July 1957 page 8

[text cut off, see previous page] MONT ARE SYNONYMOUS
[text cut off, see previous page] hard to prove it by statistics. The current
[text cut off, see previous page] Progress provides a sobering analysis of 1956.

[column 1]
range trend in business volume has been
upward for a long time, but between
1955 and 1956 it was not.

Business volume down

For instance, the Blue Book reported
a slight decrease in total business volume
for the six counties from $5.984 billion
in '55 to $5.935 billion last year. The
decrease, oddly enough, was principally
in manufacturing volume which dropped
$211 million. Two of the counties, Meck-
lenburg (Charlotte) and Greenwood
showed increases in manufacturing, but
the others showed losses. These losses
seemed to occur mainly in the heavily
textile counties, although Greenwood was

[column 2]
an exception. Mecklenburg, highly di-
versified as to type and size, showed the
healthiest increase.

Trade and service business showed
significant gains in five of the six coun-
ties, with Spartanburg the only loser by
a slight amount. Charlotte and Green-
ville, the most developed trading centers,
led the way with increases in this cate-
gory. Charlotte accounted for well over
half of the trade and service volume of
the six county area which totaled $3.300
billion in '55 as compared with $3.071 bil-
lion the year before, a gain of $229 mil-
lion.

In farm products all of the counties ex-
cept Spartanburg registered slight de-
creases, resulting in an over-all decrease

[right side of construction photo of Kohler Co. plant]