Holiday Glow

Nearly everyone has had a try at defining prosperity-from Cal Coolidge to Joseph Wood Krutch-but nothing defines it so well as the sights and sounds it produces. The surge of Christmas shoppers into the nation's stores last week assured retailers of the biggest selling season in history (up 6% over the 1963 Christmas season) to end a prosperous year. Other businessmen, some of whom have been fretting about a possible slowdown in 1965's second half, seemed affected by the holiday glow.

Predictions of even better business in 1965 came from the corporate chiefs of General Electric, Standard Oil (New Jersey), Westinghouse, Texaco, Alcoa and General Motors, which announced that its sales and earnings will set new records in 1964. Leaving aside whatever worries the new year may bring, top men in their fields predicted sales rises in 1965 for the appliance industry, the plastics industry, the construction industry and the airlines.

From the National Industrial Conference Board came a prediction that U.S. business in 1965 will have a better year than in 1964-but that the economy will have to work harder to overcome more obstacles to reach that level. After all, as Teddy Roosevelt saw it, prosperity draws its strength from "business energy and enterprise, from hard unsparing effort."

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.