8
MAIL TRIBUNE, Medford. Or.
Sunday, Jan. 3, 1940
Fast decade Saw Americans Prosper
Respite 'War Two EBusiness SBumps
Washington -IUPD- Ameri-ltion to grow faster than the
cans enjoyed unprecedented rise in population, take-home
prosperity in the 1950s de- pay for each man, woman
spite a "little war" in Korea and child in the nation in
and two business slumps.
It was a decade in which
the bountiful productivity of
the U.S. economy managed
to keep the nation supplied
with both guns and butter.
Spurred by the tensions of
the cold war, the country
built up a military striking
power unequaled in its peace
time history. At the same
time, American workers,
farmers and businessmen
turned out record volumes of
goods and services and raised
living standards.
Consumer Prices Up
The decade saw consumer
prices go up about 25 per
cent. Inflation replaced un
employment as the nation's
most serious, continuing eco
nomic problem.
Unemployment had been
the devil of the 1930s. In the
1950s it cropped up in two
recessions but never haunted
the man in the street or the
man in the White House as
it had 20 years earlier.
The 1953-4 and 1957-8 re
cessions slowed America's
economic growth. Some said
they were critical setbacks
in the race with communism.
Others said the slumps were
healthful '"breathing spells"
incidental to the progress of
a free economy.
By the end of the decade,
some 67 million Americans
were at work compared with
58 million 10 years earlier.
Population Grows
The population, of course,
had grown too-from 150 mil
lion to nearly 180 million.
Population growth and (he
cold war had a lot to do with
another big increase of the
'50s-federal spending. From
41 billion dollars in 1949,
government spending shot up
sharply . during the Korean
War, edged down for two
years, then turned back up.
Federal outlays of all kinds
are estimated at 95 billion
dollars a year now. Most au
thorities agree that-barring a
major thaw in the cold war
the upward trend will con
tinue. Tax revenues are rising as
individual incomes and corpo
rate profits climb to new
highs. Most politicians hope
mounting tax revenues will
keep the budget balanced as
it ' grows.
' Rising even faster than gov
ernment income was every
body else's. Individual in
comes climbed, setting new
highs year after year, even
during the recessions.
Price increases .wiped out
some of the gains In -wages
and salaries. But even so,
with a post-war boom in
creased about 20 per cent in
real buying power.
More Own Homes
The end of the decade saw
more people living in their
own houses than ever before.
The number of families own
ing their own homes leaped
from 20 million to 29 million,
or to nearly three out of five
non-farm families.
Playing a big role in the
spread of home ownership
was government mortgage
underwriting, which made it
possible for millions of fam
ilies with modest incomes to
borrow the money needed to
buy a house
In fact, borrowing-to-buy
became part of the American
way of life. Formerly, the
man who was continually in
debt was thought a spend
thrift and of questionable
character. Now, installment
buying is accepted and even
respected.
Finding it that way - or
making it so-Americans went
deeper-into hock in the 1930s,
Consumer debts soared from
S17.305.000.000 in 1949 to
.$48,000,0000,000 this year.
"No down payment" displac
ed "money back guarantee"
as the merchant's favorite
come-on.
People borrowed money to
buy houses more than any
thing else. Autos came sec
ond. The number of passen
ger cars on "the road mush
roomed from 36.453.000 in
1949 to about 58,591,000 this
year.
Credit Curbs
With borrowing helping to
fuel the booms, the govern
ment made credit curbs its
chief anti-inflation weapon.
Federal Reserve restraints on
the growth of credit in good
times led to higher interest
rates and a sharpening of the
controversy over "cheap" ver
sus "tight" money.
Also tied to the inflation
problem was the big boom
in the stock market. People
decided stocks were a good
hedge against inflation be
cause stock prices were go
ing up, too. The number of
American stockholders jump
ed from 6,490.000 in 1952 to
12,490,000 in 1959, according
to the New York Stock Ex
change. An outstanding feature of
the boom-which saw the mar
ket's industrial average zoom
more than threefold-was the
popularity of mutual funds.
Many "little capitalists" put
their money into the funds,
letting professional managers
make buy and sell decisions.
On the nation's farms, the
1950s brought a merry-go-
livestock production jumped j 000 in mid-1950 to nearly $8,-
25 per cent but the number
of farms and farmers de
clined. Scientifically blend
ed, medicated feeds treated
with drugs and chemicals un
known a decade ago boosted
livestock and poultry produc
tion. New plant varieties and
fertilizing practices lifted
crop yields per acre to an
all-time record in 1958, with
1959 almost as good.
The number of farms
dropped from 5,382,000 in
1950 to 4,645,000 in 1959.
Farm population shrank from
25,058,000 as the decade open
ed to 20,800,000 last year.
Farm Prices Off
Although production soar
ed, the pocketbook side of the
farm story was not so bright.
Most farm prices fell. Net
farm income tumbled from a
high of 515,158.000.000 in
1951 to an estimated $11,500,
000,000 in 1959.
Surpluses held by-the gov
ernment under its farm price
support programs piled up.
They rose from $3,500,000,-
capital goods helping produc- round of change. Crop . and
2100
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John Day Returns
From Club Meet
John Day, Gold Rey ranch.
Central Point, has returned
from New York City where
he attended the annual meet
ing of the Boone and Crockett
club, of which he is a new
member.
The club, in which member
ship is limited to 100 persons,
was founded in 1888 by Theo
dore Roosevelt, who was its
first president.
Among the purposes of the
club are "to promote manly
sport with the rifle; to pro
mote travel and exploration
in wild and unknown, or but
partially known, lands; and
to work for the preservation
of the wild animal life of this
country, especially big game,
and so far as possible, to fur
ther "legislation for that pur
pose, to assist in -enforcing
the existing laws, and to edu
cate the American public in
the importance of proper
game preservation."
One of the requirements for
membership is that the per
son must have killed with
the rifle, in fair chase, at
least one adult male indi
vidual of at least three species
of American large game."
The club is recognized as
one of the most powerful non
political organizations pro
moting conservation and wild
life ' preservation.
Every two years, he added,
the club sponsors the measur
ing and determining of rec
ords for North American big
game.
'Many' Considered
As GOP Keynoter
Washington (UPD A Repub
lican national committee
spokesman said Thursday
that Gov. Mark Hatfield of
Oregon is "one of several"
persons being considered for
keynote speaker at the 1960
GOP convention.
But the spokesman said
"many more" persons, includ
ing Gov. William F. Quinn of
Hawaii, also are in the run
ning. The committee official said
selection of a keynote speak
er is "no further along now
than it was several weeks
ago." He said it probably
would be "quite a while" be
fore a speaker is picked.
Hatfield and Quinn were
mentioned prominently for
the honor at a recent Califor
nia meeting of the western
conference of GOP national
committeemen and state
chairmen. The committee
spokesman said that both gov
ernors received "considerable
support" at the conference.
650,000,000 by mid-1959.
Burgeoning farm output,
mounting surpluses, falling
farm income and a sharp
policy split between Republi
cans and Democrats as well
as within the parties them
selves promised to make the
farm problem one of the hot
political issues of the new
decade.
Prosperity, however won
derful, was not new. There
had been good times before.
But another side of the eco
nomic story of the 1950's-aid
to foreign countries-was a
landmark in American his
tory. Through the Marshall
Plan, military . support for
NATO and technical assist
ance and loans to less devel
oped countries, the United
States poured billions of dol
lars into the economies of
friendly and "neutral" na
tions. War-torn economies bounc
ed back, in part because of
American assistance, in great
er measure through the ef
forts of the countries them
selves. By 1959, Japan, Great
Britain, France, West Ger
many, Italy and to a lesser
extent a number of other na
tions were competing with
the United States for world
markets.
In the younger countries of
Asia and Africa, U.S. dollars
vied with Soviet rubles to win
friends and prove the superi
ority of their respective eco
nomic systems.
Premier Nikita Khrushchev
personally carried the Soviet
challenge to this country and
blunty told Americans face-to-face
that the Soviet system
could and would whip the
American economy. He said
communism would bury cap
italism under a deluge of
goods and services which the
American economy could not
match.
Many Americans agreed
with Khrushchev that the
new decade, and beyond,
would see the cold war
fought, not in the trenches,
the skies or the diplomatic
conference rooms but in the
factories, mines, power sta
tions and fields of the two
strongest nations on earth.
Easy-Made Blouse
0HEt
CRIPPLED ACTOR WEDS
New York- (UPD -Polio crip
pled British actor Michael
Flanders, 37, was married
Thursday sitting in the same
wheelchair he uses in the
Broadway show "At the Drop
of a Hat." Flanders and Clau
dia Davis, 26, daughter of a
Columbia university profes
sor, were married in a civil
ceremony at his apartment.
The Alberta village of Gro-
uard, 230 miles north of Ed
monton, was named after the
Roman Catholic missionary,
Emile Grouard.
Mrcifo) 9166
1 y f sizes
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Printed Pattern 9166: Miss
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Printed directions on each
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Send Thirty-fir cents
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4
Sixth and Central
C.'S' YOU MEMORIAL PARK