meeting this year in Detroit, the center of the automotive industry. For two years it has been mildly suggested fn the councils of the A. F. of L, that the automobile industry is oper-shop and should be looked into from an organi- zation point of view. In the report this year to the metal trades depart- ment of the A. F, of L, President O’Connell recommends that’ the atten- tion of thé A, F. of L. convention be called not to the desirability but the “necessity” of organizing the automo- bile industry, In announcing a, five- day week the Ford Motor Co. is meet- ing union labor’s newest, threat. The Ford Motor Co., moreover, found it fortunately convenient at this time to shut down to five days a week because of a reduction in its orders, continuous since last spring. The company was forced either to adopt a five-day week or to lay off perma- nently a large number of men. The organization experts of the Ford Mo- tor Co. thus killed two birds with one stone. Experimentation with the five-day week began several months ago, and the schedule has been gradually ex- tended thruout all departments, so that to men in the Ford shops this is an old story as far as actual practice is concerned. But the permanent adoption of a five-day week as a com- pany policy is obviously strategic. Other Factors, ‘Consider other factors. The strike of the Passaic textile workers taught the Ford Motor Co. (and also taught (Continued from page 1) there than he does of the physical capacity of the men he employs. It does not require many testimonials of men working in the Ford indus- tries to prove that the highly exhaust- ing, repetitive labor performed by Ford’s workers in eight hours is*easi- ly comparable to the work done in most plants in ten or even more hours, Trade Unions Needed . ADE unions are needed in the Ford plant to protect the men from the ghastly Ford system of ex- haustive labor. They are every bit as necessary in the Ford plant as they are in plants that take their . pro- fits of the workers in another way— low wages and long hours. What is more, Ford’s highly efficient tech-| nical methods of production, the per- fect synchronization of the entire in- dustry, is directed, not for the benefit of the thousands of men who slave at the tasks» but to create a cheaper and more marketable commodity to make profits greater, Ford is as much a cap- not. in business for his health, He is. not in business for his workers’ health. He is not in business, despite all his noble claims to it, for the pub- lic, Ford is in business to make that business grow larger, to extend his power and to increase his yearly profits. As proof of this we need only to relate that Ford’s personal fortune is growing at the rate of $100,000,000 per year, IN Ford says that trade unions have no place in his industry, he who slave in his many plants have no part in the industry except as. mere machine cogs in a great, system, Now we have no quarrel bry Ford’s teghnical achievements, his time-saving processes of _ pro in or his labor-saving bat all to the good. yt point of this does not give Ford the rights of a feudal baron, This does not make it necessary for the workers in Ford’s plants to be dumb and Matipnctian tools of a great machine, =, Workers’ Right to Union. contributes his share towards the organization. The humblest worker gives there the best that is in him, his, youth, his brawn and his brain, just, as in every other plant. This | WHY DOES FORD. FEAR UNIONS? italist as the next industrialist, He is}, is saying that the thousands of men ‘0, Every worker in the Ford plant the automobile Workers) that “offical® strikes are not the only possible strikes. The company concluded also from the Passaic strike that the Amer: {ean Federation of Labor is capable of recognizing and adopting a found- ling “illegitimate” strike, placed on its doorstep by Necessity’s forlorn outcast daughter, the Black Ewe of Desperation. And the British miners’ strike fol- lowed by the general strike stimulated the imagination and potential class consciousness of 100,000 Ford work- ers as nothing else has ever done. Workers Feel History. Face to face in their own lives with what we call history, officers of the British Trades Union Congress were afraid. They fourd history was some- thing they could not shut between the covers of a book, not excepting the book of the minutes of their de- liberations. Afraid of the general strike and of history, they capitu- lated, calling all of Great Britain's proletariat except the miners back to the machines—officers begging the king and the powerful industrialists and Punch, M, P., and the Har] of Judy to wash the incriminating soot of the coal mines from their faces, But the Ford workers understood this kind of history and felt it had some- thing fundamental to do with them. The sale of The DAILY WORKER at the Ford gates doubled ina day. The ‘physicians” in’ the “examining” and “first aid” rooms of the Ford Motor Co. alWays have their fingers on the pulse of the workers. And the stetho- Scope showed a quickened heart beat. The “Ford Worker.’ The news of the Passaic strike and the British strike were world news that could be read in a prejudiced light in the capitalist press from day to. day. But this kind of news has been communicated to the Ford work- ers this summer and fall in a light that is new to the Ford shops, the Clear light of class struggle, class awareness. The new version has been communicated not only by The DAILY WORKER, but by the Ford Worker, to which many of the rank and file workers have contributed. It is pub- lished by the Ford nuclei ef the Work- ers (Communist) Party. In spite of interference by the police of Highland Park and Fordson and by Ford Motor Co, guards, nearly 20,000 of the last issue of the Ford Worker were sold at the factory gates for a cent apiece, Thus are there now only five days in a week, fere with good management, On the contrary, they might help good man- agement—by protecting the worker from being the creature of a manage- ment whose chief motive is profit and cheap production and speed-up, The best managemént is that management, under which the worker in the plant is the first consideration and his well being the first, charge. The only way that such management can be assured _ is by the worker himself having the power to dictate these questions affect- ing his well-being. 10 do this he must organize. He has. a night to organize. It is all he has. Against ‘the ownership and the. right to hire and fire of the boss his only strength lies in joining with his fellows for his own protection, Some day the Ford plants will be so organ- ized. Henry doesn’t like it. But did you ever hear of the boss that did like it? Ford Gives Fifteen Minutes ‘for Lunch. (Continued from page 1) clothes or furniture on the installment plan? Is he going’to, buy a house? How is his life insurance? What company? What kind of a car has he, etc., etc. © And although he makes it appear that he does ‘all this in the interests of the employes, needless to say y is bunk, t od AW Attention on Job, we T asked the guy that was question- ing me what was the idea of wanting” to know all about «my private affairs. “Well,” he said, “when -you are working here, we want all your mind on the work—100 per cent—and how can a worker do that if he has other things on his mind?” Anyway, those workers that come to work at Ford’s soon find out that instead of being the best oss in the U, S., Henry Ford is the worst kind ot. a slave-driver possible and the world’s champion bunk-shooter, _ WASHINGTON, Oct. 6.—The inter- tate commission has denied the peti- tion of the Indiana state chamber of commerce for a reduction in freight — rates on bituminous coal, in carloads, — from points in Ohio and from the so-called InnerCrescent région, | embracing se bag of Penpsylvanta, Hand, West Virginia, ‘fonnessee, the state of Indiana. and Kentucky, to all points — t —_—_—— “Why not a email bundle of The KER sent to you reguian eh. a? a } 5 v wd. va N