STATE OF BUSINESS: Facts & Figures, May 3, 1948

Red Ahead? The packaging industry, which has to work well in advance of most manufacturers, is inclined to think that the crest of the boom has been reached. In a poll by the American Management Association, 67% of the packagers said they thought a mild recession was not far off. The majority opinion: the recession would start in five to nine months, last six months to a year.

Red Behind. Proud as any small country bank, the International Bank for Reconstruction & Development announced that it had come profitably through its salad days. In nine months, President John J. McCloy had turned the World Bank's $1,063,805 deficit into $1,178,792 profit. Chief income: interest on $497,000,000 in loans to France, The Netherlands, Denmark and Luxemburg.

Rate Peace. CAB called a halt to the rate war between scheduled and independent air freight carriers (TIME, Oct. 6). It set a new minimum rate of 16¢ a ton mile for the first 1,000 miles, 13¢ thereafter. CAB thought that lower rates "would endanger the sound development of the air freight industry."

Third Time Around. ICC granted Class I railroads an average boost in freight rates of about 4.2%, the third increase since last October (total average increase: 21.4%). Class I railroads stood to add about $300,000,000 to their revenues, which had been sharply cut by increased labor and operating costs.

Happy Landing. James M. Landis, ex-CAB chairman, was elected a director of Colonial Airlines. It was his first re-entry into the aviation industry since he left his CAB job (TIME, Jan. 12).

No Color Line. By repealing a 62-year-old law, New Jersey became the first of the 21 "butter" states to allow margarine manufacturers to color their product yellow for retail sale.