Evening star., 1950-10-01
Record Steel Output
Sets Pace for Busy
Trade and Industry
By 6. A. Phillips
Associated Press Business Writer

ASSOciuIeO FreSS business WrtfoG
NEW YORK, Sept. 3O.-Steel
paced high-level operations in
business and industry this week.
Not only did the steel industry
turn out more finished tons than
ever before in peace or war, but
plans were announced to increase
present capacity in order to meet
greater steel requirements gen.
Grated by the rearmament pro-
gram and near-record civilian
activity.
Railroad carloadings also
stepped up and were the highest
in nearly two years. Automobile
output was only slightly under
the peak level of the preceding
week, and electric power con-
sumption scored new gains in a
seasonal expansion that exceeded
normal expectations.
A sharp upturn in paper pro-
duction carried mill operations to
a point equalled only once before
this year.
Bank Loans Extend Rise.
A new increase in bank loans
for commercial purposes indicated
merchants, manufacturers and
just plain people still were borrow
ing money to buy goods both for
current consumption and stock
piling. The gain was less than in
recent weeks, however, lending
encouragement to the belief that
full effectiveness of the new Fed.
eral credit regulations would ease
the situation.
Nothing developed this week to
show whether larger down pay
ments and shorter pay periods
decreed by the Federal Reserve
Board in credit transactions was
achieving the ends sought.
Dun & Bradstreet noted a slight
dip in retail trade here and there
but there was little letup in the
steady pressure on prices.
Here are a few examples:
Milk went up a cent or so a
quart in many eastern cities:
aluminium cooking utensils were
boosted; pig iron was hiked So a
ton by most of the big makers:
two firms increased finished steel
prices; electric appliances were
given another boost and line of
chemicals widely used in manu-
featuring various articles cost
more. New houses bore sharply
higher price tags in most areas.
Rubber Prices Down.
improvement in the war news
had depressing effect on some
commodities, such as rubber,
which had been bid up excessively
by spectators, but the price
structure as whole was kept
rigid by repeated warnings bv
high Government officials that
we are in for a long period of
heavy Government spending, pos
slbly controlled industrial pro-
auction and other emergency
measures.
A lull in labor strife was a well
come change for MANAGEMENT in
many lines of business but it came
at a price. Wage increases were
bigger and more numerous than
in any week since the cost of liv-
ing started to rise in mid summer
and ranged all the way from )
cents to 25 cents an hour.
The lull also enabled business
men to take a better look at the
slowly unfolding pattern of Gov
ernment control over production,
prices and inventories.
Expansion Plans Announced.
Hardly felt as yet, the odds
favor a rapid stepup in Govern
ment orders, directives and infiu-
ence once the military emergency
IN Korea is ended and our planners ;
decide what and how much they
Will need to keep UP ready for any
emergency in the future.
Some industrialists have al
ready taken the initiative. The
United States Steel Corp. an
nounced plans Friday for an in
crease in steel-making capacity
in the Birmingham district;
Geneva Steel told of plans to
add % coke ovens at the Provo,
Utah, plant: Sloss- Sheffield an
nounced it will let a contract
shortly for 80 new coke ovens at
the North Birmingham Works
and reports circulated that a
financial combine was almost
ready to finance large-scale de-
velopment of iron ore deposits in
Labrador.