The Red and the Black

U.S. industry, free of major strikes last week, was not free of major troubles. Biggest was the shortage in steel. It had become so scarce, due to the production losses of the coal and steel strikes, that CPA Boss John Small slapped on priorities to funnel some 20% of all finished steel into essential industries--housing, farm machinery and railroad equipment, etc. How long the priorities system would last (it now applies only to the third quarter) depended on how quickly steel mills hit capacity production.

Since the end of the coal strike, steel had come back fast. Last week, it was operating at 76.1% of capacity, will be up to 84% this week. Coal had also come back fast. But the rest of U.S. production, shaken by trouble in the consumers' durable goods industries, was spotty.

Dark Spots. Detroit's automakers, still in low gear, turned out only 47,000 cars and trucks last week. This week, output should increase and next week jump, thanks to a big boost when Ford gets back into production. But no one was even guessing when automakers would reach their 1941 figure of 130,000 units a week. Packard's George Christopher solemnly warned that the CPA order on steel (and another priority system upcoming on iron castings and pig iron) may cut all car production again to a dribble. And the industry was still plagued by suppliers' strikes. Item: General Motors last week had 104 of them.

Bright Spots. In many another industry the news was better--notably in the electrical industry. General Electric was typical. Despite lack of copper wire, which may soon clip production, G.E.'s electric fan output was close to schedule. Refrigerators were up to 93%; vacuum cleaners 57%, irons 91%. But toasters, broilers and roasters were still way down. Radio manufacturers were turning out a million radios monthly, almost the 1941 production level. (The public was already balking at buying unknown brands.) Shoe manufacturers will probably reach an alltime U.S. high this year of 550 million pairs; tires were now plentiful. Production of housing components was improving. Item: 97,000 bathtubs were made in May.

The demand for almost everything was still enormous (retail trade was 22-26% higher last week than a year ago). But in many lines, notably soft goods, it was slackening faster than anticipated.

Retail inventories were finally building up. As their shelves filled again, merchants anxiously gauged the size of the demand anew. Last week M. E. Coyle, new G.M. executive vice president, seemed to be voicing the anxiety of all industry, not merely of auto manufacturers, when he said: "We will catch up with the pent-up demand more quickly than many think."

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