BUbiNbSS
PJgH€E§§ INPUSTitlES» OUTLOOK Military a n d government leaders w a r n against r e l a x i n g after Korean victory . . . M a n y urge r e a r m i n g of Western G e r m a n y . . . Business group points out defect of Defense Production Act . . . Unfilled paper orders soar
\\7ITH ^ie
cnc
* °* t*ie Korean
war in
^ ^ sight there is worry in some quarters that American industr> aiu the public will relax. There is one theory that the world. including Stalin, has new respect for American and United Nations military powers and industrial might, and that the Communists will think twice before starting another aggression. Recent sharp declines in prices of volatile commodities, such as rubber futures, reflect that attitude. However, a chorus of comment irom some of the "high brass" warns that America must not "drop its guard" after the Korean affair ends. They point out that Western Germany and Western Europe generally are the danger spots. General Omar N. Bradley says that Germany must be re-armed and taken into the mutual defense set-up of the North Atlantic Pact nations. Almost identical e a r n i n g s have been voiced by \V. Averell Harriman, White House foreign affairs co-ordinator, and Robert M. lianes, chief, Economic Cooperation Administration. General George C. Marshall, secretary of defense, said, too, that the nation is going through a time of "great peril" a n d warned that it would be folly to discount the possibility of atomic attack. President to Judge "Hardships" in Profits Certain features of the Defense Production Act were criticized at the recent annual meeting of the National Metal Trades Association. Thus legitimate business is restrained from hoarding, but no such restrictions are on black market operators. One section of the act states that wherever price ceilings have been imposed the President shall stabilize wages, being able to prohibit wage rises where they might require an increase in price ceilings or impose hardships or inequities on sellers. This will result in a Presidential decision on whether a wage increase will mean a hardship, a speaker pointed out. "It will not be too long," stated Secretary of Commerce Sawyer, "before there will b e allocation of essential raw materials under the mobilization program." Many manufacturers have told Mr. Sawyer they hope that allocating will remain on a private, rather than governmental, basis. Meanwhile apparently b u t few defense orders have so far been placed—at least orders that require re-tooling and rearrangement of plants. A survey of a typical war production center, Bridgeport, Conn., revealed practically no strictly war orders received. T h e steel industry finds that so far civilian needs have not suffered perceptibly from defense demands. Considerable steel has been assigned to rail3542
road car builders who will tr\ to break the bottleneck irom lack of cars. In the chemical field the soda ash and related strikes have ended after much damage has been done. Of more than casual interest is the report that Russia is prepared to sell 1,000 tons of glycerol to the United States. Since this is a strategic
war material, along with manganese and chrome sold us, they doubtless need dollars. The Survey of Current Business for September comments that in the period between June 27 and Sept. 5 the all-commodity wholesale index of the Bureau of Labor Statistics rose 6.6'/< of which 4% occurred in t h e first half of the period Most of the rise since Aug. 1 has been in building materials, textiles, and chemicals. Now to consider the accompanying graph.·», the matter of prices is especialh pertinent in these da> s of dangerous inflation. Here t h e rise in August over July for chemicals and allied products is over 5 points on the index scale by comparison with 4 points for wholesale commodities generally, T h u s the index figures for chemicals .ire 1 16.7 for J ul\ and 122.0
CHEMICAL PRICES vs. ALL WHOLESALE COMMODITIES BASE YEAR INDEX 1926 = 100
180 100 140 120 CHEMICALS A N D
100
ALLIED PRODUCTS
80
1 1 1 1 11 1I I ! I j n i m i i i i
1 1 1 1! 1 ! ! 1 1I
1950
1949
1948 PAPER, UNFILLED ORDERS EXCLUDING BUILDING PAPER. NEWSPRINT, AND PAPERBOARD, THOUSANDS OF SHORT TONS
SALES OF DRUGS Bf WHOLESALERS. INCLUDING LIQUOR. MILLIONS OF DOLLARS
Ç5,
/
L
I
150 ' I ' l l
'•"·' "
" '
. « ' * ' "
'
ALUMINUM PRODUCTION
INDUSTRIAL EXPLOSIVES SHIPMENTS O F BLACK BLASTING
PRIMARY
POWDER AND H I G H EXPLOSIVES. MILLIONS OF POUNDS
THOUSANDS OF SHORT TONS
CHEMICAL AND ENGINEERING NEWS
CHEMICAL
AND
ENGINEERING
NEWS
for August; for all commodities, 161.9 for July and 165.9 for August. In the case of commodities generally the August levels were about on a par with the highs for 1948, yet chemicals have still far to go to equal price levels in early 1948. Thus in January, 1948, the index figure was 138.8 for chemicals and 165.7 for all commodities as against 165.9 for August, 1950. It is quite probable that official Washington is studying these very figures in contemplating possibility of freezing prices, and at what levels and as of what date to roll back prices to, if roll-backs are decided on. In the metals industry, to which chemicals are related, some new high price levels for all time have been encountered, such as for cadmium. The tin price is over $1 per pound on one of the rare occasions. Platimuni has often sold recently at over $100 per ounce, as against $66 on June 25, 1950. Continuing with the accompanying graphs, the large gain in unfilled orders for paper in July has .lecessitated revision of our graph, as otherwise the line would have extended far through the "roof." Such chart revisions have been made fairly frequently in recent months, an eloquent proof of the stupendous industrial pace. These unfilled paper orders at end of July stood at 775,090 tons against 565,525 tons in June and only 368,430 tons on July 31, 1949. Paper becomes scarce during wars which accounts for the rush of orders. Sales of drugs, including liquor, by wholesalers in July came to $141 million versus $142 million in June and $129 million in July, 1949. Subtracting the liquor, as the Women's Christian Temperance Union has long advocated, July sales of drugs were $50 million, up 10% from the year before. Aluminum Production Increases Production of primary aluminum in July was 63,517 tons against 60,400 tons in June and 55,777 tons in July 1949. An official statement of the Aluminum Association is that the United States aluminum industry is now producing metal at the rate of 725,000 tons yearly, or 17r/r over 1949 production. Hence aluminum production approaches the million tons of copper produced yearly, but aluminum, being lighter in weight, goes farther. It is said officially that an overnight increase in primary aluminum production is not possible, though several pot lines are now in process of being moved by private industry from government-owned plants to locations where electric power exists. Shipments of black blasting powder and high explosives in July were 56.3 million pounds, compared with 60.9 million in June and 46.5 million in July 1949.
NIAARA ALKALI COMPANY NIAARA ALKALI COMPANY Penicillin, one of t h e niiracles of modern medicine, must be delivered to the patient with its eifectiveness unimpaired. This great germ-killer is quickly ruined by t h e soluble elements found in ordinary bottle glass. Until recently, a much more costly glass had to be used for Penicillin containers. This problem was permanently licked by ''Virginia" know-how in developing a successful application of "Virginia" Liquid Sulfur Dioxide (S0 2 ) in the manufacturing of inexpensive soda-lime glass bottles. T h e improvement in t h e quality of these bottles was made possible by t h e introduction of small quantities of our low-cost SO z into the cooling lehr of t h e glass production line, thus eliminating t h e u n d e sirable surface alkalis. " V i r g i n i a " technicians are thoroughly familiar with this use of SO z —as triey are with its properties a s a reducing agent, bleach, antichlor, a n d p H control — through 29 years' experience with it in over 40 different industries. This unmatched proficiency in t h e application of low-cost S 0 2 may be of immense value to y o u if your processes call for a chemical of its varied capacities. It may work wonders with your p r o duction costs and the quality of your product. We'd like to cooperate with you in finding o u t . Send for our free S 0 2 booklet. VIRGINIA
SMELTING COMPANY,
Box 5 1 , West Norfolk, Virginia.
CHART CREDITS: Chemical PricesU. S. Department of Labor; Paper—American Paper and Pulp Association; DrugsBureau of the Census; Aluminum—The Aluminum Association; Explosives—Department of Commerce. V O L U M E
2 8,
NO.
4 1
OCTOBER
9,
1950
3543
