The union times., 1946-05-25

While first-quarter profit reports are never conclusive, Government economists are impressed by the profit figures for industry cOm- piled this week by the National City Bank showing that, except for the industries tied up by strikes and recOnversiOn, business is roll ing in profits.
 These figures, which jibe closely with the figures privately circulated among Government economists, show that for the industries that are in full production the repeal of the excess profits tax has more than made up for the increased wage rates and other higher costs of operation. Except for the heavy industries, business is mak- ing more money than during the war time period of record profits.
 The National City Bank figures, based on published reports of 300 big corporations, showed that their profits for the first quarter of this year were $2I6,564, 1000 as com pared with $32O,248, ,OOO for the same period last year-a drop of S2.4 per cent. But as the bank itself conceded, the losses were primarily in the heavy-gOOds in- dustries which have suffered from strikes or recOnversiOn troubles, and the story for business as whole was much different.
 Except for the heavy-goods indus tries, business profits for the quarter. after taxes, were up from 17 per cent to Fl per cent over a year ago. The biggest jump was registered by whole sale and retail trade which increased last years record-breaking profits 17l per cent during the quarter.
 Food Industry Up 16.8%
 The smallest increase was made by the food products industry. But des- plte its squawks at price control. the food industry made $24,3O8,0OO as compared with $20,8O5, 900 last year an increase of 16.8 per cent
 The biggest drop was shown by the big automobile industry, which was tied up by strikes and recon version problems during the first quarter. Its profits dropped from $5O,O7S,OOO during the first quar- ter last year to a deficit of $38,- 85O,OOO. The iron and steel indus try, similarly affected, dropped from $S9,973,OOO last year to $l9, ,855.OOO this year.
 Government economists said the Ma tional City figures were weighted down with the reports from the huge automobile and iron and steel indus tries and were therefore not repre- sentative of industry as whole. They gave more weight to the striking in- creases reflected in other segments of business.
 Among the industries showing big gains over the record breaking war profits were pulp and paper, chemicals, drugs, etc, miscellaneous manufactur- ing, trade, and service. These indus tries averaged increases over last year of 57 per cent indicating that when the heavy industries get over their troubles they also will make huge profits.
 Even the conservative National City Bank virtually admitted as much. It said that the consumer goods in dustries had shown substantial in creases, despite rising costs because of adding the savings from repeal of the excess profits tax and high operations, that "the companies held back by strikes that have now been settled should recover their volume rapidly; they have heavy baclIlogs of actual and potential orders to assure high level operations for long period ahead, barring unforeseen interrup- tionS."
 By and large, the National City fig ures bore out the forecasts of labor economists that this year would show record-breaking profits, despite wage increases and price ceilings, because of the tremendous volume of business activity, Economists were studying the figures closely because of their sig nifcance in indicating the trend of postwar profits with the wartime ex- cess profits tax out of the way.