The Durant news. (Durant, Miss.) 1882-1985, 1941-02-13
"BEHiND THE SCENES IN
AMERICAN BUSINESS"
By John Croddock

NEW YORK., Feb. 1O-BUSINESS-Though you
may have spotted price rises in some things, and got
the impression that living costs were on q strong up
trend, fact is living cost rises have been amazingly low
in comparison with what was feared the war would
bring, on the basis of the 1914-18 experience. Nat
ional Industrial Conference Boards report on 1910
shows that the wage-earner paid only nine-tenths OF
one per cent more for his essential requirements in
1910 than in 1939-and nearly three per cent less
than in 1887. The survey covers food, clothing.
housing, sundries, light and fuel. The Board uses
1928 as the standard for living costs. With that as
"100," costs during 1910 for the fields surveyed
aggregated 85.3. Which means that the purchasing
power of the 40 dollar was 117.2 per cent Of what
it was in '23 -. you could buy as much with a
single round dollar in those essentials as you could
have not for SLIT in 1923.
NO RUNAWAY-So maybe prices aren't going
to run away, after although we certainly heard
plenty Of talk expressing fear of just that when the
defense was just starting. Maybe we should knock
on wood. But the experts say this stability in cost
Of living, thus far, in spite Of numerous initiation
ary' influences, has been due mainly to three fac
tors: (1) Our abundance of foodstuffs and raw ma
terials; (2) mutual determination, arising out of ex-
perience in the other war, on the part Of both bust
ness and government to keep prices down; (3) COM
~paratively small number of labor disturbances, to
date.
Low PRICE auto industry, which
has pledged itself to priorities on defense orders,
finds itself able to surge ahead full-blast to meet
what is predicted to be the greatest spring demand
in its history. announcements of new models shows
a definite trend toward stepped-up production and
continued low prices, indicating no noticeable short
age in basic materials. Among the late news on
the industry is the announcement by one concern,
Wilys-Overland of what is described as 1.-The lowest
priced full-sized automobile in the world"-a new
coupe priced at $40 under any other model of the
comrany-in addition IN five ofhor lou-coc+ r,nJoIc
According to Ward M. Canaday, chairman of the
company, "the location of defense plants in out
lying areas and the general trend Of industrial
decentralization make it imperative that hundreds
OF thousands of workers be provided with low-cost
auto transportation to reach their jobs. We are gear
ing our production to meet these needs"
CONSUMERS OUTLOOK-More money is now
in circulation than at any previous time in Ameri-
can history. and consumer buying has reacted to give
the retail trade an extended contra-seasonal rise.
Automobile sales, for instance, set an all-time Janu-
airy record, Consumers, however, despite hold
downs thus far, still are wary Of rises in retail
prices. Thus, many business leaders are now look
ing for means of protecting the consumers interest.
not only for the consumers sake, but as a safe
guard for the entire economic structure. For ex-
ample. Lewis S. Rosenstiel, chairman of Schenley
Dlstillers, points out that "if we are to preserve
private enterprise, we must recognize that the con-
inc IS mt poss, ana tnat the era is one of
service to the consumer" A portentous sign of the
increasing nearness to wartime economy" is the
report from Washington that the nation may soon
be asked to convert at least Is per cent of its
production facilities to defense purposes, which will
mean a scarcity of many materials previously used
principally for civilian needs.
THINGS TO WATCH FORA typewriter ro,ler
that can be illuminated 'from inside" shining through
TO make everything perfectly visable when cpt,;ru a
stencil for the Monograph machine-it's made of
iucite, that transparent plastic that CONVEYS light
around corners More cigarets in the long,
size-there's q rumor one of the big three NAV
emerge soon as a longie Cooking and salad
oil made from tobacco seeds-they say this part of
the plant contains no nicotine and yields acceptable
vegetable oil