The Hardin tribune-herald. [volume] (Hardin, Mont.) 1925-1973, 1946-12-05
Behind The Scenes
American Business
BY REYNOLDS G

BY REYNOLDS KNIGHT
New York. - One of the
bright spots in the present
business picture is the untitled
demand for durable goods and
the necessity for new home
construction. The steel industry,
now operating at 9lA per cent
of capacity, reflects the heavy
demand for automobiles, refrig-
orators and other so-called
durable goods. Officials eSti-
mate that the steel industry
will not catch up with demand
until about the middle of l947.
Home construction still has
much ground to cover. Ju:t
what effect high prices will
have on demand is problemati-
cal. Some economists think that
durable goods purchases will be
limited by the high prices, but
others believe a sufficient mar
ket exists, even at present price
levels to absorb production for
some months. They point out
that the automobile industry in
its best prewar year sold only
5000, 900 new automobiles, or
one for every &c people in the
country.
AIR CONDITIONING-South
ern textile mills, pushing for
ward a modernizatiOn and eX-
pansion program involving an
proximately 5000, 000, 900 next
year will make the heaviest in
vestments in air conditioning
equipment ever made by the
industry in a single year, &C
cording to John E. Harnes, vice
president of the Minneapolis
Honeywell Regulator company.
Haines says that a survey Of
the southern textile industry by
his organization showed that
improvement of air condition
ing and the control of this
equipment stands near the top
of the mills plans for modern
ization for the sake of plant
efficiency and human comfort.
Leaders in the industry real
ize that they must prepare for
a period of keen competition
after the end of the sellers
market" Haines explains. The
day of guesswork in operations
is over. Experience has proved
to mill operators that they can
step up production efficiency
by holding humidity and tenn
perature at precise levels and
progressive owners are using
this means of reducing the
margin of waste to the lowest
possible level"
THINGS TO COME - A new
hydraulic lift for garages and
service stations which has au-
tomato opening and closing
floor plates, which close over
the Jack when not in use -.
A new gas heater for living
rooms. It draws air through a
duct from the OF Tide and ex-
pels exhaust fur( the same
way An elec{ 1aic control
which eliminates It's in pas
senger trains :. new desk
for the busy exc tive. It ha;
a built-in radio, electric razor
and mirror, electric refrigerator
with three ice trays, personal
safe and debating machine, a
cigarette lighter and a 12-Sta-
ton communication unit .
An ultraviolet ray lamp for
dairy barns. It is said to reduce
airborne bacteria by 80 per
cent IA toy jeep which
will be ready for the Christmas
trade A plastic mailbox,
which is transparent, for those
who want to see if they have
any mail without opening the
box An electronic stop
watch which clocks one-mll-
lionth of a second.
FINEST SHIP - Largest and
fastest passenger ship ever
built in the United States, the
luxury liner America this
month goes into the European
passenger service for which she
was originally designed. Out
standing artists and craftsmen
helped decorate the vessel back
in 1910, and American industry
was called upon to furnish
huge amounts of materials for
her. The showers and baths of
her cabins, the galleys or kitch-
ems and the swimming pool, for
instance, required about 41,000
square feet of floor and wall
tile alone This material was
used because it is both moisture
proof and sanitary, important
Considerations on sea or shore.
Much of the tile and many
other materials on the America
were especially designed so that
she would display in foreign
ports the finest this nation