Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-12-12
RETAILERS REPORT
SUSTAINED SALES
So-CaIIed Luxury" Buying
Apparently Not Affected
by Stock Slump.
BY J. C. ROYLE.

special dispatch to The Star.
Merchants. wholesalers, manufacture
ers and producers of raw materials are
guarding jealousy against the psychic
logical trend which has shown signs of
interfering with the purchase of So
called "luxuries."
The merchants feel assured that the
fundamental conditions of business in
America are strong. But they declare
that this psychological trend, which has
given some evidence of its existence, Is
just as dangerous to the volume of busi-
ness to be transacted in the next three
weeks or a month as though business
conditions were really unSound.
The distributors assert that they now
realize how little they had to fear from
the November slump despite the dire
predictions at that time. They are in
forming their customers that they also
have little to fear They say that the
trend, which has been summed I'D In
the sentence, Reach for q necessity In
stead of luxury" is dangerous one
for the buyer as well as for the seller.
New Living Standard.
One of the great merchants of the
SO0AAbAJ dCCAdAC0 IOAdy
is word the meaning of which Is
changing constantly, and that no au-
thority should arrogate to itself the
right or ability to define It, He added
that, so far as he knew. it could be best
classified as something some one else
had which others want and cannot af-
ford. He added that the luxury Of one
man is the necessity of another and the
luxurles of one decade are the neceSsi-
ties of the next.
He pointed out that commodities and
services considered extreme luXurieS by
previous generations, such as watches,
telephones, electric light, sanitary plum
ing, automobiles, radios, airplaneS and
others. have now become q necessary
part of American life and that no one
knows where to draw the line to Sepa-
rate Injuries from necessities. The chief
arguments of the merchants, however,
lie in the fact that the desire for and
the purchase of luxuries form the great
est stimulus that business can have.
Government officials connected with
both labor and production agree with
this statement to certain extent. They
point out that If there was no desire
for luXurieS, the condition of business
would be almost stationary, while the
living conditions of the population in
general would show little If any i'm
provement.
Good Buying Reported.
The jewelers., furriers and depart
ment stores handling the higher priced
goods for the Christmas season report
that the lines cited above have found
ready response. After the first ma
tural heSitancy, buying of jewelry,
watches, Silverware, furS, silks, velvetS
and high priced apparel has gone on at
level fully comparable to that of the
last two years and better than most
Christmas periods of the past.
The jewelry business is being helped
out very materially by the change in
fashions of setting and cut. This has
improved the sales Of jeweled earrings,
necklaces, pendants and combs. Dia-
mond merchants report that the alb
sorption of the blue-white carbons Is
fully up to the level of previous years,
while the demand for emeraldS has
never been better.
The call for fur-trimmed coats and
for fur-trimmingS on dresses is even
more apparent than a year ago. accord
ing to one of the leading manufacturing
furriers. He points out also in sub
sanitation of the value of So-called
luxury buying that in Louisiana alone
$4,000 trappers are now engaged in the
~oPOdAC VA BE-
tween seven and eight million skins,
principally muskrat, probably will be
taken before the season closes February
5, and will reach value of eight or
nine million dollars. Seven hundred
buyers are engaged in the purchase of
these skins. Several thousand furriers
are engaged in the curing and dressing
and tens of thousands of workers in
the garment trades are fashioning
them into women's apparel.
Report Progress.
Dealers in other kinds of commodi-
ties selling at comparatively high prices
report equal success in combating buyer
resistance. Silk stocking production in
November exceeded that for November,
1928, by over 5000 dozen pairs. De-
spite all of the gloomy predictions
about the automobile industry the lead
ing producers anticipate production in
1880 will be practically as heavy as
in 1929 and few would be surprised
to see the output of vehicles exceed
100000 for the coming year.
CHICAGO DAIRY MARKET.