EDITORIAL
The Vital Chemical Industry New peaks quickly become standard levels and optimism is the general tone
T
he U.S chemical industry is something truly remarkable. It has surged along for more than four years at the forefront of this nation's business expansion, during a record period, and it still shows strong confidence and vitality. The annual Facts and Figures report in this issue (page 51) presents an exciting story. The chemical industry has been reaching new levels and without settling has then gone to higher levels. The rate of shipments, for example, reached $3 billion a month for the first time last March, and has not since gone below that level. Profits during the past four years have been climbing consistently, with last year's jump exceptional. Last year's gain is not likely to be repeated, but earnings still are likely to be well above the 1964 levels. Despite this sustained push, which might tend to generate caution on the basis that there is bound to be a downward turn before long (if history is a sound guide to the future), investment is rushing onward and upward. Belief in the need for more investment in plants and equipment is much more widely held in the chemical industry than in most industries of this country. The chemical industry's prosperity is generally in keeping with the economy of the country, but the optimism among chemical people seems particularly great. Certainly some of the strength of the industry comes from increasing use of products of chemical processes in other major industries, as in automobile manufacture and, to some extent, from moves putting chemical process companies closer to the consumer. Certainly the long history of
belief in research and development deserves some credit, as does the increasing sophistication of chemical industry people in market research and development. Governmental guidance, control, or manipulation of the economy seems to be much more sophisticated and effective than in past eras. However, as new strains of infection crop up once the more familiar diseases are under control, so, with the economy, new and different factors and influences are likely to be felt as the old problems come under better control. Every source of strength and every possible point of weakness need to be under continuous examination. If the economic strength of the chemical industry is to continue, all of the constructive influences must be pushed and guided with judgment and acuity. And new areas for increasing progress, such as the possibilities for revolutionary new technology, based on the rapidly generated new knowledge from research, need to be studied aggressively. Every technique and influence need to be marshaled to head off the discouraging results, observed in the past, that can come from too many producers deriving all of their hopeful projections from the same set of prospective customers, as mentioned by Senior Editor David Kiefer (page 52).
SEPT. 6, 1965 C&EN
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