Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1958-03-06
RECESSION IN AMERICA
Some Areas Of Nation
| BoreIy Feel the Slump
BY NORMAN WALKER
Star stan Writer

BY NORMAN WALKER
star stan Writer
Business is no good" says
the operator Of a big hotel or
the Las. Vegas gambling strip
Last year we were turning
down 500 reservations every
week end. Now we're only turn
ing down 400"
Which helps prove that ever
with the troublesome recession
the country is experiencing
there are bright spots. And the
encouragement isn't only on the
Las Vegas dice tables.
It's reflected in optimism ir
the long-depressed farm areas
You also see it in the hope:
Of builders with spring wealth
er coming and the freeze or
building money credit thawing
You find buoyancy, too, ir
the boom towns near missile
bases like Cape Canaveral, Fla.
and Redstone Arsenal at Hunts
vile. Ala. the Governments
vast atomic works in New
Mexico, and the missile fuel
factories in Texas.
Some Areas Not Hurt
It's apparent in many areas
across the land which have
barely felt the recession and
report business as good or bet
ter than their top levels OF
prosperity, or only a little of
The same search by AsSoci-
ated Press newsmen shat
turned up the gloomy economic
facts-of-life in the jobless
areas of Michigan, Pennsylvania
and California also brought
glowing accounts of conditions
elsewhere.
President Eisenhower isn't the
only one with chins-up out
look. Take Bob Conroy, 38,
one of Detroit's jobless army.
He and his wife both lost their
jobs in early December. They
and their two children are liv-
ing on hopes, State jobless
benefit payments and two base
ment freezers filled with food
We're living" said Mr.. Con-
roy. Wen get along. I think
in q few months something
ought to happen. I got q deer
during the hunting season last
fall and froze the carcass,
That's helped"
Boom In West Florida
In Florida, where migrant
field hands idled by the crop
freezes are being fed in soup
Kitchens, business is booming
on the States west coast. There
has been an influx Of plant
construction workers and
''snowbirds." the winter vaca-
TONERS from the North.
Miami Beach. with tempera-
lures back to the normal 70s,
has been bidding hard to re-
coup some Of its lost winter
tourist business.
A whole trainload Of hay
balers. 600 Of them, was re-
Gently sold in eastern Kansas
and western Missouri. :
A survey of 444 firms by the
Chamber of Commerce at Buff
falo, N. Y, showed "a per cent
expect business to equal or ex-
coed last year. About one-fourth
expect to expand employment
this year.
See No Big Depression
There's an almost unanimous
view the country isn't headed
for a major depression.
In Chicago. Robert c. Tyson,
finance chairman of U. s. Steel
Corp, said two factors alone
should prevent any repeat Of
1929. Then. he said, we had q
highly speculative stock market
financed on thin margins with
borrowed money. Now. he said,
the bulk of stock market hold
ings are elf-financed.
Mr.. Tyson's second reason:
Home mortgaging practice has
shifted from lump sum, short
maturity loans, to monthly
amortized, 20-30-year obliga-
tions. more like rent. Much Of
the debt is also guaranteed or
insured by the Government"
Other businessmen now are
paying tribute to the unem-
ployment compensation part Of
the social security system. An
SO billion insurance pool is
being tapped by the nearly 5
million jobless to make sure
they don't starve or 60 home
less. This keeps them In the
market as buyers. to some ex-
tent at least.
Also, for those rightly wor-
ried about the present Short
age Of jobs, particularly in the
Nations factories, there is the
encouraging word from manv
economists that we are really
headed for a labor shortage IN
q few years-that there will be
plenty of work--and pay--for
all.
Louisiana reports: Almost
everyone is living high on the
hog here" Texas reports its
busting Gulf Coast industries
are going full blast. South Da-
kota says its bank deposits
topped $500 million for a
record.
Two Improving Areas
It's odd. but two Of the sec
tors that worried tn economists
most last yesr-farming and
construction-now are improv-
ing and carrying much Of the
hopes for pulling the country
up again.
The big story in farming is
the broken drought. The wheat
and cattle farmers in Kansas,
Iowa and Idaho. Missouri and