STATE OF BUSINESS: The Crowded Road Back

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When farm prices and farm-machinery sales began to drop last year, the rest of the economy was still in its biggest boom in history. Last week International Harvester Co. President John L. McCaffrey announced that farm-equipment sales have been picking up since December. Said he: "If we must be among the first to feel the adjustment, perhaps we can be among the first to lead the way back."

Reports from other segments of the economy indicated that a traffic jam was building up on the road back. Items: ¶ Sales in 44 chain stores and mail-order houses in April reversed an eight-month slide, pushed 4.4% higher than a year ago. ¶The stock market hit another new high; Dow-Jones industrials rose 1.20, to 322.50. ¶The bond market was booming. Connecticut's first $100 million bond issue for its $398 million toll expressway was snapped up by 250 investment bankers. The Treasury Department offered $2.2 billion in 4¼-year notes, got so many orders that it had to turn down $7.5 billion.

Total production in the first quarter was at an annual rate of $357.8 billion, down only 1.5% from a year ago. Said a top Commerce Department official: "Gross national product is midway between the alltime record . . . in 1953 and the . . . total for 1952. I can't see how anyone can say we are even in a serious recession . . . when output is between . . . a very good year and an alltime high."