Slichter Attacks Ad Supporting Savings

A drive to encourage savings has been attacked by Sumner H. Slichter, Lamont University Professor.

In a letter to the New York Times yesterday, Slichter criticized the Institute of Life Insurance for its following advertisement: "If each one of us will save only an extra nickel out of every dollar we earn, we will put a strong brake on inflation..."

Slichter stated that there were "impressive reasons" to believe that American were not spending too much. One is that the number of people at work in the U.S. during the last year has grown just enough to keep unemployment from increasing. Another reason is that although corporations sold more goods in 1956 than in 1955, total corporate profits were no greater.

The problem of inflation he assigned to rising costs, particularly labor costs. Slichter saw no way to stop inflation "so long as the labor force of the country is pretty completely employed."