Evening star., 1940-11-03
Business Jumps
To Best Levels
In Decade
But Leaders Warn
Of Inevitable
Adjustments Later
BY FRANK MacMTLLEE,
Associated Press Financial Writer.

more clearly than at any time since
the world struggle began, was the
force of war and defense on Ameri-
can economy made apparent, as
business doomed to decade-long
records and the flood tide of third
quarter corporation reports set in.
Here were some of the high lights:
l. Probably for the first time in
history, an American industrial cor
poration reported $1,000 100000 of
untitled orders on its books Bethle-
hem Steel Corp, helped by its big
shipbuilding division, set the mark.
2. U. S. Steel Corp, reporting for
the first . nine months of the year,
gave graphic illustrations of the
meaning of high defense levies. as
it revealed taxes were S62.746,071 for
the period, nearly as great as its net
profit of S69,418, ,070.
8. The demands of the arms pro-
gram began to make themselves felt
in the country's lately stagnant
money markets, as commercial loans
rose for the fourth successive week,
and the Securities and Exchange
Commission at Washington reported
that 49.8 per cent of the s91 900 900
of new securities registered il, Sep
tember called for actual "new'
money, to be put into plant and
equipment or added to working cap-
ital. Financial quarters said the
trend had probably intensified in
October.
Look Toward Adjustments.
Accompanying many of the re-
ports to stockholders were messages
from the heads of leading concerns
which showed an increasing pre-
occupation with the problems, not
only of war-geared economy, but
with the inevitable adjustments
which peacetime conditions would
| bring.
Charles r. Hook, of the American
Rolling Mill Co., told stockholders:
If we are to prevent serious COL
lapse when the requirements of our
national defense have been satis-
ned, we must begin now to give seri-
Gus thought to the problems of our
domestic economy"
Alfred P. Sloan. chairman of Gen.
eral Motors, key factor in national
] defense plans. said: The problems
that have beset industry for so many
years are unsolved. They may be
counted on to reassert their in
f1uence when the present emergency
is over"
AT the same time Mr.. Sloan cau-
toned the owners of General
Motors 43,000,000 shares that rising
costs and taxes must prepare them
for the prospect of diminishing re-
turns" on their investment.
Grace Stresses Danger.
Euguene G. Grace. Bethlehem
chairman, asserting the national
capacity to produce steel was suffi-
clent, with proper management"
for both defense and normal COM
mercial needs stressed the danger
of IAN imitation in the capacity for
staple products" which. he said, was
"a blood brother to currency in
f1ation."
Lets not add to our headaches
after the present emergency is over
Mr.. Grace said.
There was another rise in the As
sociated Press index of industrial
activity to new high since the
1929 boom. Many observers have
estimated recently that actual physi-
cal volume of goods being produced
is the greatest in the country's
history.
Employment Higher Than 1929.
The National Industrial Confer
ence Board, a private statistical or
ganization supported largely by
manufacturing interests, calculated
that the number of persons on pay
rolls in September was greater than
1925 average of about 100000.
The increase in population since
then still leaves many unemployed
but there appeared every likelihood,
statisticians said, that the October
figures, when available, would show
new highs in employment.
Tinging many comments to stock
holders which the week brought
forth was the background of the
national election. Wall Streets
banks and board rooms, busy with
political gossip, yet found time to
grind out the busiest week of stock
trading since mid-June. with prices
OF many leading shares up moder-
ately.
Interesting was the election slant
Of Business Week, widely read
by industrial and financial men,
which said:
THE defense program definitely
assures a high level of production
well into 1941 and probably into
1912. Both candidates are COM
mitted to continuance of vast ex.
penditures on armaments. And
that in nutshell is the KEY to the
business outlook after January /.
"For II defense is the force that's
propping business up, and if both
candidates are committed to de-
fense, no dramatic change in the
level of industrial activity is to be
expected to stem directly from the
election"