Great Day Coming

Said Trustbuster Thurman Arnold to the National Federation of Sales Executives: "We are on the verge of a new industrial age, an age of light metals and plastics and chemicals, an age of unlimited possibilities . . . more abundant housing, cheaper transportation. . . . With the unrestricted production of these new light metals the whole price structure will be lowered. The consumer's dollar is going to be worth much more. Millions of jobs will be created by unleashing this new productive capacity."

There is no reason, he declared, to fear a post-war depression. "The war will operate like a purge," by compelling the U.S. to abandon the idea of restricted production that created want in the midst of plenty during the days of depression. It will make capitalism work, and "after the war we will establish an economy of abundance with a minimum of government regulation and control."

Said General Foods' President Clarence Francis: "What an exciting super-tomorrow it will be. Americans are today making the greatest scientific developments in our history. That is a promise of new levels of employment, industrial activity and human happiness."

Said General Electric's President Charles E. Wilson: "To win our freedom we have built an industrial machine such as the world has never before contemplated. We cannot scale it down to a pre-war level. We cannot think for a minute of dropping back to where we were."

Last week the American people were also feeling better about the post-war world. Before Pearl Harbor the FORTUNE Survey found 69.9% expecting things to be worse after the war than before. Last week the Gallup poll found that a slight majority of the people have now given up the idea of a post-war depression. Businessmen are almost two to one on expecting prosperity with the end of the war, and only the farmer and the lower-income groups who have prospered by the war look forward to the coming of peace with gloomy eyes.

In Canada 76.3% of the people (and 82.2% of those with a definite opinion) now favor free trade with the U.S. after the war, the FORTUNE Survey of Public Opinion reveals this month. In the U.S. 62.1% (or 76%, after eliminating the "don't knows") feel the same way about free trade with Canada.

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