Price Inequilibrium
Last week most U. S. businessmen prepared to write off 1938, if not with pleasant memories at least with grim thankfulness. Steel production, at 52% of capacity, was double that of a year ago. The stockmarket, though dawdling, was doing so on a plateau 25% above 1937's year-end levels. Virtually every index of production or distribution—building, power, car loadings —had enjoyed an upward surge.
Yet for one great segment of U. S. economy—the producers of raw materials whose prosperity varies with the price of commodities—"recovery" was still a...