Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1926-01-09
WASHINGTON PRESENTS UNIQUE
STUDY FOR BUSINESS OBSERVER
Present independence of Industry for Primary In.
come Marks 1t Apart From Other Cities and Makes
It's Business Cycle Distinctly Individual.

! turing, banking, building, real estate
activity. and the many other meas.
nress of our existing status has made
it virtually necessary for the progress
sive business man to study these re
| lationships and apply his enlightened
knowledge toward lettering his own
business and Washington generally.
Enlightened Progress.
The day for rule of thumb" bust
ness policies has disappeared, and
fortunately So and I'm its stead there
| Is rising an era of enlightened prog
reSS which will operate to insure
against any setbackS in our economic
structure But generalities must
give way To specifics. That somewhat
indefinahle. yet noae the less valuable
something called general business,
must he broken down into its salient
parts into building. department store
trade manufacturinG. banking, Groc-
cry trade, and the like. That is what
is really significant. considering Il
building program of $4,000, 600. a
department store trade around S3o.-
600 900. manufacturing of about Ns",-
900 900 banking resources or about
$500 600 600, food sales of about Ao-.-
GOO 900. Though general business may
he marching upward, there are GER
tain To he realignments in the com
position of general business, building
now holding prime Importance, then
perhaps trade. then manufacturers.
then perhaps still something else.
knowledge of these realignments.
which are sure to come in the course
of time will be even more essential
than now for that business man VINO
would thrive With predicted popu-
lation Of 900. 900 for Washington In
the relatively near future. the ratio
of Federal employment TO total en-
ployment in the District of Columbia
will undoubtedly fall considerably be
low the 90 per cent where 1t now
stands. thereby releasing TO some eX-
tent the "pegging' effect of Federal
employment upon general conditions
within the city. The decline In this
ratio will bear watching, so far as It's
economic results go.
Years ago. for want of data. il was
practically Impossible to see anything
hut general business, and even that
was watched by comparatively few.
However since the war there has for
tunately grown up a greater interest,
with demands for all sorts of detailed
information. Washington need in
this regard. remembering it's present
peculiar makeup, is far different from
that of any other city. IL Is not pres
emily dependent upon industry for Its
primary income, and hence il does not
follow In any marked degree the move
ments of the national business cycle.
so-called. Its movement in the past
has been very largely a matter of
growth with little of the boom or de-
preston which characterizes the Ma
tons business. Its business cycle has
been distinctly individual. The chart
given with last weeks article mark
eddy depicts this condition for the last
few years so far as the dollar volume
of trade Is concerned.
One benefit arising from the eager
ness for facts on business conditions is
found In the closer study which has
been given to the facts on trade since
the economic cataclysm of 1920 and
1921, which took tremendous tolls
from the Nations business at large.
Turnover today means profit to every
one. but how widely was 1t discussed
in the early years of the present cen
fury. What attention was paid to per-
sonnet. efficiency. advertising. the
measuring of markets and the other
hundred and one problems of merchan.
1ising which we know today?
The review of Washington business
for the year 1925, published in The