Business & Finance: Professor's Purge

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Unfortunately, the McKinsey crystal ball had predicted a small cotton crop this year. When it turned out to be immense, the Marshall Field manufacturing division took a whale of a loss on its huge cotton orders. What was worse, Mr. McKinsey, for all his theoretical skill, foresaw no business depression ahead and the manufacturing division kept on turning out goods at top speed all last spring. When excess inventory caught up with the Fieldcrest mills, they were definitely hard hit. The manufacturing division is now contracting like a scared shellfish.

Despite this misfortune, Marshall Field & Co. now has no big worries. Profits last year amounted to $2,878,000, small beside the bonanza $10,000,000 of 1927, but attractive compared to an $8,000,000 loss in 1932. And Chairman McKinsey's widow and twin sons need not worry about the necessities of life. Though James McKinsey was a professor and died at only 48, he left some $875,000.