Evening star., 1942-05-17
Civilian Losses
Offset Arms
Expansion
Business Is Expected
To Hold on PIuteuu
Few More Weeks

ANSN 4oAskA, way IlVS
weeks business volume, as recorded
by the Business Week Index, has
held on a plateau. Two familiar.
but contradictory, influences are at
work, the magazine states.
The output of armament - air.
plares. ships. guns. shells, ETC. is
expanding as rapidly as men, ma
terials and machines can be mobil-
lied. But production Of nonwar
goods-textiles, shoes, household ap-
pliances, business machines, petro-
leum, jewelry, etc. is falling on.
And that Is likely to be the pattern
for several weeks longer
Whats happening is this: Lack
of shipping space is forcing slow
downs in petroleum output and Ger
tain woolen textiles. The War Pro-
duction Board is trying to speed up
conversion of Woodworking man
ufacturers to war work by shutting
off supplies or fixing quotas-as with
r-conditioning apparatus or type
writer's.
{.
ages of such basic raw materials as
copper, steel, aluminium and mag
nesium, curtsilment of durable.
goods production Is unavoidable.
Steel Good Example.
steel, which in the final analysis
determines the country's maximum
war potential, exemplifles the point.
In the current quarter must steel
assignments call for 9825 per cent Of
maximum output.
For the III per cent OF the out
put that's left, demand-with a pri-
ority rating A-10 or higher-is more
than 10 times supply. That explains
why In recent weeks the w. P. B. Is
sued stop" orders on long LIST OF
steel-consuming products.
The tightness in steel has height
ened demand for lumber. w. P. B.
has advised plywood manufactur-
ers to expand production. There
has been talk of freezing manu-
facturers' softwood stocks to assure
sufficient supplies for Army camps
and shipbuilders.
Facilities Of furniture factories
are being used increasingly in war
work. Government orders on hand
are now estimated at $500, 900 900, or
approximately half q good years
output. In another year, war out
put alone may reach $1,000 .0oo. 900.
"Rollback" on Consumers.
"Oficials in the Office Of Price
A = s-@r -
get a sense of the magnitude of the
price freeze job. Institution Of
manufacturers and wholesalers
price ceilings took place without in
cident.
But some retailers. trying to beat
the May 18 gun on the price mark
down to March levels. last week and
this week encouraged consumers to
stock up on high-quality merchan-
disc.
The implication h that before
long pre-freeze quality goods will be
generally sold out. Then the fun
begins.
so far, economists have talked
about a 'rollback' to ease the
squeeze on retailers by passing some
of the burden back to wholesalers
and manufacturers. But probably
the big rollback will be on the con-
sumer, in the form Of cheapening of
quality.
Mrs. Housewife will pay March
prices but she'll get May, June, and
July merchandise. Thus, instead of
price imitation, we'll have quality de-
flation. The o. P. AS next big job
Is to police quality. To this end, IL
is apt to press increasingly for
merchandise Standardization, for
Standardization Is q necessary ad-
junct to effective quality control
Gasoline q Headache.
Gasoline rationing along the
Eastern Seaboard is bound to be an
other headache. Though consum-
ers get ration cards, gasoline deal.
ers do not have to turn in coupons
to replenish their inventories.
Therefore. evasive vendors can pick
and choose their customers. ration
card or not. In time, the 0. p. A.
may be forced to adopt a tyrn-in
system, as In the case Of sugar, to
control the seller.
Meanwhile. the pace Of the war
which in the last analysis Is the
arbiter of what and how much
America will produce and for how
long-quickened. With the battle
of the Coral Sea and German
thruSts In the Crimea, it Is still well
to figure on long war-one lasting
well into l943 or beyond. But
crucial battles are soon to be fought.
IF the Axis meets with serious
and strategic reverses, the war may
end sooner than expected. And
then. instead of worrying about
conversion Of war work, business
men will have to begin thinking Of
reconversion to nonwar products.
But. as yet, It's too soon and too
optimistic to get out the peacetime