All along the U.S. production line the news was good:
¶CJ The Federal Reserve Board's industrial production index for July was estimated at 172 or 173, two or three points above June's postwar peak.
¶The steel industry, despite a shortage of scrap, had edged production up to 90.5% of capacity.
¶Detroit's automakers last week set a postwar record with 80,439 cars and trucks; this week they expected to do better by at least 5,000.
The Civilian Production Administration, adding up spot checks it had made, found that in June:
¶ Washing machine shipments totaled 193,000 units, 4% above May, 22% above the 1940-41 monthly...