The Durant news. (Durant, Miss.) 1882-1985, 1940-11-28
"BEHIND THE SCENES IN
AMERICAN BUSINESS"
By John Croddock

II oiNh ~ 49,
booming spirals' of the gridron's fading season
have a more important counterpart in the blooming
spiral" of business, with construction figuring as the
handspring and the defense drive as the wind
ing mechanism. New plants require new workers
to build them, to build the equipment, to supply the
raw materials, and to operate the plants. The workers
require homes. So the upward spiral gets going. Nat
urally, building costs are affected. Month or so ago
advances in wages and lumber costs raised costs of
heavy construction. Now another rise has occurred,
and this time the movement has broadened to include
residential building operations, too. As yet the cost
rises don't figure as a damper on incentive to build
either factories or homes, but only serve to whet
a~ppetites for investment in property in view of
the fact almost everybody nurses a more or less
secret ambition to "some day" turn a plump but
honest dollar in real estate.
MORE TO COME-Facts are that on the in
dustrial construction side things are still speeding
up last weeks total of private-not public
engineering awards ran to $32, 609, 900, compared to
$22, 640,0 900 the preceding week and for the
year 1910, to date, privately-finance construction
in this field is 20 per cent ahead of the 1889 pace.
Adding in public projects, total heavy construction
amounted to $139, 900, 900 worth-fourth week out
of five to top the $lOO,o0o,O00 figure, IS for 1871,
the F. w. Dodge corporation estimate, for all con-
struction, is $4,400,00 900. That would be an over
all increase of ID per cent over 1910, and the largest
volume for any year since 1880.
BUDGET MISUNDERSTANDING that the in
roads of new national defense taxes on family in
comes may cause difficulties for local governments
was sounded by Mrs. Melville Mucklestone, president
of the National Consumers Tax Commission, at the
10th annual conference on government held by tn
National Municipal League. Addressing the civic c
ficials, political scientists and other experts at the
conference, The NCTC leader predicted that a ma
tion-wide demand for budget cuts, regardless Of
which services suffer, may soon arise. Declaring
that municipal, county and state officials must ec-
onomize so that taxpayers can shoulder the new
defense load, Mrs. Mucklestone said that by elimina-
ton of waste and extravaganza and by the institu-
ton of modern money-saving t%echniques the neces-
sary savings can be made without curtailment of
services.
GALAXIES TO Observation-Disclosures are soon
to start gazing through that marvel of industrial,
science, the new 20Oinch telescope at Mt. Palomar in
California that uses hundreds of tons of steel and
machinery to hold in place the single ounce Of
aluminium that is expected to mirror 100, 600, 900 giant
celestial bodies and galaxies never before seen by
man. Only a few days ago three other scientists. Drs.
Oscar W. Richards and David X. Miller of Buffalo,
and DR.. Edmund Kline of Olean, N. Y, demonstrated
to the American Public Health association that ultra
violet light, reflected through another aluminium
mirror of the same type, only sunderland passed
through a yellow filter-brings an object so tiny as
the tuberculosis germ into sharp contrast so that
1t may more easily be recognized. The aluminium
was used in this case because it transmitted the
ultraviolet light much more effectively than the
ordinary silver mirror.
BITS O. BUSINESSO-Near the ceiling are some
key productive industries: Steel production stays
right around 81 per cent of capacity, where it's been
for several weeks, with some mills touching 100;
cotton mllls are running at almost evaetlv tho SANE,
81, and most wooden mills are whirring right at the
century" mark. Rayon is moving faster, too, but
at not quite so feverish a pace this comparative
newcomer in the textile world is not so directly af-
fected by Army and Navy orders Retail trade
for November figures to fulfill expectations of
better-than-seasonal gain over October, taking the
country as a whole Effects of drastic price
slashes in all photograph records couple months ago
are reflected in Victors report its October sales
We're highest for any month in IT years-which
goes almost back to Caruso's heyday Living
costs IN large cities, declined two-tenths of one per
cent between Septembr Is and Octobr 15-a din in
food costs slightly outweighing scattered reta;l nr;ce