The Lowell Sun from Lowell, Massachusetts • Page 44

THE SUNDAY SUN Lowell, Mats, August 6, 1972 Day plates. Page E4 Coins money by coining of coins By MILTON MOSKOWITZ Coin colleeluig is an old and venerable hobby and for some it's a profession. Now it has also become'' a sizeable business, thanks lurgley to a company which conceived the absurdly simple idea of creating a supply of limited edition coins. Numismatists, as professional coin collectors are called, probably grit their teeth at the mention of the name Franklin Mint, but this compeny, based outside of Philadelphia, has demonstrated that people have a great hunger for rare coins and medals, and even plates, which commorate an event or a famous person or an organization or what have you. Coins become valuable because they are rare a buffalo head nickel, for example.

And these rare pieces are generally "coin of the realm," meaning thuy are or were once legal tender in a country: Money, in oWier words. As the largest private mint in the world, Franldin makes coin of the realm for different countries the governments of Tunisia, Panama and Jamaica have been caustomers. At one point, if also made gaming tokens for the has Vegas casinos. HOWEVER, FRANKLIN'S BIG coup was tlm discovery that it could produce rare coins instantly. As a manufacturer, all it had to do was run a limited edition.

And then find people who wanted to have something that others didn't have. The man is an acquisitive bning you can see easily enough from the sensational response Franklin Mint has had. The company was incorporated less than ten years ago in 1964. By 1066, it was huffing along with sales of $1.4 million a year. It did $10.2 million in 1966.

It reached $45 million in 1970. And last year it rang up sales of $59.2 million. Coin malring is profitable, too. Franklin Mint earned $4.8 million after taxes last year, and this was a mere jump of 97 per cent over the profits recorded in 1970. Franklin's coins, medals, ingots and plates are not normally found in stores.

The company makes collectors nut of people by signing them up on a subscription basis for a whole series of issues. Among the commemorative series it has' produced are: First ladies of the United States, The Genius of Michelangelo, The Shakespeare Medals, States of the Union and Great Historic Sites of America. AMONG THE MEDALS it struck in 1971, some done on direct order from organizations, were ones commemorating the Olympic Games, the Peace Corps, America in Space, Treasures of the Louvre and the Life of Christ. How many coin collectors do we have out there? Well Franklin now boasts 4,000,000 customers on its rolls, and it has an immodest sales goal of adding 100,000 new subscribers every year. It has to be careful, of course.

How valuable is your coin collection if everyone on the block has the same set? That's still a long way off, though. The famous America illustrator Norman Rockwell did a drawing for a silver plale produced by Franklin for the 1970 Christmas season and the resale price of this limited edition has soared in the collector market. Rockwell did another plate for the 1971 season. And may have notices that last month a slew of companies were peddling Mother BEYER, JR. Lowe iirm joins new plastics group LOWELL Jet Containers Division at Lowell has been included in a new W.

R. Grace unit to be known as the Formed Plastics Group. The group will be rcsonsible to Robert D. Goodall, Grace's executive vice president and executive of the Hie firm's chemical group. Edward F.

Beyer is group executive for the new unit which will bo headquartered in Now York, Report ing to Beyer arc the Formpae division at Reading, Theodore C. Widder, president and the PDC Systems division of: New York, S. J. Rivrnan, president. Newly appointed financial officer is Betty S.

Poaborly. The now group will manufacture and supply formed plastic packaging materials and containers arid merchandising system. By THOMAS E. MULLANEY New Yerk Timei NEW YORK 'In retrospect, as the first anniversary of the administration's New Economic Program (NEP) approaches, il is abundantly clear that the chief beneficiary among domestic Industries has been the nation's automotive business. That, of course, was one of the objectives of the dramatic actions taken on Aug.

15 a year ago. It was felt that stimulation of the automotive industry would have profound rippling on the many other industrial, service and civic activities that are tied in so intimately with the health and prosperity of tile car and truck manufacturers, Broader objectives were also involved, par ilcuiarly the desire to change the mood of the country on 'the economic situation and to restore tite.nation's competitiveness in world trade. There has been some measure of success in gaining the broader objectives, although it cannot be readily conceded that some accomplishments with respect to Inflation control, employment and productivity would not have been realised without the new policies. And the trade and payments goats are certainly not at hand as yet. But credit for the ongping boom in autos indisputably belongs to the various facets of the policies adopted a year ago.

AT THAT TIME, WITH ELIMINATION OF the 7 per cent excise tax on autos, the imposition of a 10 per cent surcharge on imported products and the eventual realignment of foreign companies of the. dollar, Washington hoped to trigged a lateit burst consumer confidence that could spawn dtcisjona to invest in a new American automobile ahd Uiim foster greater actvity among many sup pliers, nod other industries. Detroit's glowing financial and sales reports in recent weeks attest to the achievement of that Vey objective, M.S., Mclaughlin, sales group vice president for' tiie Ford Motor Company, was quite precise in His estimate of the help the U.S. auto industry received from the tax, surcharge, currency and various price actions here and abroad in stating: "Sales of domestic cars in 1971 increased by about 400,000 units over our best estimate in July (1971), before the government actions, LITTLETON BUSINESS EXPANDS Addition to egg receiving, station Small business plant in Littleton expands its facilities again LITTLETON One of Littleton's smaller businesses again has begun' to expand to make room lor its growing business. According to Robert Harmon, manager of the Littleton Egg Receiving Station, some 4,200 square feet is being added fo the rear and side of the building by Ralph House of Chelmsford.

Of this, 800 square feet of the area is being used for refrigeration, while the other 3,400 square feet will be used for dry storage. The addition will be completed within the next two weeks. Harmon explained that six years ago the sta tion had to be expanded, therefore, this time the station is adding on approximately twice the amount of room needed, but the company is anticipating more business in the future. The Littleton station is one of 30 located in the state. These stations receive most of their business from Stop and Shop stores.

Wage and price controls seen here to stay for many years ahead By RICHARD NENNEMAN Christian Science Monitor BOSTON Are we going to get rid of wage price controls in the foreseeable future? No the chances are very slim. Is this going to damage our economic system? Specifically, will the controls gum up the economy and slow down its rate of growth? Not in the short run. But there will be some structural changes as a result of the controls if they arc continued for long. This is the judgment of Dr. A.

George Gols, economist at the research and consulting firm of Arthur Little, in Cambridge, Mass. ADL has clients across a broad spectrum of U.S. industry, and carefully follows the outlook for some 200 industries. Dr. Gois his conclusions about the outlook for controls pragmatically.

In talking with the Cambridge economist, one gels neither the doctrinaire "controls must go or "controls are a great idea" approach. Instead, Dr. Gols is convinced that inflation in the United States remains a long run problem and that even with controls it is going to take a lot of work to keep it down to acceptable levels. He noted that in their annual report this year, the President's Council of Economic Advisers mentioned the possiblity of there being long run structural changes occuring that might have sume bearing on how the economy runs. Normally, when one hears the magical words "structural changes," he thinks of the Gal brailhian picture of an economy dominated by giant labor unions and giant corporations, ail able in varying degree to flout what would otherwise by the perfect competition of the market place.

BUT THE KIND of structural changes that most concern Dr. Gois consist of a list of newly emerging issues: Pollution control. The measures industry must lake in the next few years to clean up the air and water it uses will not result in increased production (other than of pollution control equipment) Since the consumer price index (CPI) measures the cost of conventional products and industry will have to bear new costs tr, make these products the price of these' products must rise. Just figuring the cost of purchase of the pollution control equipment, and not its maintenance or operating cast, the CPI may go up 0.5 per cent a year because of pollution control from now until 1976, says Dr. Gols.

Consumerism is here to stay, The public be lives it ought to he able to buy more dependable products. But the cost of this to industry also moans higher product prices. Dr. Gols sees another 0.5 per cent rise in the CPI each year from this source. The energy shortage.

Higher cost power plants, partly duo lo pollution control, ahd the higher cost of raw materials as the world's conventional energy reserves are drained off may increase the CPI another fraction say, 0.3 per cent a year, New saftoy standards that have been legislated for Industry also will ncrcasn its cost of doing business. Again, those higher cost will be passed along in the form of higher product prices. THERE ARE OTHER factor also. No one Knows to what extent import quotas will continue in use. They may be a temporary help to the trade balance.

But they are also inflationary, since they keep some lower priced goods from entering the country. And, the increasing cost of stale and local government (or such steps as trying social security payments lo the CPI, as Congress just did) only leads one to conclude that government will continue contributing to inflation. Because some of these new issues such as pollution control and consumerism do have a link with upward pressure on prices. Dr. Gols thinks government will be looking for more efficient and less costly approaches lo their solution.

But al the same time, their pressure on ihe CPI is most apt to cause government tn continue the controls program for use it can be. "If the public begins to fire of controls, the government can change their form. But 1 doubt that their substance will disappear." The built in structural changes Dr. Gols identified could add as umch as 3 per cent a year to the consumer price index. Thus, it will seem more important than ever to try to restrain the rate of increase that may occur from other pressures.

Dr. Gols predicted that the controls would likely become more selective, as has already happened to some degree, with government reimposing controls already lifted in individual cases where it feels prices or wages are getting out of line. WHAT ABOUT THE danger that controls will be around loo long, that they might end up as so much sand in the gearbox and impair the operation of the economic machine. I asked Dr. Gols.

He didn't think this would happen, although the business system Is certainly not exactly the same as it was without controls. "Controls seem to have arrived as the third leg of a three legged stool on which the government tries to regulate the economy." he said. (The other two legs are the more traditional ones of monetary and fiscal policy.) What could happen, though, is that the controls might in the end work to the advantage of large corporations. If the only way lo increase profits gets to be by increasing the volume of business, the shortest road to lliis kind of growth would be mergers and acquisitions. And, he noted, the small company would have a hard time winning at thai game.

Tills would not be what government intended. But it would reinforce the fears of those conservative critics cf government who contend that government intervention usually ends up favoring the big institution Biid injuring the small entrepreneur. OF COURSE somewhat farther down the road, there may be a revolt against the kind ot measuring today's consumer price index does. Pollution control and increased safety are "products" the public wants today, even though Ihey are not products that can be priced like the' items in a grocery basket. Moreover, the measurement of other indexes, as productivity, becomes more difficult in a post industrial society, where a larger per cerclage of workers are in servce industries than in goods producing ones.

Just this week the federal government released a report, designed to measure for the first time the productivity of federal workers. It claims to have found a way lo measure the productivity of those workers producing an aid product, such as an order form. But changes the indexes or in the ways we gather information are probably some years Dr. Gnls feels, and in the meantime government will be using every tool it can to keep down tile rise in prices. IRS "school" boon to nine area students ANDOVER Nine Greater Lowell students have been spending their summer working and learning at the Internal Revenue Service Center in Andover under a Federal program which allows students the opportunity to observe the workings of the business world and receive a salary.

Director Frank Broivitt explains the program will allow the students to earn money while they learn, which will enable them to complete their college or, in same cases, their high school education. The students Maureen Labrcoqe, Roliei't Mullen, Pamela Oliver, Juanita Alexander, Dorolhy Cunlia, Patricia Sullivan, Carol VonKahle, Paulino Bergeron, and Patricia Smith arc known at the Center as summer aides and they receive $1,75 per hour, In addition to tjielf regular work program they ai'o also given a training program designed to add to their sioro of knowledge as lo the Inside workings of a huge governmental agency. ONCE A WEEK they attend a clam dtscug sion during which they talk of things that have interested them in particular while working at Hie Center as well as things that interest them in general. One course included in the class discussions is modern music, as well as courses in fields such as the insurance industry. Guest speakers have been invited lo speak to the group and answer questions.

Also during these sessions the aides are advised as to hnw they may obtain scholarships and study speed reading, The Lowell area students are among a total 73 summer aides employed at the IRS Center. Of this number. 32 are college students and 20 arc high school students. The 21 remaining students are high school graduates who have enrolled in college or business school. The students are assigned work hi the various division of the IRS Center.

At the end of the program Ihey will be given certificates at a "graduation ccremonyV Director Browitt has said of the students, "They are an ambitions group of youngsters and we are glad for the opportunity to have them in this program" lalM of Import, hoover, appear to have twen down by WW units from me jtctivr Currency realignments and prke control effects, ft eourie, hvt carried over hi 1972. Awl, with the "iWlhlte upward trend of past months as background, there is a continued outlook for high level sales in the auto market," One major effect of the new program was to hall the upward trend of auto imports. In (he first half of this year, sales of imported cars declined about 3.0 per cent from last year, while the domestic car volume was rising about 13 per cent. THE TREND IN the market share held by imported cars in the United Stales also illustrates the impact of the economic actions. In the first quarter of 1971, Imports held a 15.4 per cent share of the American auto market.

The figure moved up to 16.2 per cent in the second quarter of last year and to 18 per cent in the third quarter before the new policies were promulgated. Then it fell sharply to ll.a per cent in the fourth quarler. Kor the first two quarters of this year, the share for imports was 15 and per cent, respectively. Behind the turnaround, in addition to the price advantage obtained by domestic cars, has been a somewhat reduced American appetite for small oars. With their income rising and confidence restored, many auto customers were in dined to dip into savings or take on added debt tp trade up by buying larger cars and those with more optional equipment.

It is the same spirit of affluence that has accounted for tlie big upsurge in demand for beef the last two years. One of the most impressive profit performer! this year has been the automotive sector. Aggregate profits for 36 aulomnbile and parts manufacturers jumped 29 per cent. 11 was hardly surprising in view of the continuing surge in the industry's sales. ON THE OTHER band, what has heed somewhat surprising about the big surge in the automotive industry' activity Is the absence of any significant Increase in its employment in this boom year, in tile second quarter, for instance, General Motors' worldwide employment actually decreased, to 766,724 persons from 791,375 in the similar period of last year, However, Chrysler's employment is up moderately as is that of Ford and General Motors.

Explaining that fact, General Motors said that the expansion of demand for cars, under the new economic program "is having a favorable effect on employment levels' in that it prevented a further reduction in employment. It is thus clear that one major objective of the new economic program an increase in the number jobs in the American economy has not been achieved so far as the automotive industry is concerned. Nevertheless, the number of people at work now throughout the economy is substantially higher than a year ago before the adoption of the new policies. Total employment in the lasl 12 months has grown by 2,668,000 persons to 81,692,000, while the unemployment rale, has declined from 5.9 per cent to 5.5 per cent. FURTHER SIGNS THAT the nation's economic expansion was proceeding vigorously helped propel the slock market to their strongest gains of the year in slightly more active trading.

The fast pace in auto sales, retail volume, durable goods orders, consumer credit ana" inventory accumulation provided the favorable background news for the stock markets performance. They offset some discouraging news on the increased rale of farm and wholesale pi ices as well as the unchanged level of the unemployment rate at 5.5 per cent in July. On the New York Stock Exchange, all the leading market averages advanced strongly as the market profile showed 1,130 stocks advancing and 595 declining. Turnover for the week totaled 80.2 million shares, compared with 76.9 million the week before. Among the market averages, which staged their Biggest advance in eight months, Ihe Daw Jones Industrials climbed points to 951.76; the New York Times Combined Average of 50 stocks gained 17.27 to 625.52; the Standard Poc 5fl0 stock Index gained 3.05 tn 110.43, and the Stock Exchange Composite rose 1.62 to 60.75.

MATTEL, LAST WEEKS volume leader on a turnover 1,096,800 shares, fell 1 points to 17 and registered a yearly low al 16. This followed a management forecast of lower profits for the first half of its fiscal year. Gulf Oil eased 4 to 23 after reaching Us 1972 low of 22. A total of 978,300 shores was traded. Gulf recently reported a decline In earnings, American Motors, buoyed by higher July oar sales and improved net income, added to closing at its best price of the year.

Volume was 962,800 shares. New "hot cup" sales on rise LOWELL J. Arthur Poitras of Lowell's Poitras Company, has that his firm's manufacture of its new patented tool cup, me A Rota Body Balancer, has grown to almost 1,000 pairs a week and continues cxpauu. Tli A Rola or Or thn fiard Bodv Balan iw it made in nine sizes and can be worn inciH dm, nr sneak ers to improve foot I posture. Pnilr nt sniri Ihe new design of this ni r.iliirl riniilrcd the dc ppr'l ma cninery manutac hire it.

mmmm ifl aB iS POITRAS.