Evening star., 1942-11-29

qualities 1t may lack, is a necessary
and the attempts to solve it. Yet
questions.
Small business has been defined as
any concern that employs less than
100 persons But this is merely
working definition which has, not
been generally accepted by Govern
ment agencies that deal with busi-
ness. Lou E. Holland, chairman of
the Smaller War Plants Corp. and
head of the War Production Boards
Small War Plants Division, has his
own definition. A small business, he
says. is any that lis not adequately
represented in Washington. And
Mr.. Hollands agencies have no
hard-and-fast rule in separating
small and big enterprises. They'll
deal as readily with one employing
400 as with one which has a payroll
of 40.
Small Concerns Suffer More.
Many officials of the procurement
agencies and others concerned take
the position that a business is a
business in the war production drive
whatever its size. Inevitably, they
point out, the smaller concerns will
suffer more dislocations under the
impact of the radical war economy,
since they haven't the capital or
the resources to withstand as much.
But larger corporations, too. have
their crises, and these difficulties
have not been ignored in the push
to speed up manufacturing -for-vic-
tory.
Apparently no one knows, with
any degree of precision, how many
small manufacturers. wholesalers
and retailers there are Even the
Census Bureau, with its mass of
figures on industry and trade, can't
say. 1t can only approximate, as Of
certain dates. This undoubtedly is
because small business is a picture
that changes, from hour to hour.
like sand unler the tides. New
plants. new stores open every day,
and others close. Il doubt If any
one knows" is Small Businessman
Hollands reply to the question of
how many there are today.
While there is some knowledge
concerning business mortalities, this
information also is far from COM
plete The Bureau Of Foreign and
Domestic Commerce says conserva-
lively:
Unfortunately. available data on
births and deaths in various seq
ments of the business world are not
all that could be desired. Govern
ment sources of such data are lack
ing and private studies touch upon
only some phases of the question.
From evidence patched together
some information is available with
respect to total births and deaths
in various industrial groups and in
some types of business"
Typical Trends Shown.
Dun & Brandstreet and other or
ganizations have made exhaustive
studies of business mortality. And
while these. necessarily, are not
complete, they show trends which
probably are typical And some OF
the figures are astonishing. Dun's
Review published compilation by
Starr and Steiner of research in
207 Indiana towns between 1929 and
1887, which period, of course, in
cluded the great depression of the
30's. This study, which NAV or may
not reflect the situation elsewhere,
| showed:
That the number Of retail estab-
| lishments in these towns was little
different at the end of this troubled
span of years. There were 10,430
such enterprises in 1929 and 9,506
in 1887. And during the period,
1880 new stores were opened while
14,5O0 closed their doors.
A special study Of commercial
births and deaths which Dun &
Bradstreet made for the entire
country between September. 1941,
and May, 1942, showed that the
trend during this time was "a radi-
cal decline in birth rate, with prac-
tically no new enterprises in certain
lines and not enough overall entries
| to replace even normal mortality. y
according to Department of Com
merce summary of the findings. The
lines of business with the heaviest
declines in birth rate were motor
vehicle dealers, auto accessory stores.
coal and fuel dealers, radio and
electrical appliances stores.
| Returns from 81 States showed
that births among manufacturers
had increased in number exactly
four between the dates, those of
wholesalers had dropped 81 per cent
and those of retailers had declined
"a per cent. Business deaths of
manufacturers had increased per
cent, those of wholesalers 20 per
cent and those of retailers only 2
per cent.
Pressure Seen Increased.
"The complex of factors which
contributed to the decline in birth
rate over the past two decades" :"
commented the Bureau of Foreign
and Domestic Commences analysts,
will probably augment rather than
counteract the prevailing wartime
pressures which operate mainly as
bar to openings. To the extent
that gasoline and rubber rationing
&EexASESExSS
n TT IT1C NJ