U.S. Business: WHAT THEY'RE SAYING

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In an anxious economy, the moods and opinions of top businessmen take on added importance. While their opinions were mixed, their mood last week was still generally optimistic. A sampling:

> ROBERT W. GALVIN, chairman of Chicago-based Motorola, Inc.: "I see a continued rise through 1967. Whether auto production is up or down 2% doesn't matter. The new technology will result in new products and new demand. Technology is making the present means of production obsolete, so we have to invest to stay in business and capital investment will thus stay high. I don't see any break in the confidence of businessmen."

> JOHN L. COOPER, president of Massachusetts Investors Growth Stock Fund:* "The earnings of the major companies will be higher in general in 1966, on the order of 10%. On that basis, it would seem logical for the stock market to recover somewhat. But we have had a change of psychology hard to predict about, and this is complicated by the fact that there are unpredictable world events—such as the trend in Viet Nam—that will affect the market."

> KELLEY ANDERSON, president of Boston's New England Mutual Life Insurance Co.: "The economy is continuing upward. Taxes should go up, although I wouldn't like it. And Washington should cut out some of these foolish expenditures."

> TILFORD C. GAINES, vice president of the First National Bank of Chicago: "The President would be well advised to have a tax bill introduced in Congress. If it is not needed by August, he can let it die. But if it is needed, then all the committee work will be done. As for the economy, defense spending will level off some time in the next year, and this will have a depressing effect. However, right now all evidence points to a continued upward trend in the months ahead."

> JOSEPH L. BLOCK, chairman of Chicago's Inland Steel Co., who in 1962 helped break the steel price rise by refusing to go along with the rest of the industry: "The wage-price guidelines are unjust, discriminatory and harmful to the economy. Steel and a few other so-called basic industries are expected to adhere rigidly to the prevailing prices, while thousands of others go their merry way and raise prices at will. The Government's attack on inflation should be through the exercise of proper monetary and fiscal policies. Federal expenditures such as public works should be postponed, money tightened and taxes raised."

> THOMAS F. PATTON, chairman of Cleveland's Republic Steel: "A tax increase at this time may prove to be not only unnecessary but also injurious to continuous sound growth. The nation has not yet had sufficient time to feel the full deflationary effects of the increased rates on borrowing, high social security taxes, the upward adjustment in the schedules for tax withholdings and the renewal of certain excise taxes."

> MILLS B. LANE JR., president of Atlanta's Citizens & Southern National Bank: "You know we Americans always overdo things, whether it's an ice cream cone or Scotch and soda. In not too long, we'll be looking for ways to stimulate the economy. The slowdown is beginning already."