Further Expansion

A standard business barometer is the amount businessmen are willing to spend on expansion. Last week two Government agencies issued figures indicating that businessmen's spending--and confidence --remain high. For 1954. said the Commerce Department and the SEC. businessmen plan to spend $26.7 billion on their plants and new equipment. While the figure is 6% below the 1953 outlay, and slightly below what businessmen expected to spend six months ago, it will still be the second largest capital outlay in history.

Among large corporations, no decline in spending is expected for 1954. The biggest spenders, according to current expectations, will be the automakers, retooling and expanding for an even tougher sales race ahead. They will spend $1.5 billion this year, up 30% from 1953. The biggest drop will be registered by railroads, whose earnings have suffered from the decline in freight revenues.

In Montreal last week, members of the American Statistical Association met to size up the economic future. The consensus of the delegates was that a mild business upswing will soon take place. Declared Chief Economist Martin Gainsbrugh of the National Industrial Conference Board: "The current plateau in business activity is not the prologue to stagnation, but rather a promising first act in the American drama of further sustained expansion."

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