Personal Service

J. Frank Rushton Jr., 41, president of the Chamber of Commerce of Birmingham, Ala., had an idea. While touring Alabama's hospitals for the War Chest, he came across a wounded soldier. The soldier, soon to be discharged, wanted to work as a high-tension wire man for the Alabama Power Co. That was simple. Rushton called Alabama Power's president, Thomas Martin, his close friend, and landed the job.

Then he pondered. One man could not find jobs for all the soldiers returning to Birmingham. But 30 or 60 might. He sketched his plan to the Chamber of Commerce.

Last week, the Chamber launched the "Birmingham plan" to ease discharged service men into civilian life. The plan was as root-simple as Frank Rushton's telephone call to Alabama Power's Martin.

Every day last week, one of the 60 Birmingham bigwigs sat in the Chamber of Commerce offices, interviewed dis charged service men, and reached for the phone. With manpower short in Birmingham, jobs were easy to find. But the Chamber of Commerce is looking ahead to the time when jobs may not be so plentiful, when the personal call from a business leader will get a service man a job he might otherwise miss. This virtue of the plan has already caught the eye of 35 other Chambers of Commerce. All are considering similar projects, are watching to see how Birmingham's plan works.

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