The Washington herald., 1920-11-22
XMAS TRADE
GOTHAM BOON
Makes Up for Falling Price.
And There Is Optimism. .
Says Mcintyre.
ny O. O. MCINTYRE.


polls over the future of business.
Prosperity is about the only thing
that ever worries the average New
Yorker and when things look bad he
generally walls like a lone timber
wolf in a bleak forest.
But New York reads its financial
pages with more interest than any
other city in America and II mas
found nothing in them to- indicate
that the present slump Is anything
more than a natural reaction--an
adjustment that was bound to come.
Prices are tumbling slowly but
surely and when they hit a proper
level, the well filled purses will be
opened again. The great stores along
Fifth Avenue and in other shopping
centers are feeling the pinch just
now, but with the holiday trade
looming ahead and the price read
justment making itself felt there Is
no gloom
Some Of the big stores have laid
on clerks-but only for a few weeks
and the percentage of those laid OF
is quite small. Automobile row. a
few weeks ago in despair, has come
out of it's muck of gloom with re-
newed enthusiasm. Automobiles
are still being sold and IL every
automobile owner in New York
would buy one tire the complete
tire supply would be exhausted. SO
the accessory shops have nothing
to worry about They are not over
stocked.
The hotels are not doing the enor-
nous business they expected to do
this winter. Three months ago II
, was impossible to get a room in the
! city, now one finds little trouble at
almost any of the hotels in being
! accommodated. People are not rush
| ing to New York as they were. Buy
ers come, stay a day or so-in con-
| trast to the customary two weeks
and then depart.
Where the gloom usually settles
in a thick, black haze-Wall Street.
| there Is very little pessimism.
Brokers are doing a fair business
| for this time of year, especially when
| it is remembered that the country
has just had an election and has not
settled down to normal.
One thing is certain, waN Street
| has no fear of a panic-and as pan
| les are the product of fear. there
is not any likelihood of any tempesr
| tuous time down there. There are
! thousands who believe that this is
the auspicious moment for buying
! stocks, on account of the Cow level
| they have reached.
! An afternoon newspaper. in a
| page of interviews on Wall Street.
finds no cause for alarm. The gen.
eral tenor of the thought down
there may be culled from the fol-
lowing extracts from the interview:
w. c. Durant, president of Cen
eral Motors Corporation: This re-
! adjustment was a perfectly natural
thing to expect at this time. We
should look forward to unusual
buying enthusiasm"
]. Frank Howell, president Con-
solidated Stock Exchange: stock
market prices have reacted more
than so per cent, thus putting stocks
on a profitable buying basis"
John NJ. Gregory. president Durell;
Gregory and Company: America Is
simply going back to normal times
The period of price imitation had to
pass. The country Is fundame ntally
in excellent shape. By the first OF
the year things will be much
better"
And so it goes-always the note
of optimism as to the future. Peo-
pie are not talking hard times as
they generally do in New York dur
ing a business slump. They seem to
consider conditions as only tempo
rary-which is quite a healthy sign
and augurs well for the future.
Since prohibition, one never hears
the word whisky in New York. II
is invariably called "Hootch." The
word comes from Alaska. 1t is the
hoochinoo, or native rum with
kick like the Aurora Borealis that
the Indians and Eskimos distil
! from sugar and flour and potatoes
or anything that happens to be LEFT
over from the camp supplies, or II
there's nothing left over they take
sea moss and walrus blubber ano
reindeer's stomachs. So universal
has "Hootch" become as a name fol
whisky that newspapers refer TO II
by that name in their headlines.
Joe Cawthorn, the comedian, plays
the role of an illiterate provision
dealer who has made millions in a
current play. He has read up on
Guatemala in order to have some
thing to talk about. After describing
it's climate and scenery, la Ency-
clopedia Britannica, some one asks
! him if the natives are beilicose.
"Only the fat ones" replies Cav
thorn.
Harold Van Orman, of the Hotel
McCurdy, Evansville, Ind, got an
appreciative hand from his fellow
bonifaces at the hotel convention
here last week by telling the follow
ing story:
| A chocolate-colored ne'er-do-w well
convicted of a crime. was arraigned
for sentence before a stern Indiana
judge.
Two years in solitary confine-
ment," snapped the judge, who added
in gentler tones, Have you any.
thing to say?"
Jess this" said the prisoner, "You
is mighty lib'rI wifi another gem
mems time"
The story of failures that proved
successes in New York theaters Il
quite amazing. When a Viola Allen
play failed unexpectedly. paid in
Fulf' was put on to keep the the
ater open till something better could
be found. Paid in Full" had beer
labeled a failure and the company
disbanded. Its revival made his
torical success.
Charles .Klein's "The Lion and the