STATE OF BUSINESS: Prosperous Third

STATE OF BUSINESS Prosperous Third

The economy was moving along so briskly last week that some businessmen were beginning to worry that there might be too much of a boom. Warned Manhattan's First National City Bank: "With the problems of recession behind them, businessmen will now need to be alert to the problems of prosperity—pressures on prices, temptation toward excesses of inventories or credit use, and the eroding of the efficiencies and cost reductions introduced during the recession."

With a fat second quarter about over, U.S. businessmen looked forward to an even more prosperous third. The National Association of Purchasing Agents, which...