In Chicago's giant Stevens Hotel last week gathered 2,000 men who stand on the firing line between U.S. business and inflation. They were members of the National Association of Purchasing Agents, the most price-conscious men in the U.S. Their convention this year was a remarkable get-together between Government's pricers and buyersKnudsen, Henderson, Nelson, et al.and those of industry.
On what the purchasing agents thought and felt depended to a large extent whether the U.S. would have inflation or avoid it. If they decided that inflation was coming, and began an all-out spending spree, only drastic Government inventory control could keep...