The Hardin tribune-herald. [volume] (Hardin, Mont.) 1925-1973, 1941-12-11
BEHIND THE SCENES IN
AMERICAN BUSINESS
BY John Craddock

New York, Dec. 8 VOLUME
- It looks as though retail
business - for the country as
a whole - is getting close to
the point where the gains it
chalks up, week by week, will
be accounted for only by the
increased prices, and will not
mean increased buying of &C
tual goods. In areas not directly
stimulated by defense-produc-
ton employment and payrolls
this point has been reached al
ready. Overall, the weekly gains
in store sales - which are
measured in dollar volume -
have been just about matching
the average retail price increas-
eS. After Christmas, many store
executives fear, the actual net
movement of goods across the
counters may be less than in
the same weeks a year before.
Reasons: Sharp dent rising pri-
ceS have put in purchasing po-
wer of fixed-incOme, white-col-
lar folks; apprehension about
taxes; payments on the large
amount of installment buying
undertaken earlier this year are
now absorbing the surplus in
come of many families; sum-
mer's beat the tax" shopping
Splurge got many persons I'M
usually well stocked up on clo-
thing, furnishings, staples.
--S
Washington - The strike
curbing bill of Rep. Howard w.
Smith of Virginia, that passed
the House by 252 to 1856, was
considered the most stringent
of several Congress had to con-
slider. The fact that it was sent
to the labor committee of the
Senate, rather than the judicial.
lent weight to the opinion it
would be considerably tanned
down before reaching a Senate
vote. Cheered to the echo by
the National Association of
Manufacturers convention when
it appeared there after the
House action, Smith quickly
warned against assuming the
bill was on behalf of manufac-
turerS, said it was ION behalf
of all Americans who believe in
good and fair government" Bill
Knudsen, director = general of
OPM, had previously told the
group: "...I can't for the
life of me understand how in a
period of national emergency
such fOoliShneSS as this can 90
on -: We are in a very good
position regarding wages and
working conditions. We have all
kinds of work to do, and then
we have to stop and argue
about jurisdictional disputes
and organizational disputes, and
Heaven knows what 49,"
NUTRITION NEEDS - AS de-
tense production mounts, the
need for higher nutrition STAN
dardS becomes greater if we are
to have the strength and health
necessary for the job, federal
food experts say. And as farm
prices mount - as they have -
the need for more efficient
distribution becames greater if
we are to be able to buy en-
ough of the essential protective
foods which give that strength
- milk, eggs, fresh fruits and
vegetables. Wider use of stream
lined" mass distribution meth
DDS would help greatly in this
respect, according to Earl R.
French, marketing director Of
the A & P's produce buying af-
filiate. Speaking before the
Connecticut Vegetable Growers
association he declared savings
of more than $100,0OO,O 900 to
producers and consumers could
thus be made on fresh fruits
and vegetables alone. AS it is
today, with much of the ma
tons distribution machinery
antiquted and over-crowded, he
said consumers pay 50, 900, 0OO,-
900 a year for produce - and