The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News. The Echo and The Sun. TUESDAY, MAY 31, 1938. MOTOR INDUSTRY'S PLIGHT.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue 126, 31 May 1938, Page 6

The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News. The Echo and The Sun.

TUESDAY, MAY 31, 1938. MOTOR INDUSTRY'S PLIGHT.

For the cause that iacks assistance, Fgr the wrong that needs resistance, For the future in the distance, And the good that tee cmn do.

| After a long winter of stagnation it had been hoped that spring in the United States would bring a marked improvement in business. In that improvement the automobile industry was expected to be one of the leaders. The improvement has not occurred, at any rate, not in a degree approaching anticipations. In April it was noted, in New York, that when a real spring improvement is in the making it is usually well in evidence by April, and one of the signs that consumers have money to spend is an expanding sale of motor ears. These and other signs were almost entirely lacking last April, and to-day there is reported an expectation that the factories of three gigantic motor manufacturing firms may close down in the summer "for at least two months." There is usually a short "shut down" period in the summer, and a "laj T off" for the workers in the industry, but the proposal now reported is an indication of the extent to which the manufacturers' hopes of spring business have been disappointed. Their products are not selling, in the United States, in anything approaching the normal volume, and, as production must be planned a long time in i advance, it is clear that the manufacturers are not hopeful of an improvement of business in the summer.

The most remarkable feature of the proposal—which may not, of course, be carried out —is that it follows fairly closely on the announcement of the Government's new spending programme. Last year, with industrial production restored practically to the .1929 level, thtf Government thought the | time had come to discontinue "priming the [pump." This judgment was not borne out by ithe eVent. The decline in Government spending coincided with a decline in new orders by business firms, which wished to reduce their swollen stocks. The result —to which, of course, other factors contributed —was the quickest "recession" in history. The new lend-and-spend Government programme was designed and expected to lead to a 1 revival. Whether it has. had time to do so is doubtful, but the manufacturers' lack of confidence is eloquent. This lack of confidence is increased by the distrust of the political trend of the Roosevelt administration, a distrust which was not lessened, but sharpened', by the fruitless interview of Mr. flenry Ford with the President. Inevitably, the proposed "shut down" of the motor factories will be regarded in Washington as a challenge to the President, and we must now await his reaction. His power and influence ire. immense, but no democratic leader has ventured to attempt to make manufacturers operate their plants at a loss.