Evening star., 1928-11-06
BUSINESS LOSSES
IN ELECTION HUGE
American Firms Will Drop
100000, 900 on Account
of Layoffs.
BY J. C. ROYLE.
Special Dispatch to The Star.

Special Dispatch to The Star.
NEW YORK, November 6.-The
presidential election today will cost
American business between 100000, 900
and $125,000,000. The amount expended
by the Democratic and Republican
national committees and that paid out
by State political organizations will be
only drops in the bucket Of costs. This
is the conservative opinion of sound
business men.
The actual expenses Of the election
for ballots, voting machines, judges and
watchers and police protection, which
must be absorbed by the taxpayers, will
exceed $50000,000. In New York State
ing to employees of the board Of elec-
tionS, and of this sum New York City
will require over $2,000,000.
Similar but lesser eXpeditures will be
made in every other State. In some
parts of the Far West it is still necessary
for an election official to make a two
day horseback ride from his polling
place to the county seat to report the
vote.
Loss in Commissions.
The New York Stock Exchange and
most of the other exchanges were closed.
On an average days trading involving
100000 shares, which now is a dull
day, this means the loss of $1,700, 900
in commissions alone. Bankers on the
stock, grain, cotton, naval stores and
other exchanges in Chicago, Philadel-
phia, Toledo, Toronto, Pittsburgh, Cleve.
land, Cincinnati, st. Louis, Hartford,
Boston, Denver, Salt Lake City, Savan-
nah, Atlanta, New Orleans, San Fran
CISCO Los Angeles, Portland and Seattle
will suffer likewise.
The layoff of men in the coal industry
will mean the loss of $500 900 in wages
to say nothing of production. The out
put of steel will be cut practically in
half, as the layoffs range In the mills
from quarter to full day. The
automobile workers and manufacturers,
the building trades, the textile, the
metal mining industry, the lumber
camps and mills and nearly all major
lines of endeaYor will lose something.
The hardest blow probably will be
dealt the retail merchants, for If they
lose a day, overhead goes on and they
claim that the lost trade Of one day is
never regained in the immediate future
Some industries will benefit, but even
these Will not gain the same return as
IN former presidential years. The res
taurants will reap harvest. Many are
preparing to do just double the normal
days business. However, even the food
purveyors will do less well than four
years ago despite the increased interest
IN the campaign, since restaurant par
ties are being supplanted by private par
ties which listen to election returns via
radio.
Some Business to Benefit.
The hotels are booked full in nearly
every big center. Voters are too ex-
cited to go home and the suburbanites
will many of them spend the night in
town. The taxicabs and busses will reap
harvest, but what the railroad trains
gain in passenger traffic they will lose
several times over in the slackness of
freight loadings due to the election holi-
day.
The theaters will have one big night,
for voters must have some place to 90
while they await final returns, but the
theatrical business has already paid
many times over for this one big night
in the slim audiences which have at
tended performances during the excit-
ing nights of the campaign.
Telegraph and telephone companies
will find their revenues increased by the
food Of press dispatches and congratula-
tory kilograms sent by earnest Office
seekers to successful candidates, but they
will be lucky If this business counter
balances the loss from the reduced VOL
ume Of financial and commercial mes
sageS.
Taking the situation as whole, the
losses far outnumber the gains and most
business men will heave a sigh Of relief
and prepare for return to normal busi-
ness routine when the last votes are
tanulated.