Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-03-04
NEW HOLIDAY SEEN
AS BUSINESS BOON
TO RETAIL STORES
Merchants and Theaters Re-
garded as Chief Beneficiaries
of Half Saturdays.
BUS AND TRACTION LINES
TO CHANGE SCHEDULES
Increase in Weekend Migrations
From Capital Also Expected
as Result of Measure.

This week will demonstrate to Wash
ington's retail trade and transportation
r facilities the first effects of the year.
round Saturday half holiday for the
more than 10000 employees of the Fed
eral and District governments residing
in and near the National Capital.
Merchants generally are rejoicing in
the belief that the weekly half holiday,
releasing thousands of prospective
shoppers at o'clock, will result in a
mild boom to the always brisk Satur-
days trade at this time of the year.
Traction and bus officials, confronted
with the necessity of revising their
Saturday schedules, were not inclined
to be so optimistic. While some
claimed it Is impossible now to foretell
what effect the half holiday will have
clined to the belief that it will un-
queStionably cut down revenues to some
extent.
There Is one point, however, on which
all seemed agreed--that is with respect
to an anticipated week end migration
during the late Spring and Summer
months. To just what extent this may
possibly affect local business is mat
ter to which the Merchants and Man.
ufacturers' Association and public util-
ity officials will give serious thought
during the coming months.
Theaters to Benefit.
In q class by themselves, the motion
picture theaters probably constitute the
one form of business In Washington
that will benefit mostly from the
O'Clock closing on Saturday all the year
round. With the downtown theaters
jamned now to capacity early Saturday
afternoons, the release Of so many addi-
tional thousands of men and women
probably will have the effect of tidal
wave in the usual overflow at each per-
Torrance.
Edward F. Shaw. secretary of the
Merchants and Manufacturers Asso-
citation, was of the opinion that the
closing down OF the Government de-
partments at o'clock viii be followed
by q material increase In the shopping
business. Certainly, In the downtown
section, he said, the stores should be
very busy, indeed.
With Saturday the big trading day
10 months in the year il is extremely
doubtful IL any stores viii close their
doors at / o'clock, except during the
usual periods of July and August, when
most of them are closed for the full
day. Business Offices in most cities
close early Saturdays and the same is
true in Washington, but conditions in
the retail trade are quite different
Given more leisure, the horde Of Gov
eminent employees, making up a large
part Of the city's population, are ex-
pected to be able to find more time
In which to shop on Saturday after
moons, even though they use the extra
time in attending the movies" or mo-
toring.
Beginning Saturday Of this week,
the traction companies and bus lines
will inaugurate on those days the half
holiday schedule that prevails during
the three Summer months. That means
the afternoon peak Of traffic viii occur
between / o'clock and 1880 o'clock, in
stead Of 4:30 to o'clock, as now.
Must Study Situation.
Meanwhile the traction and bus Of
ficials will study the results Of the
first Saturdays try-out, analyzing what
changes might be necessary in sched-
ules during the remainder of the aft
ernoon to meet the new condition Of
things. It viii be necessary to make
a detailed study Of the differences be-
tween the Summer half holidays and
other days before traction officials can
foreten to any extent the possible re-
duction In revenues that may result
from Q year-round schedule.
AS with the retail trade, Saturday
traction companies, with crowds coming
into town for their weekend period Of
shopping. Many Of the Government
employees undoubtedly viii do their
Saturday shopping early in the after
noon before taking the street cars home,
whereas formerly members Of their
family would come down town for that
purpose. On the other hand, it was
pointed out, others will come down.
town for dinner and the movies, all Of
which would have good effect on street
car service. 1t was generally the belief
that traffic from / to 6 O'Clock would
be fairly brisk.
What worries the traction officials
more than anything else, perhaps. is
the weekend migration expected dur
tny Spring and Summer. The Saturday
half holidays undoubtedly will result In
many more persons taking advantage Of
this extra leisure to motor TO nearby
places over Sunday While the local
bus lines wolld feel this loss Of Satur-
day and Sunday traffic, too, the bus
lines operating between here and Balti-
more and Richmond very probably will
pick up lot Of extra passengers. Satur-
day, it was said, is always a big day
for the Baltimore buses and it is no
secret in the Washington trade that
many persons take advantage of the
convenient bus service TO do consider
able buying IN Baltimore. With the
half holiday operating throughout the
year it is quite apparent that travel
on these lines will increase.