New Britain herald., 1930-12-26
PUBLIC PAYS FOR
 CREDIT PURCHASES
InStallment Payment Losses
 Small n-PriCeS Lower

Washington. Dec. 26 (UP)-The American public pays it's debts con- sCientiously, the commerce depart ment reported today in it's first na- tional survey of credit conditions.
 Tremendous amounts are sold an nually in this country on credit, but merchants seldom lose through fal,- ure to collect, Edwin E. George. chief of the marketing service divi- sion, reported.
 Other holiday developments relat- ing to business conditions were the federal reserve boards report of fur ther decreases in industrial produc- tlon and factory employment during November. and a report from the |. S. Chamber Of Commerce show ing that imports during 1880. though much smaller than those Of last year. showed about "an even break" in quantity with the average of the last i've years.
 Credit Losses Explained
 An annual volume of retail busi- ness in excess Of s20, 0,000,0VO,000 (20 billions) results in credit losses, many of them avoidable," of only 0,000,000, George said The American public yearly buys from four to five billions of goods on the installment payment plan and some 5,000,O00,000 (billions) more on open credit, he added.
 We can breathe d sigh Of relief" George said, ''at the discovery that with all of their open credit and installment commitments the Amer ican public is not yet hopelessly mortgaged.
 The grocer, the butcher and the maker usually get their money down to the last painful in- stallment."
 The department retail credit sur very is the first nation wide check on credit conditions ever made, | George said. It has given the retail | CT basis for comparing his credit practices with those Of others.
 Electrical appliance stores had the ! highest credit loss, Is per cent. R4- dio sets and supply stores were sec ond, with open credit loss Of A per . cent. Department stores kept the | tightest grip on their business. there- | by escaping with d loss Of only 0.4 per cent.
 The average loss from bad debts on installmcnt sales was shown as l.2 per cent. General clothing stores . led with s per cent, while coal, ! wood, lumber and building material | dealers brought up the rear with J.2 per cent.
 Commodity Prices Drop
 The federal reserve board report d also that wholesale commodity prices were continuing downward. store sales increased prior to the holidays but in less than lsual seasonal volume. Industrial declined about per cent md decreases were noted in iron, steel and automobile production.
 Freight car loadings and value of l. building contracts awarded also | showed decreases from monta | ,arier.
 The Chamber of Commerce survey | aid that the world wide drop m prices made the dollar plume of imports this year much mailer.
 The chamber reported that inn 'orts purchased in larger quantities Il the first nine months of 1880, compared with the 1925-29 average, included coffee, crude rubber. stand I'd newsprint paper, unretned cop Ter. wood pulp, tin bars, pigs and docks, gasoline, naptha, etc.; ferul- Gers, not including nitrate of soda, and fish.
 Declines were noted in the oIan- tiles of raw silk, cane sugar, crude burlaps. unmanufactured 'ool, leaf tobacco. and cocoa beans. Jaw hides and skins were imported T practically the same amounts n $50 as during the 1925-1929 period.