Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 8 May 1949 — Page 30

A CHIEORI RT ee i Ne a Ta

4 : gs 0. 1

nsurance Co. Inquiry!

* ‘Just Want fo See Facts,’ Says Celler; | Quiz Group to Study State Laws

HAROLD H. HARTLEY, Times Business Editor INSURANCE companies which have escaped most of the legislative harness fashioned by Congress for the nation’s banks soon will come under the scrutiny of a congressional investigation. | Insurance companies also have cut a wide swath in the real es-

Banks won't mind this much because most of them . ife insura .|tate lending business. They len De dipped os any amount from a few hundred the banking business without /3°1ars into the millions,

; | They have entered the real eshg» conform to the bank-|,.i, evelopment business in a

. iblg way. The Meadowbrook It is ‘true that the insurance Apartments are an example companies have invaded the com-{which has been duplicated in mercial leading field in -a big/many other cities. way. They made a multi-million The interested members of dollar loan to Dutch Shell, and Congress do not believe for a they have mopped up some of the minute that the companies are gas and pipeline securities with-ifailing to pay benefits or profitout so much as giving the public|ing too much out of lapsed polf-| & look-in, cies.

Banking Loans

trol insurance companies. Behind the picture is the inescapable truth that the insurance companies have been grabbing off some of the better straight bank« ing loans at a time when bankers would like to lend their money on §004 security, | “We just want to take a formal The insurance companies of In-jook {nto their operation,” sald @lana will not escape the inquiry. pep ‘Emanuel Cellar, New York Hoosier insurance laws make it pemocrat, “We want to see the comparatively easy to start aigaots and if a remedy is needed, company and this is probably the the acts will point it out.” reason so many have taken root) Many such investigations which and flourished in the state. lstart off with such sugar-and-But Congress promises this willicream politenéss, develop into be a “nice” investigation with no/rough-and-tumble verbal bouts. red faces, no name-calling or any-' And, if someone gets hurt, it won't thing to embarrass the industry. [be Congress. The spending slowdown is causing con-

. / Time fo Buy? cern among retail outlets. They talk of & “psychological recession.” They also have another neat little phrase, the “waiting market,” meaning, of course, that buyers are waiting for prices to go down, One sensible line of reasoning is not getting ‘much consideration.

! !

The investigating committee will examine the laws of the state which con-

Promises No ‘Red Faces’

You now can see your future home as it will appear com

throughout, It opens for public inspection today at 1:30 p.m.

HE INDIANAPOLIS TIMES Home Show Idea

furnished, an idea similar to

: pletely that developed by the annual Home Show. This "“Package-Plan” house at 2455 Sheridan Ave. in Windsor Village is furnished by Frank's Furniture Co. and has General Electric kitchen equipment

Chicago Sears Executive To Manage Local Stores

Russell L. Savoge Named fo Succeed

M. C. Carpenter in Position Here

Russell L. Savage has been appointed general manager of Indianapolis’ three Sears Stores and . = three warehouses, H. F. Murphy, company vice president, announced yesterday. Mr. Bavage was manager of the Englewood store in Chicago for the last year. Before he managed Sears Western Ave, store in Chicago for five years. He managed a Bears store in Aurora, IIL, for 10 years. He began with the company in the Mail Order Dept. 22 years ago. Active In Civic Affairs “He is a member of the Chicago Kiwanis Club, Ridge Country Club, a director of the Englewood Business Men's Association, vice president of the Chicago Council of Boy Scouts, community chairs man of Boy Scouts, and director . or the Sourhtows YMCA of Cini. = °° * Now Sears manager cago. He aucogeds M. C. Carpenter Mr, and Mrs, Savage and their,who has been promoted to zone two sons will move to Indlanapo- manager in charge of B stores lis immediately. in parts of five states.

Machine Tool Orders Rise

Russell L. Savage

It ia based on the premise that people are getting caught up on their post-war wants. Another point is that there is no need to rush in and buy when the item is plentiful, There may be something to this “mass psychology” theory and there may not be. It is perfectly ‘ natural when the word gets around that prices are confing down for pee to walt for the The catch in the “waiting mar-

ket” is that people know neither : “Just as ‘he buyer gets pinched when prices Ratio Counts rise ahead of incomes, so the seller is pressed when prices fall ahead of incomes. And that is the kind of market we are dealing with today. The ratio between income and prices keeps at a fairly level keel a spite of the fact that it is in a constant state of change, Today would seem, and you can judge ETN YY for yourself, Fuoy ~ en) age Gone With the Wind.” He sald the advantage. But he might notithere are only two times in which be in as good a position a year to make real money, (1) when from now. prosperity is booming and (2)

how soon nor how much prices are coming down. All they feel sure of is the direction of prices, What they have to watch for is another shrinkage. That is earn ing power. It could well be that this is the most opportune time to buy with incomes still relatively high and prices down. A $20 dress on a $50 a week income is still cheaper than the same dress at $18 on a $40 a week income. That is something to think about.

the well-spoken words of the adventuresome Rhett

"The new Dodge two-door Wayfarer, now in production, . . It is powered by the same engine used in other Dodge cars, has Fluid Drive and extra-size cushion tires as standard equipment.

Squirrel Cage

tered lives, protected from the realism of human problems.

gathering up spiritual wreckage, trying to put it together again.

For 1st Time Since 1946

By JOHN W. LOVE, Scripps-Howard Staff Writer | : A change for the better which has nothing to do with spring is-the increase in orders for new machine tools, it is not seasonal. It stands almost alone among the reports of continuing if mild decline throughout the business in durable goods. ! : New orders received by the industry in March, according to the preliminary figure from the National Machine Tool Builders’ Association, were up considerably from those published in February and higher than they have been at any time since 1946, It is the first evidence of upturn in that trade since the slump of late 1946. It is juat about the first evidence anywhere since the recession began, save in those arts like construction where a revival always occurs this time of year.

John Burke to Speak At ND Commencement

Times State Service SOUTH BEND, May T7—John

8. Burke, president of B. Altman & Co., New York City, and

It might be well to remember When business is going to pleces. If he was right, now is the time Butler. .in'to buy, Next year may be too late:

Last week in the Columbia Club several ministers and a rabbl sat at lunch together. They revealed that men of the cloth live far from clois-

Indeed, quite often, a minister finds himself down on his knees,

Part of the explanation in the receipt of foreign orders—more this year than any time in 1948. Some of these flow from the authorizations of the Economic Cooperation Administration. Its allotments for machinery and equipment have been rising. But this is only about half the reasor® for the turn in machine tools. The remainder is in scattering orders from a variety of directions, including large tools lcapable of handling work on gen-

WM erators for the power companies.

These companies are continuing to expand, and it would take deep depression to cut them off.

In the machinery and equip-

i iment industry in general the

story is still dismal, Manutocturers go on overproducing— they turn out each month more goods than they receive orders for in the same month. Thus they continue to catch up. Perhaps there's evidence of revival in another line of machinery, that for office and store use. Results of the first postwar sales contest in National Cash Register are reported to be “almost

Rabbl' Mautice Goldblatt had been reading John P. Marquand'’s "Point of No Return.” He was fascinated by the main character whose sole aim in life was getting 8 vice presidency in his bank. It

Dr. Metho question.

a little more prestige,

a better. nourished ego. alone,

it sometimes ruins them

ministers, one of whom was Dr. handed to them without effort.

Pinpoint Troubles

His piercing introspect added up to this, worth remembering:

of influence, are mere pinpoints| ~~ in the eternal sweep of time. Yet

themselves into early graves over

It business men remembered (ne futility of spinning the whee

this in the heat of contest, there in their busi would be much less angina pec-

hold together little fortunes with eloquence of their fri which to spoil their children. I pressed only in flowers. * Col. Everett L, Gardner, director of the In Looking Up diana Employment Security Division, las

week dropped a few refreshing facts into the worried minds o business men. He yreported that the number of initial jobless pay claim

ment pictures all over the state is looking up.

What is happening is that while

New for the highway touring 1

Jicking up. Seasonal, but enough * give the employment balance a favorable tilt. ' General Motors produced 251, cars and trucks in the United

Ee and Canada in April, the high since the war. .,.. 0. W

for every 5170 persons. L. O. Head, president of th

Motors, 1018 N. ] off. a sales he offered a used car last

. .

dent. : Bausch & Lamb Optical

one of the nation’s leading Catholic laymen, will deliver the main

address at the University of Notre Dame commencement exercises June 5. The Rev. Paul Bussard of St, Paul, Minn, editor of the ‘“Catholic Digest,” will deliver the baccalaureate address on commencement Sunday. The Most Rev. John F. Noll, D. D., bishop of Ft. Wayne, will celebrate the baccalaureate mass. The speakers were announced today by the Rev. John J. Cavanaugh, C. 8, C., president of Notre Dame.

British Local Elections

To Test Political Trend LONDON, May 7 (UP)— Britain's two major political parties will clash next week in coun-try-wide local elections that are expected to show whether the nation's voters are tiring of Soclalism. The battle grounds for Labor and Conservative party candidates will be 7000 tiny parishes (county sub-divisions), 410 totwns

Howard Baumgartel, executive secretary of the Indianapolis Church Federation,” and another Dallas Browning of North dist Church, . pondered the

was something for which he had| * what men strive for usually is Will be spread through the week. to stand in line. When he got It not wortk: the effort and often 1s FDIC Director : he would have a little more money, | tneir undoing, If they seek money| CRASH KILLS UTAH CADET

and almost invariably their sons What does it amount to? The and daughters who have it

Rabbi Goldblatt's thought brought the discussion to a meditative lull,

“Men struggle and worry through their lives for things which do not have much permanent value. They are never as important as they allow themselves to think they are. Their lives; their range

The question most business men

1 should ask in their heights of they get tangled up and WOTTY | anxiety is simply this: “It is real-

Most men spend their lives in

ness squirrel cages, acquiring only enough for the toris and coronary thrombosis, empty honor of a bronze coffin

and far fewer widows trying to and a room filled with the mute! ends, ex-| 1

dropped to the lowest level since Jan. 1, and added that the employ-

the lang yacht which is really a us th all of the h - manufacturing plants continue to torts. It's made in LT, peel payrolls gradually, the build-| O., and carries price tags from-— ing industry and agriculture are | hold your hat-—$18,000 to $33,000. . « There were 663 patents grant. led to Hooslers in 1048. That's one patent, says the Business Library,

Railway Express Agency since 1832, has retired after 50 years of service. His successor is Alfred L. Hammell, executive vice presi-

Co. is offering a new series of nine motion picture lenses for home mo-vie-makers—

and 1047 urban and rural districts in England and Wales. The larger communities and cities will vote Thursday for borough councillors : while elections in the smaller localities

fantastic.” Orders turned in to Dayton in March were 41 per cent over those of the largest previous month in the company’s history.

To Speak Here

WACO, Tex., May 7 (UP)—Au-

On the Farm—

Huge Wheat Crop

May Shrink Prices

Lack of Storage Bins,

Farmers’ Big Worry By HARRY MARTIN Times Farm Writer An unseasonable dash of midAugust weather kept Indiana farmers jogging from barnyard to field on tractors to finish spring plowing. With 90-degree

temperatures, some still said there could be a frost before month-end. : The warm sun made things grow. Winter wheat already had had a good start. Barring rust and weather damage, it looked as if Indiana again would have a price-depressing surplus. The key to handling what appears to be another bumper wheat crop is storage facilities. Jake Kiefer of the Indiana Grain Co-op said “the wheat farmers’ prosperity depends on storage. The government cannot build bins fast enough for this year’s crop.”

Farmers who depend upon whole milk for a steady cash income are getting about $4.35 per hundred pounds for 4 per cent milk. Last year they got $5.85. And milk still retails at 18 cents a quart. : Has the Answer George E. Kasting, 68, Seymour, has the answer to “How're you gonna keep 'em down on the farm?” Five of his sons, Lynn, Roland, Dennis, John and Wilford, farm his land. “And when Frank gets ready to farm, I've got a farm for him, too.” - | Each son farms 200 acres or more. The father owns the land. The boys get half of what they produce without a land investment. Last year the Kasting interests shipped about 1000 hogs to market and have fed 2500 yearlings and lambs and 250 cattle.

Ingrid’'s Hubby Wants To Catch Up on Sleep

PARIS, May 7 (UP)—Paris in the spring, Dr. Peter Lindstrom indicated today, may be as good a place as any to await a reunion with his actress-wife, “Ingrid Bergman. The Hollywood surgeon said he would remain here indefinitely while Miss Bergman is making a movie with Italian Director Roberto Rossellini on the Mediterranfan island of Stromboli. There

. |have been rumors of a romance

between Miss Bergman and Rossellini. Dr. Lindstrom arrived here by plane from Rome early today. “All IT want to do is to sleep and eat and see friends here,” he told newsmen. “I am very tired and all I want ia to be-left alone.”

Beer Signs Keep Czechs From Honoring Yanks

7 (UP)—Two large, painted billboards

R. Earl Cook, director of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. |

nual convention next Wednesday | Planes. and Tharsday in the Claypool Hotel. He will speak

conflicts which hardly amount to 'Y Important? And how much a jump of the second hand on the! will it mean a year or five years MAY 4 eternal clock.” {from now?" Mr. Cook was

appointed by President Truman as the Republican director of FDIC in the spring of 1047. At that time he was Ohio superintendent of Banks and had served as president of| the Second National Bank of| Bucyrus, O. He headed the Ohio Bankers Association from 1036 to! 1939. More than 800 Hoosier bankers will attend the convention,

Mr. Cook

t f

Opens Own Business

Sam White, former radio and newspaper advertising executive, has opened a business of his own called “Practical Aids to! Sales” based on premium tech-| niques. He is a representative of premium manufacturers.

thorities at Waco Airforce Base

ALL THIS WEEK AT ALL STORES

PANT

CLEANED AND PRESSED ’ 9:

TO SERVE YOU

| British flags.

T0 14

Wednesday

BREA

TEAL

KRONE Wabash 4521 FOR STORE Nearest You

Industral List

SERN SF RE AO

—

Outlook

a AB eg

in the Na

Leads Upturn In Stocks

Market Rounds Out 5 Plus Sessions as

mands attention.

NEW YORK, May T—Stocks He's that bold man who

Sees No Down Spira Comnarable to 1920-21

Tool Orders, Small Building Jobs,

Tend to Resfrain Runaway Decline By J. A. LIVINGSTON WHEREVER and whenever government officials, busi‘|ness men, or labor leaders gather, the positive prophet com-

~~ SUNDAY, MAY 81949 SUNDA

tion

ral |

will declare that the Federal

registered a small net gain in the first week of May after values had been hacked down by $1,280,000,000 during April. Industrial issues led the upturn. They rose steadily through Wednesday, . rounding- out five sessions of plus marks in the average. : Utilities and rails made irregular gains with them. Trading picked up and in the Wednesday session, volume crossed the million share mark for the first time since Apr. 21 and the 10th time this year. Wall Street interpreted favorably the move to lift the Berlin blockade and the vote on the Wood labor bill and then changed its views on both.

: Dip in Late Trade While the Berlin situation might be a move toward peace, Wall Street read a deflation slant into it. As for the labor bill, first impressions were that labor legislation was over for the session of Congress but later it was indicated new moves would be made to repeal the Taft-Hartley Act. Stocks moved up and down on these interpretations selling off late in the week. eantime, business news was mixed. Enough businesses showed gains to lift the indexes slightly and keep them above a year ago. Predictions that oil and its products would have a consumption figure four per cent over last year stimulated buying in the oils early in the week and they held fair-sized gains. Steels Unchanged Steels were poor performers and on balance were about unchanged. Motors moved higher. Selected issues in the rails and utilities had advances ranging to 2 points. > Copper shares were unsettled by price uncertainties in that industry. © Foods, tire issues, tobaccos, and some mercantiles firmed. Chemicals generally were better. Late in the week, the high priced industrials were depressed from their highs made earlier, Other issues sagged with them. — Steel operations dipped a small fraction because of some shutdowns for repairs. Iron Age an-

Reserve Board index of production won't go below, say, 175 as compared with 184 in March and a November peak of 195, that the wholesale price index, now 156, will stabilize at 150, that unemployment won't rise from its present level of 3 million to much above 4.5 million. Happy fellow, he mesmerizes himself and others with his assurance. But there's a 50-50 chance that being positive, as Ambrose Bierce phrased it, is merely to be “mis-

Job Shrinkage

ruary, March and April last year, drop in nonagricultura is 2 million below the December

Nonagricultural Employment (000 omitted) Month 1048-9 1947-8 December ....... 52,059 50,985 January ........ 50,651 50,089 February ese... 50,174 50,368 March ...ceessos 50,254 50,482 April c.cveveee.. 49,099 50,883

For the first time since the war, nonagricultural employment is noticeably below the year before. That brings up the pérennial poser: Will the decline in employment produce a drop in purchasing power which then produces a drop in demand for goods which

Limits to Caution

March, 296 department s that their inventories totaled $91 the year before. This comparison tailers this year were just enterin year they'd finished it. So you'd expect the figures to be reversed. What's more, outstanding orders were only $314 million as compared with $419 million at the end of March, 1948. But caution has its limits. Manufacturers, wholesalers and, retailers alike are eating into in-| ventories. The National City Bank of New York observes that the reduction in orders from automobile companies is: re ‘ynwible for the marked drop in demand and price for nonferrous metals— copper, lead and zinc. Yet produc-

1 employment was recovered,

taken at the top of one’s voice” This is a time when modesty in judicious,

tomers, It's a time when the feel of things, of the underlying forces of supply and demand, of the probable actions of millions of producers and consumers, ine cluding individuals, corporations, state and local governments, ithe federal government, and foreign buyers and sellers is all-importe ant. And who, hefting such great masses of indefiniteness, can be sure he has the right feel?

One fact is clear: ‘A spring upturn has not yet developed. Whereas during Febe

y all the December-January this year April Here are the figures con-

nearl

total.

trasting the first four months this year with last year:

then forces production and employment down which then, by curtailing the demand for goods gome more, starts the process all over again? It's far too soon to answer. Take out the drop in prices, and retail sales are hardly down from a year ago. Consider department stores. During March and April, dollar totals ran about 6 per cent below last year. But prices were down as much as 3 to 5 per cent. Thus the volume of goods moved, which, after all, is what keeps factories busy in the long run, was almost as high as last year,

The decline in dollar totals has not gone unheeded. At the end of tores reported to the Federal Reserve Board

0 million as against $940 million is especially dramatic because reg the Easter season, whereas last

ultimately, auto companies will have to reorder. For a full-fledged business spiral, consumer demand must shrink perceptibly month after month. Following that, manufacturers must see prospects for sales

{shrinking below expectations. In

turn, overall industrial plant, which had .seemed insufficient a year before, suddenly becomes excessive. . "Businessmen’ begin ta stop orders for new equipment, put aside any programs for expansion.

ticipates the industry will be able to operate near full capacity for the next 60 days. Construction Lags Construction fell 11 per cent during the week, but was 16 per cent over the corresponding week of last year. Electricity output had another seasonal decline but was over last year. Crude oil production rose slightly but was well below the 1048 week. Car loadings gained 2 per cent on the week but lost 9 per cent on the year. Lumber, meat and butter production gained for the week and ypar.

J. 1. Miller to Address

Management Society J. I. Miller, president of the Cummins Engine Co,, and direc tor of several other corporations will address the

Advancement of Managemen

{Wednesday evening in the Trav.

|ertine Room of the Lincoln Hotel. j

| His subject will be “What In

{dustrial Management Really Is— |. What It Means—How It Can Be|:

Obtained.” Dinner will be at 6:30 p. m.

Indianapolis|i Chapter of the Society for the|j i

and the meeting at 8 p. m. Rob-|&

The capital goods industries, steel especially, famish,

tion of automobiles is running near the high levels of '29. So,

. Nothing like that appears likely. In My Guess Is e eo ¢ many ny plant installations have brought productive capacity up to demand. But many companies have not bought all the machinery they need. The recent three-month spurt in machine-tool backlogs, after an almost steady drop since mid-1946, is evidence of that. Competition

has heightened interest in cost-| tainty how far and fast the decutting machinery. cline will run, it seems reasonable Moreover, many small construc-|¢, pet that it won’t run away, that tion jobs—put off because con-i wii] stop somewherg near the tractors were busy—are now be-|jimits in the first paragraph. ing undertaken. Look arourd and As I guess it, we're not headed you can see the work—privatel ynts a decline comparable to dwellings, apartment buildings,| 1920-21, or even 1937-38, Too commercial structures and fac-| puch pent-up demand, public tories. and private, still underlies the _ Thus, though there's no cer-| market.

HURRY FOR

ALL METAL

PILSEN, Czechoslovakia, May freshly advertising beer were put up overnight on either side of the monument to American soldiers who liberated this town four years ago Friday. Some 20 laborers went to work shortly after dark last night. Police had been posted at the small park all day Friday to keep Czechs from placing flowers on sald today that aviation cadet/the monument and four stood on Richard Karl White, 24, of Farm- each corner of the plot today. in Washington, will address the ington, Utah, was killed last night

Last year the park was buried Indiana Bankers Association an-|in the ground collision of two

under flowers and American and

Branch Stores Close

Plain Garments DRESSES, SUITS COATS

ANY TWO § FOR

ert McKee of Eli Lilly & Co. is in charge of reservations.

Lilly, Inc., Paint Sales | Show 56 Per Cent Gain |:

Lilly Paint Products, Inc., re-| ported yesterday that the first, four months of 1949 showed a| |56 per cent gain over 1948, and | {102 per cent over 1947, according | to Willlam F. Nixon, vice pruesi dent. Sales in the paint industry for! the same period, he said, showed | a 14 per cent decline.

/ FREE “ MOTH PROOFING AN garmants processed in moth proof solution—insured against molh damage for 6 months unloss cleaned by some olher method Fur, furirimmed, knitted goods and blankets "mn but

EDNESDAY

at 1 P. M.

AERA FHT Tal]

PORCH CHAIRS

S498

s DELIVERS: 1 WEEKLY

OPEN MONDAY TIL 9 P. M. tHe HUB furniture co.

HILE THEY LAST!

2 ARR]

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