Evening star., 1938-01-13
CREDIT SALES CUT
|SRO0SEvELT AIM,
OFFICIAL ASSERTS
InstaI|ment Buying Curb De.
clared Asked to Level .
Business Swings.
CAR HEADS TURN DOWN
1870 PAYMENT PLAN
Proposal for Voluntary Control of
Industrial Production Is
Worked Out.
BACKGROUND

BACKGROUND
Precipitate business slump of past
tetD months resulted in President
conterring. on several occasions
NTH utility Jkndustry leaders in hope
OF getting buying program under
iody. This tueek, cooperation con-
terences broddened to inpolpe a
cross-section of industry as five
? leaders OF Ddried activities met 1Uith
CHIEF Executive.
In background is expectation of
trust busting dripe BY Government.
BY the Associated Press.
President Roosevelt was reported to.
day in usually reliable quarters to be
negotiating in his conferences with
business leaders for a curtailment oi
credit on installment buying.
Informed persons said he had sug-
gested to the motor industry a tighten
/ing Of sales credit, in line with his
previously expressed intention of elimi-
mating "high-presSure Salesmanship."
This was one of the topics the
President was said to have discussed
Tuesday with Alfred P. Sloan. jr
chairman Of the General Motors Corp
and four other prominent Industrial
lists.
75fc Down Payment Suggested.
One well-posted Government official
said the President had proposed that
the auto industry limit its extension
~of credit on the purchase of cars to
IS per cent, but that Mr.. Sloan had
rejected the suggestion as too drastic.
Whether Mr.. Roosevelt had proposed
that this limitation be imposed i'm
mediately, or at some future time
when there were evidences of over
selling, was not disclosed.
Others at the conference-Ernest T.
Weir. chairman of the National Steel
Corp: Lewis Brown, president OF
Johns-M Manville; M. w. Clement, presi-
:. dent Of the Pennsylvania Railroad,
and Colby Chester, chairman of the
General Foods Corp.-were not so di-
rectly connected with the problem of
installment sales.
SteoA StOry hecaue0.
At press conference last week,
however, the President told of a steel
manufacturer whose production had
dropped from 80 to 2S per cent of
capacity because of the slump in au-
tomobile production and uneven pur-
chases Of rails by the railroads.
Mr.. Roosevelt said steel production
had been unbalanced by railroads pur-
chasing rails for an entire year at one
time, causing an undue acceleration of
production during part of the year and
. slump during the remainder.
At the same time, the President
criticized the automobile industry for
selling cars on a 24-month credit
agreement instead of the previous 18
months. and for over-selling by telling
prospective purchasers the price was
going up.
Knudsen Indorses Stand.
William Knudsen. president OF Gen
eral Motors. also denounced this
practice in testimony before a Senate
committee.
In his discussions OF over-selling
and high-pressure salesmanship, the
President has tied up the questions
with the whole problem of industrial
planning even to production.
One of the administrator busi-
ness advisers said cooperation be-
tween industry and Government in
such planning would be smoothed by
revising the antitrust laws to let
business men know what they can
do as well as what they cannot do
under these statutes.
The President expects to send Con-
gress message soon asking changes
in these laws. One official, however,
expressed uncertainty whether a pro-
(See BUSINESS, Page A-5)