Evening star., 1925-01-04
SALESDUR|NG 1924
FALL BELOW 1928
Holiday Business Enormous.
/ New Year Business Starts
Off Well.
BY HARDEN CoLFAx.

BY HARDEN COLFAX.
Notwithstanding the tremendous
holiday trade, retail sales of goods
of all kinds in the Nations 100000
shops and stores, apparently fell
somewhat short of the great total
rolled up in 1929. officials of the
Federal Reserve Board estimate the
1928 total at from S35,000. 100000 to
$40, 100000. Preliminary reports
reports for December, coupled with
the record of the other II months of
the year. indicate that only by some
thing akin to a miracle will 1t be
possible for the complete 1924 returns
to outsstrip those of the year before.
New Yenr Starts OF Well.
The new year starts off. however,
with trading at its highest level
within ten months and without a dis
couraging factor in sight. Commerce,
Labor and other governmental depart
ment officials forecast a continuation
of the present upward tendency,
which is expected to carry 1925 to
@ new high record in the volume of
goods bought and sold over the
counter, both in quantity and dollar
value. Prices have been rising at
an average rate, Labor Department
figures show, of about 2 per cent a
will contribute substantially to the
dollar showing for the new year.
While retail establishments ap-
parently have failed to hang up a
new record for last year, the mail
order and chain store companies seem
TO have succeeded in passing 1923
totals. Complete figures for the first
IL months of 1924 for the IL leading
establishments of that kind show
f,4o %
pared with $70S,0O0, 600 during the
same period in 1928. The grand total
OF these firms for 1924 probably will
run to more than $S00,000,000.
Firms Included in Totals.
The companies included in the COM
putation are: Montgomery Ward,
Sears. Roebuck, Woolworth, National
Tea, S. S. kresge, S. H Kress, Hart
man, McCrory, ]. c. Penney, w. t.
Grant and f. & W. Grant. Accord
ing to a compilation by the Stand
ard Statistics Co. of New York, these
firms increased their sales during
the first II months of 1924 by from
seven-tenths of 1 per cent in the
case of Sears, Roehuck TO. 1880 per
cent in the case of W. T. Grant, with
an average increase of about 81 per
cent for the entire group.
Figures recently compiled by the
Chamber of Commerce of the United
States place the total of retail trade in
1923 at far lower figures than the esti-
mate of the Federal Reserve Board.
The chambers total for the entire
country is approximately $4,000, ,000,-
600. These figures, however, do not
include automobiles and some other
Items which are Included in the Re-
serve Boards reckoning.
Farmers Are Careful.
Advices to the board show a some
what surprising situation with re-
spect to retail trade in the farming
sections. Those sections, in the
main. enjoyed in 1924 their first taste
of prosperity since 1920. 1t was eX-
pected that the volume of retail trade
in agricultural communities would
show a sharp rise as the crops Were
harvested. Such, however, was not
the case. The farmers still are bur
dened heavily by debts, both mort
gage and current borrowings, and
they were paying their debts rather than
spending their profits in the stores.