Evening star., 1941-03-09
Industry Pushes
To New Highs
In Arms Race
Largest Steel Output
In Nations History
Recorded in Week
BY FRANK MacMILLEN.
Associated Press Business Writer.


Associated Press Business Writer.
NEW YORK, March 8.-Amer1caS
great industrial machine this week
turned at the fastest rate since ths
s28, 500 900, 900 national defense pro-
gram left the blueprint stage last
autumn.
Flares from blast furnaces tinted
the skies at Pittsburgh, Chicago,
Gary, Birmingham and Youngs-
town as the Nations steel mills
turned out 1873 500 tons of ingots,
the biggest steel production for any
week in the country'S history.
Railway freight loadings were the
largest since last November. Elec-
trio power production exceeded a
year ago by IA per cent. Automo-
bile production topped l25,000 cars.
Holding the fastest pace in his
tory, with new producing capacity
being steadily added. were the air.
craft and machine tool industries.
Straining at every quarter in the
giant defense effort were shipyards,
munitions plants, electrical goods
and other key lines.
Buying Power Expands.
Meantime, the dollars paid to
workers in the toll and sweat"
phase of defense building were
boosting consumer goods buying and
general spending by the public.
Paid admissions at motion picture
theaters were reported by some OBJ
servers to be averaging 85,000,000 to
90,000,000 weekly, contrasted with
the average Of 8O000000 weekly for
the full year 1910.
Automobile sales for the first three
months of 1941 were expected TO
be close to the best, if not the
largest for any initial calendar
quarter in history. Used car stocks
for the Nation as whole were
estimated at between 35 and 40
days supply, little below normal.
Every hint at Washington that
new car deliveries might becoms
more difficult as the defense pro-
gram proceeds. served to bring new
buyers to auto marts, some car
handlers said
Meantime, with the national in
! come rising, auto retailers ex-
pressed little doubt but that they
would work off all used cars taken
in on trades. Already at Louisville,
Baltimore and a number of other
cities there is a shortage of used
cars, due to heavy purchases by
workers engaged in defense activi-
ties, trade canvaSSes show.
Retail Stores Busy.
Running a close second to auto
mobile turnover was general mer-
chandise business in retail stores.
Holding the best stride in over a
decade, retail sales are averaging
7 to II per cent above a year ago.
Already Easter buying is reported
at many centers, early when COM
pared with other years. Easter
Sunday this year falls on April 13.
much later than last year, when it
came March "a.
The fast pace of both industry
and retail trade hiked check clear
ings 27.5 per cent above the 1889
week
The grind of turning out the
stuff for the all-out defense effort
has begun in earnest" remarked
Business Week. "Henceforward. as
sembTy lines in the United States
will be producing materials and
supplies for Britain and our own
armed forces in accelerating guam
titles. which is tantamount to say
ing that good part of the
initial tooling up has been &C
complished.
Now that the Nation is past the
early blueprint stage, ALLEGATION Of
supplies - getting raw materials
where they are needed at the right
/ time-has become a major produce
| ton problem in the United States.
In this respect. our industrial ma
chine is like an army going into
battle.
Just as troops. tanks. guns, ammu-
milton and food must be right whers
! they are needed when needed by the
I fighting man, so in industry steel,
copper, rubber, men and housing
must be available on the spot for
! the worker. And right now we are
/ discovering this is one of the ma
| jor war production problems We
are up against. It's as vital as
| plant capacity in such critical in
dustries as planes, machine tools,
shipbuilding.
Zinc Reserve Planned.
To keep needed supplies of raw
materials flowing to defense in
dustries, the Government this past
uraaL tOoL ,,our ono bIi1oo oaosi1ros
The priorities division of the Of
flee of Production Management laid
plans whereby per cent of April
output of zinc. metal growing
steadily more scarce would be set
aside to form a pool from which
ALLEGATIONS to users will be made.
In another conservation move.
manufacturers of military airplanes
were instructed to separate their
high-grade aluminium scrap and re-
turn it to mills. According to the
instructions. the scrap was to be
pressed into briquets. The metal
then will be rolled and fabricated,
for fee, and returned to the air.
craft makers for use as new alumni
mum.
The defense program continues
to grow, and its influence upon the
business of the country continues to
spread" says National City Bank
of New York. Heretofore the eff
fects of the program on business
activity have been all Of one kind.
1t has stimulated a rapid indus
trial and trade expansion. which
has gone faster and farther than
even the optimists expected and
from which almost every industry
and occupation are now benefit
ing. Without much doubt, it will
continue to lift the business level,
adding to production. employment
and the demand for goods"