Evening star., 1941-08-10
Summer Trade
Reaches Peak
For Decade
Sweeping Changes
Prove Buffling
To Forecusters
By FRANK NacMILLEN,


NEW YORK, Aug. 9-Business'
men, who have been adjusting fu'
ture production and price plans al
most from hour TO hour recently a.
the emergency spurred defense out
put and began to cut into manv
kinds of civilian enterprise, were
literally whirled on the merry-go-
round of events this week with such
developments as these:
/. Congressional hearings opened
on comprehensive price-control leg
islation. designed to unity and
strengthen present piecemeal pow
erS.
2. All silk was banned for civil
use as the tension with Japan grew,
and the result was the first demon
stration during this emergency OF
the kind of panic buying by retail
customers which can result as short
ages. real or imagined. threaten.
3. Gasoline for pleasure car use
in the East was shut off "voluntar-
ilv" by distributors during night
hours. Early indications were users
in many cases were loading in more
gas during daylight. So oil men
here, and in some Washington quar-
ters. freely predicted ration cards
were in the offing.
Trade Best in Decade.
5. Early figures on july business
began to trickle from the retail
trade giving clear promise Of the
best summer volumes in decade.
Seventeen chain and mail order con-
Germs reporting so far average q
per cent greater sales than a year
ago and individual increases ran
up to 81 per cent.
Scattered as these developments
appeared at first glance many busl-
ness people viewed them in the light
of the Congressional testimony OF
Price-czar Leon Henderson which
day after day contained warnings
that the classic war-period upward
spiral in prices was already under
way and could be held in hand only
by creation and use of strong central
controls.
Even so. Henderson said. whole
sale prices, proportionately had OUT
stripped retail ones, and some fur
ther rise in the cost Of living ap-
peared inevitable.
Imitation. Henderson said. tended
to appear when people had plenty
of money to spend and at the same
time there was a shortage OF the
things they wanted to buy.
Nation in Spending Mood.
Coming in close conjunction with
something like a Nationwide raid
by feminine America on retail
stocking counters. with the slack
ening flow of gasoline, and with evil
dence the country is in spending
mood" businessmen studied the
testimony closely.
They were quick to point out that
the control bill. while designed to
hold down prices of manufactured
goods. would not regulate wages and
would put ceiling on farm prices,
which in most cases was higher
than the actual level now existing.
In this respect business comment
here appeared TO run in part par
allel to the ideas Of the price ad-
ministrator. His testimony. it was
noted. said wages and prices must
be held in line if the general levels
of costs was not to spiral
But. Henderson suggested. for
mechanical reasons it appeared un-
wise to attempt to set up wage con-
troll and price control in a single
piece of legislation and. further.
more practical approach appeared
to be action 10 keep down living
costs and thus remove the pressure
for successfully higher pay scales.
Business Week. usually accurate
mirror of opinion in its field. had
this to say today of the growing
buying rush and its relation to
prices:
Forward Buying Now Heavy.
apparently retailers and the ul-
innate consumers are now engaged
in forward buying on a large scale;
they are making up for lost time,
six months ago when manu-
facturers reversed their prevalent
policy of close-to- the-chest pur-
chasing, retail merchants for the
most part still were pursuing nor
NAL inventory policies.
But now the significance Of all
out defense is becoming clearer.
And there is just a touch of panic
in both wholesale and retail chan
nels-as the rise in prices and the
hectic demand for goods testify.
This buying squirt makes Wash
ington's price control job just that
much more difficult. It looks as if
anti-inf1ation legislation will not be
passed until well into the fall, and
that means that that much time
will elapse before effective action
can be taken by Price AdminiStra-