Evening star., 1934-05-06
DETROIT REPORTS
CLEARING SKIES.
|NAUT0 INDUSTRY
UnruffIed by Labor Troubles
or insufficient Supply
of Parts.
Special Dispatch to The Star.

Special Dispatch to The Star.
DETROIT, Mich, May 5.-Having
produced close to 100000 cars in the
month of April, the automobile in
dustry is swinging along at an even
gait, unruffled now by either an in
sufficient supply Of parts or recurring
labor troubles.
Parts manufacturers are now max
ing deliveries with more speed than
they have been able to show since
last Autumn. Sporadic strikes give
some evidence Of continued labor dis
content, but in the main, with the
Automobile Labor Board functioning
in Detroit, the horizon has been
cleared of its heaviest clouds.
Pacific Attitude Seen.
Polls taken in Detroit factories in
dicate clearly pacific attitude on the
part of the workers. In the rank
and file there is less talk of strikes
than at any time since the expansion
of operations began early this year.
Detroit is still carrying a welfare
load of $4,000 families. The load not
double that number. The decline
reveals, probably as well as anything
else, the way in which the auto
mobile factories have been absorbing
idle labor.
With April the best production
month in four years the industry as
a whole expects to continue its pres
ent schedules for at least the next
eight weeks Dealers are still clamor-
ing for cars in many sections. Ship
ments are going out Of Detroit at a
faster clip than at any other time
this year and the cars are moving
swiftly on to buyers.
Ford is turning out about 100 900
cars a month on the basis Of present
operations. Chevrolet is notch high
er-around l25,000. Plymouth has
pushed its output up to a point not
far below $4,000.
Ford is finding the best market
for his cars since the present eight
cylinder line was brought out. In
Detroit this Is taken as a favorable
sign. As Ford goes. SO goes the rest
Of the industry, according to the old
time observers.
Ford Aggressive.
The Ford Co. itself is showing
more aggressiveness in pushing sales,
its advertising appropriations have
been increased and there Is q gen.
uine attitude Of optimism in the whole
Ford staff. This, too, carries its own
encouragement to other manu-
facturers.
Chevrolet continues to ship cars to
the four corners. Both in Detroit and
Flint the schedules are surprising the
previous expectations Of General Mo-
tors officials. The belief exists among
Chevrolet executives that the COM
pany will easily reach its goal of
selling 100000 cars this year
Plymouth is operating at capacity
production. Executives at the factory
declare they are $4,000 cars behind
on orders. On this basis, Plymouth
output for the next weeks Is already
booked. Chrysler officials have grad
ually been leasing floor space in va
cant factories in Detroit to take care
OF surplus operations, but they have
not yet been able to increase their
Assembly line to meet all demands.
Plymouth, however, has contributed
enough cars during April to enable
ChrySler to attain a new record for
all its books.
The best guess Of the Detroit statis-
ticlanS Is that peak operations of the
industry will be reached some time
In June. There is a general belief,
however, that the Summer recession
will be mild.
Volume Reached Late.
The chief argument behind this
opinion is the lateness with which a
number Of manufacturers have
reached volume production. The fact
is also brought forth that the buying
power OF the general public continues
to SHOW signs Of expansion. The huge
number Of obsolete cars on the roads
supports the belief that rising pur-
chasing power is almost certain, for
many months to come, to mean heavy
automobile purchases.
Business in the truck divisions con-
t1nues to hold up. Government pur-
chaseS, according to one authority,
have represented only a small per-
centage Of sales, leaving to CONNER
cial demands the source Of most Of
the production needs.
Government buying" says this
same authority, sis increasing grad
ually. and this improves the outlook
for well-sustained levels throughout
the year, Of setting season recession In