SUMMARY OF NINTH DEL MONTE CONFERENCE NATIONAL INDUSTRIAL CONFERENCE BOARD PEBBLE BEACH, CALIFORNIA MARCH 28 - 30, 1958 MR. CHAIRMAN AND GENTLEMEN: We have met here to enjoy each other's company, to agree and to disagree, to teach and to learn, and to take away with us constructive thoughts stimulated by the process of being together. Measured against these standards, the Ninth Del Monte Conference has indeed been a success. The mood here was in sharp contrast to the Eighth Conference. The weather is not the only thing that has taken a turn for the worse. Last year's problems, viewed from the perspective of twelve months distance, were mild in comparison with those that beset us at the moment. Last year the threat was inflation and how to control it. Tight money was a common problem, both to those who wish to borrow it and those who didn't have it to lend. We were concerned then about residential building, slower sales in the automobile industry, and some of our more chronic problems on wage-price spiral. All this has changed with startling rapidity. While the sailing was smooth during the first nine months of 1957, the seas became choppy and the storm clouds gathered rapidly during the fourth quarter. And the bad weather has continued on into the first quarter 1958. Precipitated by excess inventories and excess productive capacity in many lines, capital appropriations were sharply curtailed and expenditures for producers' durables declined sharply. Defense cutbacks and declining net foreign investment precipitated