MEDFORD MAIL TRIBUNE. MEDFORD. OREGON
Increased Costs
Destroy Profits
Of Record Sales
- By LEWIS A. WEBEL
: United Press International
; New York-OIPD-The nation's
chemical industry (ailed to
be impressed by i- record
$33 billion sales, in 1962.
. For despite this 10 per cent
jump over 1961, the industry
continued to be plagued by
declining prices and increas
ing costs, resulting in lower
earnings.
.- And prospects for the fu
ture appear to be for much
of the same, according to a
Survey by the Man-ifacturing
Chemists association.
; More than half the chemi
cal producers responding to
the survey expected sales
would increase during the sec
ond half of 1962 from the
first half total of $16.4 bil
lion and nearly three-fourths
also believed this ups rge will
continue through 1963.
Drop Foreseen
However, about half of
these producers foresaw a
drop in earnings both this
year and next with the re
maining 50 per cen about
equally divided between a
small improvement and no
Change.
. Chemical leaders had only
to look at the wholesale price
index for chemicals and al
lied products for support of
this concern. This index aver
aged one per cent less in 1961
than in 1960 and recorded a
further decline of 1.9 per cent
during the first half of 1962.
June, 1962, wholesale , rice
index for chemicals and al
lied products was 97.6 1957
59 equals 100), a 2. per cent
drop below the average of
the new price index period
and the lowest point since
September, 1956. Sixty per
cent of those queried in the
survey expected chemical
prices to continue downward
from the 1962 level.
Increased Overhead
Another cloud in the chemi
cal industry sky is that labor,
raw materials, transportation
and distribution costs In
creased from one to five per
cent during the second half
of 1962 from the first part
of the year. Sixty-three per
cent of those surveyed ex
pected a similar cost increase
in 1963.
'. Despite continuing over-capacity
in many chemical
product linos, industry lead
ers are continuing their capi
tal expenditure expansions on
schedule.
About 97 per cent of those
taking part in the survey re
ported their expansion pro
grams have not been com
pleted and their long term
plans are continuing. Nearly
81 per cent advised that the
major portion of their 19U2
capital expenditures will be
for new plant and equipment
in 1963, a substantial increase
over the $240 million spent
in 1962.
Authorisations Double
The company also said au
thorizations for new projects
in the final half of 1962 were
more than double those made
in the last half of 1961.
Almost without exception,
chemical industry leaders be
lieve enactment of the invest
ment tax credit in the ad
ministration's 1962 tax bill
would have little impact
upon new plant expenditures
this year and in 1963.
Although chemical produc
ers feel a general reduction
in the U.S. corporate tax
rates would have a greater
impact on business expansion,
a majority of those question
ed said they would be unwill
ing to see a tax cut without
a subsequent reduction in
federal expenditure.
In the other area where
the federal government holds
paramount power - foreign
trade - industry lea'' :s all
agreed the effect on the chem
ical industry of the presi
dent's trade expansion law
could only be determined by
the way in which the act is
to be administered.
An interesting sidelight to
the 1962 chemical story is
rather than for improvements
in existing equipment.
Capital expenditures are
estimated to reach $1.65 bil
lion in 1962, compared with
$1.7 billion in 1961, according
to the U.S. Department of
Commerce and the Securities
and Exchange commission.
Du Pont, the nation's larg
est chemical concern, has an
nounced plans to invest $350
million in construction of
new and improved plant,
laboratory and other facilities
the effect a best-selling novel
had on the industry.
Investigations
As a result of Rachel Car
son's attack on pesticides and
herbicides in her book, "Si
lent Spring," a full-scale In
vestigation of government ac
tivities with respect to pesti
cides and other chemicals in
the environment is under
way. The outcome, producers
fear, may be increased gov
ernment control oe.- pesti
cide testing and marketing.
The Manufacturing Chem
ists association and National
Agricultural Chemicals asso
ciation are preparing a re
buttal entitled, "Pesticide,
Fact and Fancy" and industry
opinion seems to be some
workable solution will ha e
been reached on problems in
the pesticide area by the
spring of 1963, the next ma
jor selling season.
California leads in
Stereo Broadcasting
New York -IT&- Running
neck and neck with New
York in the race for the na
tion's largest population Cali
fornia already is way ahead
in another area-stereophonic
sound.
The 1963 Stereo Hi-Fi di
rectory reports California has
31 FM radio stations broad
casting Stereo Multiplex pro
grams. This tops the Empire
state almost three to one. Tied
for second statewide stereo
broadcasting are Texas and
Ohio, each with 17 FM Stereo
stations.
THURSDAY, JANUARY 10. 1963
About one million Ameri
cans have undetected diabetes.
Earth Tremors May Provide Key to Detection of Blasts
B 3
By DAN PIENAAR
United Press International
Johannesburg. South Afri
ca - (I'Hl - The 200 or so earth
tremors that rock Johannes
burg every month may hold
the key to a foolproof sys
tem for detecting secret un
derground nuclear tests.
Local scientists, aided by
an American research grant,
are using the seismic force
of these "man-made" tremors
to study the behavior of shock
waves through the earth's up
per mantle.
The tremors are the result
of gold mining operations,
said Rodleigh Green, one of
the research team.
Green, who is employed by
the Bernard Price institute
at the University of the Wit
watersrand, said some of the
big shocks have a force equal
to a 50-kiloton nuclear device.
The first atom bomb, explod
ed at Alamogordd during
Project Manhattan, was a 20
kiloton device,
"Figures show that Johan
nesburg gets an average of
two rock bursts a month in
that force range," Green said.
Green and his team have a
$120,000 grant from the Ad
vanced Projects agency to
study the effects of these
shock waves through the
earth's crust.
We hope to be able to
evolve a way of conclusively
distinguishing between shock
waves of natural 'quakes and
tremors and those caused by
underground nuclear explo
sion," he said.
"As I see it, the whole so
lution to the problem of a
test ban lies in detecting un
derground tests. Atmospher
ic tests can be detected by
sensitive barographs and
space tests will probably soon
be detectable by a system of
spy satellites."
The tremors rocking Jo
hannesburg are frequent
enough to afford an ideal
method of studying the beha
vior of shock waves through
the earth s crust.
"We want to determine the
composition of the material
of the earth's mantle," Green
said. "To ascertain this, we
are plotting the velocity
curve and other characteris
tics of these waves from as
far afield as 2,000 kilome
ters." ,
The project has several
field stations which arc
switched on by automatic ra
dio signal from Johannesburg
the moment one triggers the
mother recording apparatus
there. The barographs are
then collated and studied.
The recording outposts are
moved from time to time so
that all points of the com
pass come under scrutiny.
"We want to see whether the
effects that we know so far
arc merely local or whether
they are relative to all parts
of the mantle, Green said.
Observed
The tremors were first ob
served round the turn of the
century, a few years after
the deep mining operations
which followed the discovery
of the fabulous Witwaters
rand gold reefs (veins) in
1886.
"These rock bursts to
give them their proper name
are caused by huge faces
of rock bursting under pres
sure in the mines flanking Jo
hannesburg," Green said.
"They usually occur soma
distance ahead of the actual
working face. Imagine what
happens when millions of tons
of rock crack after being sub
jected to a stress of 14,000
pounds per square inch."
Somewhere, in or around
this mining metropolis, a cup
is probably dancing right
now on a kitchen table.
Houses and buildings shud
der every day along the 60-milo-long
gold belt as mil
lions of tons of rock shift
their weight, ever so slightly,
under super stresses.
Jewish Planner Is
High USSR Official
Moscow !1)PD Among the
men who emerged with m
evident vote of confidence
"from the recent high level
government party reshuffle
Is the nation's top economic
planner, Veniamin Oymshits.
: Dymshits is the only Jew
among the upper echelons of
the Soviet hierarchy. And be
xaure of the continued ques
tion of anti-Semitisn in the
Soviet Union, the fortunes of
the 52-ycar-old cngincc and
economic expert have attract
ed special attention.
I Soviet propaganda media
"even have used his higher
"status - Chairman of the Eco
nomic council of the USSR,
a newly-created body - to sup
port claims lhav anti-Semitism
does not exist in the USSR.
Not Practicing
! From all evidence how
ever, Dymshits is not a prac
ticing Jew and, as a member
:of the Party powerful Cen
tral committee, it is almost
iccrtain he accepts th party's
-official dogma and atheism.
- Dymshits is another of the
iUSSR's growing list of men
;who have reached high posi
tions after a long climb up
through the ranks.
When ho was appointed
chairman of the former State
.Planning committee (Gosplan)
-last July he also was given
the rank of a USSR Deputy
iPremier which trai"tionally
Soes with the Gosplan job.
; At thai time the question
-of his Jewish backaroi' d was
-particularly put into focus
.because no other Jew naa
held such a hiah government
jio.-t since former party pre
sidium mcmner ana vice pre
jiiirr Lazar Kag.-.novich.
" Kaganovich oH both his
4r,v.c ; ioi7 nfier heinff la-
"belcd a member of the so-
"callcd anti-party group.
Next Rankina Jew
Rut even at the time of Ka-
ganovich's ouster, Dymshits
was virtually tne next ranit-
Ino Jew in the Soviet hier
archy. He then held the title
of USSR deputy minister for
construction of metallurgical
and chemical industries enter
prises.
He was then sent as chief
engineer in charge of con
struction of the Bhilai metal
lurgical plant in India, one
of the most ballyhooed sym
bols of Soviet aid to that
country.
Returning in 1961, Dymshits
was named deputy vice chair
man of Gosplan and when
former chairman Vladimir
Novikov was moved to anoth
er key job last July, Dymshits
moved logically into the
chairmanship.
Under Premier Khru
shchev's reorganization plan,
aimed at popping up the So
viet economy, Dymshits'
State Planning committee
(Gosplan) was given a new
name and expanded functions
- the Economic council of the
USSR.
Married and a father,
Dymshits has a Ion ; back
ground of technical and plan
ning experience, much of it
In the Ukraine, where many
of the top men under Khru
schev received their early
training.
All Was Not What
It Appeared To Be
Nlles, Ohio -HTD- The exec
utive board of the newly
formed Welcome Wagon club
had completed a busy evening
formulating plans for the in
itial meeting of the entire
club.
Then the women sat down
to a dessert luncheon which
featured a mouth-watering pe
can pic. One member asked
her hostess. Mrs. Richard
Pugh, for the recipe. Mrs.
Pugh obliged and, after listing
all the ingredients, added: "If
you don't have pecans, use
walnuts, as I did."
CONFERENCE SET
Corvallis - IPC - Oregon's
fifth annual statewide confer
ence on improvement of col
lege teaching will be held
Feb. B-9 at Oregon State University.
man
mm
SALE STARTS FRIDAY MORNING 9:30
a.m.
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D. Craftiman 27-pc. Socket Satt
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Prices Slashed Now
Household Light Bulbs
Regular 4 for 89c
Popular Sizes
Limit 8
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winter here, you'll be using more light Indoors. Make
sure you have the right amount of light to read or work
by. 60, 7S or 100 watts.
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