The Durant news. (Durant, Miss.) 1882-1985, 1940-10-31
"BEHIND THE SCENES IN
AMERICAN BUSINESS"
BY John Croddock

New York, Oct. observation-disclosures
is the major business news now-mainly inspired b!
the defense program. One week in mild-Octobel
saw awards for 'fheavy construction" contracts total
ing I38, 5000. That may be just another boxcal
number to you, but it is 81 per cent higher thar
the biggest week, in that respeS, that we ever hac
before-tbe alltime high week in March, 1910
Foresighted business men-the retailers as well as
manufacturers are leading what economists cal
a forward-buying" movement, making their stocl
purchases on an advanced scale so as to get in before
the inevitable price rises as defense orders get pushed
ahead Of orders for consumer goods. Individual con.
sumers are beginning to do quite a little forward buy
ing of their own in automobiles, for instance ao
winter clothing After the first of the years
when the real ~early-bird plants which began build.
ing two and three months ago get into swing, EN-.
%ployment and payrolls will fill out much faster, and
retail sales probably will take another big jump.
e.
SOUTH AMERICA-Insiders are hailing the
choice of John Hay Whitney to serve as director OF
the motion picture division in the Office of Cor
ordination Of Commercial and Cultural Relations Be.
tween the American Republics. They point out that
Mr.. Whitney, chairman of the board of Freepor,
Sulphur company and prominent motion picture
executive, is particularly welEqualified to help
implement the Good Neighbor policy through the
use of motion pictures. Although only SO years
old, he has already made his own mark in the bust
ness world and his film enterprises have been re
sponsible for the production Of such outstanding
success as "Gone With the Wind" and "Rebecca,'
as well as for pioneering the commercial develop
ment of technicolor. In addition to his own per
sonal accomplishments Mr.. Whitney would seem II
be eminently wellqualified for this new job in tn
public service from another point of view. Hi
family has long been noted in the field of govern
mental service and diplomacy. His maternal grand
father was John Hay, ambassador to the Court of ST
James and Secretary of State under President Nc
Kinley. His paternal grandfather, William C. Viii:
ney, was Secretary of the Navy in the Clevelan
cabinet and is generally regarded as the father o
Americas "big navy policy. AS chairman of tn
board of Freeport Sulphur, Mr.. Whitney has alread,
played an important part in the development of new
American sulphur reserves and in the pioneering i
Cuba of a nearby source Of manganese, America
No. 1 strategic material. Like many other prominen
American business men who have gone to Washing
ton to assist the national defense effort, Mr.. Whit
ney will serve the Government in his new pos
for 81 a year.
TO MARKET TO MARKET-A problem tina
you and l seldom worry about, but one that is beinl
seen more and more clearly as a vital factor il
national defense, is that Of distribution-the tech
nique of getting from farm and factory the fruit o
this nations great productive capacity. This fac
was highlighted at two recent Boston meetings
the famous Boston Conference on Distribution an
the convention of Marketing Officials of 10 majo
food-producing states. Speakers at both meeting
emphasized the idea that, except for the chat
store system of streamlined movement, the nation
marketing machinery today is too complicated, to
costly, too cumbersome for an era when farmers an
workers are producing more than they ever did befor
They pointed out, too, that the system is impede-
by log jams and toll gates that benefit only smal
selfish groups. Such, they said, are trade barrier
that have "balkanized' this e~ountry's commerce
anti-chain store taxes that are, in effect ~anti-co1
sumner taxes: state trade fair practice acts, pric
maintenance laws and such. A lifting of thes
legislative restrictions is essential to progress, man
speakers declared.
THINGS TO WATCH FORA novelty pape,
weight, for businessmen inclined to doodle It's
chrome ball, with pointer, which is mounted on
roulette-hke dial which has mo-, yes, do, don't b,
sides numers. Maybe some of those famous 'sna
decisions of business will become spinner play
now One of the mentholated variety of cigaret
is coming out in the long size that has been one G
the biggest developments in the tobacco world du
ing the past year Longer playing life, wit
adding pulverized natural marble to the plastic
which the records are pressed A hardwat<
soap which will have varying composition designe
to cope with different harnesses of water in di
ferent sections of the country to be known
"Zoned" soap. One of the earliest of the 1874
Christmas toy novelties is a midget electric vacuu
sweeper that really works, to retail at $2.9S ).
Educational Commute movie film tracing develo
ment Of nylon and other plastics, to be loaned q
by du Point to clubs and schools.