Relay Race

For its annual reading of the U.S. economy, the National Industrial Conference Board last week assembled business leaders at "Manhattan's Hotel Commodore. Their theme: "Recovery: how strong, how long?" Their conclusion: recovery should continue well into 1959. Even as they met, there were indications that while some parts of the economy have stopped to catch their breath, others continued to spring along in a sort of relay race:

P: Earnings after taxes of the average factory worker with three dependents reached an alltime high of $79.60 per week in December, reported the Labor Department.

P: Department-store sales across the nation climbed 5% in January's third week, chalking up the third straight week of gain over 1958 levels.

P: Freight carloadings climbed 2.3% above 1958 levels, for the most significant gain in 17 months. Railmen expect the upsurge to continue.

P: Steel output hit a 15-month high of 2,111,000 tons weekly, was scheduled to rise again last week to an 18-month high. Operating at 74.6% of capacity, the steelmakers were besieged with so many orders that backlogs were mounting.

P: Business failures declined from 321 to 294 in the week ended Jan. 15.

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