The Durant news. (Durant, Miss.) 1882-1985, 1940-08-29
BEHIND THE SCENES
-in-
AMERICAN BUSINESS
By JOHN CRADDOCK

New York, Aug. 26.-Business-
Each week the signs that reflect
step-ups it prouction, employment
stej-ups its production for Uncle
Sans buckling-on Of armor become
clearer and more numerous. Steel is
operating at better than 80 per cent
capacity, with many companies not
normally important steel consumers
now entering the market indicat-
ing that many plants customarily
making peace-time products are gra-
dually changing over to defense
goods-or at least stocking up on
steel for such a change. New aircraft
plants with total value of SAT, 600, 900
were announced last week, for ear
Cincinatti and East Hartford and
Stratford, Conn, with construction
to start Immediately. Gray, Ind,
works of Carnegie-Illinois set new
worlds record with nearly 10000
tons Of ingot in a week. Electric
power output for week of August II
was second highest in history. De-
partment store sales last week ran
10 per cent ahead of same week in
1939-compared to a six per cent
gain that had prevailed for the pre-
ceding four weeks.
Washington-When we get all
those thousands of airplanes that
the defense program calls for, where
are we going to "set them DOWN."
The War and Navy departments and
the Civil Aeronautics board have
been working on this, and as a re-
suit legislation embracing a nation
wide airport development program,
to cost more than 5000, 100000, will
be presented to Congress o A
survey by the aeronautics board
showed that aviation requirements,
present and immediate future, de-
manded mediate start on expanding
or building a chain of $500 air
ports. About half of these would be
brand new fields, the remainder ex-
isting fields but. subject to expansion
and Improvement. No dope is avail
able on where these will be spotted,
but you can be sure thereH be a
fine scramble among cities to sell
themselves as logical sites.
X y
Counter.Attack-A two point pro-
r for counteracting the threat to
American agriculture in event of
complete 1-azi domination Of Europe
was offered by Wheeler McMillen,
president of the National Chemurgiic
Council, in a poll Of farm experts
by the B. F. Goodrich company as a
feature IF Farm Week at the Worlds
Fair. He visioned Hitler attempting
to throttle the United States by pro-
ducing a profound depression through
of all American exports,
but said 1--WE can outwit and Guido
anything Hitler might attempt in this
direction by starting now to dis
continue our reliance on exports
He said this would be doubly wise,
since our present export crops are
problem and poverty" crops, any
way. To balance this, he proposed,
we should begin at once to produce
for ourselves many agricultural COM
modities we 10Y import. Among these
are vegetable oils-of which we've
been importing 1000, 100000 tons
and great quantities OF fibres such
as flax, jute, coarse, woods, and even
long-staple cotton.
+ y
Bargains In Beethovcn-The come
back of the photograph, one of re-
tailing's bright spots for several
years, should get another big boost
now that both Columbia and Victor
have slashed prices on their first
line classical records from So and
$3.50 down to a flat 81. No ~"sale,"
but permanent reduction, is this, on
the theory tha~ popular appreciation
of and demand for classical music
has now reached the point where, at
these prices, sufficient sales volume
can be obtained to show a profit
Now seems to be the time for stores
selling monographs to cash in, too,
using the appeal that now the "up-
keep" or building Of a fine collection
of music will be only about half what
it used to be. Paradox is that radio,
which Is years ago slaughtered the
photograph business, has now
brought it back to life-not only by
acquainting people with the master
pieces, but by providing much of the
tras available for recordings and
financial backing that makes orches-
builds demand into price-saving vol
ume.
War And Cheese Although the
war may mean that imports of some
$4,000, 900 pounds of cheese will be
put off from America, word from
Wisconsion is that only the most
super-fastidious cheese lover would
even notice it. Wisconsin cheese
makers, who produce half of the
total U. S. output, say that their
close CO liberation with chain stores
government at Richmond, or Wash