The Waterbury Democrat., 1932-12-20
America Has Turned
 From Old Luxuries
 To Practical Gifts
the Nation and Gives His Impressions of the Holiday Trading

, ated demand as did those in the states to the north1-Washingto and Oregon. In the latter, high priced stores dealing in 1uxuries such as furs and diamonds arc
 "crying their eyes out" according to the. message from that section.
 Many buyers are reported awaiting 1 the annual January sales which | are likely to be real bargains" Jack Luihn, chairman of the re- tail merchants association of Port land, Oregon, said, Christmas trade was 10 days behind former years with the trend toward necessities. 'If n man has 31O to spend for Christmas presents" Lulhn said. The will spend go for necessities" Lincoln, Nebraska. reported dol- lar volume of heavily, but mer- chandise volume only slightly un- der 1881. Denver finds business picking up but volume of last year substantially off," Cold weather
 kept shoppers from the Denver stores.
 Butte, Montana. department stores estimated sales fell 10 to 16 per cent under 1891 with luxurics making the widest decline. Salt Lake City trade was adversely af- fected by the coldest weather in 30 years. Retail volume fell 25 to 30 per cent there and a decline of 30 per cent was anticipated for January.
 Zero weather halted buying in Kansas City last week, but a pick up is looked for this week. Trade Is generally off 20 to 30 per cent from a year ago. St Louis report ed Q group of 20 per cent, but looked for better business just be- fore Christmas. Jefferson City, Mis- sourf, found q sharp drop in jewelry and other luxuries.
 one Detroit store stimulated fair ly large merchandise volume of sales by a campaign including gift of an automobile q day. Dollar volume, however. Is low in that city with the trend leaning toward necessities. Mems and childrens wear is in demand.
 Sales in the Chicago district were reported fairly good.
 Des Moines reported q 20 per cent drop as compared with 1881. Dealers wcre disappointed with volume and have too much stock.
 ohio stores report similarly to those of the far west--fair mer- chandise sales: low dollar volume; trend toward necessities. Cleve- lands dollar volume is off 10 to 40 per cent and buying of necessities amounts to 80 per cent of total business. Columbus found dollar volume off 33 Ia per cent under 1891 with low priced articles iii most demand. Toledo buying was hampered by delay in paying off millions of dollars tied up In closed banks. These funds may be distributed in part in January when a pickup in retail business is looked for at the sales.
 The south finds Christmas busi- ness off nearly 30 per cent with merchants over-stocked since they had anticipated q decline of {25 per cont. Price declines in the south- ern states range upward to 72 per cent from year ago.
 Tho east follows the trend of other sections of the country. Con- trary to expectations New York city department store sales are re- ported down 20 per cent from year ago, and the remainder of the state is about the same or slightly worse. New Jersey and Pennsyl. vania report fair demand for cloth. ing and other necessities. New Eng land finds some jewelry demand although majority tends toward the practical in gift purchases.