The Skyland post. [volume] (West Jefferson, N.C.) 193?-1988, 1942-07-30
SgaSNS
TODAY
and
TOMOR ROW
By DON ROBINSON
Bv DON ROBINSON

catalogue, 1t might De gOOQ ldea
to hang on to it and file it with
your history books.
I have just finished thumbing
through one of those betty vol
umes and it occurred to me that
here was a veritable encyclopedia
of the things which we are going
to have to do without if this war
continues as long as those who
hob-nob with the President pre-
dict.
A lot of the things pictured in
the catalogues are alread unavail-
able and the mail order houses
are thus forced to return millions
of dollars of good U s.. cash to
people who order them.
Another group of products can
only be sold to people who have
priorities and another large group
will be unobtainable as soon as
present stocks are exhausted.
When we will again be. able to
purchase those things which we
have taken for granted for so
many years, nobody knows, so it
seems a good idea to keep the
1912 book on hand to show Junior
the pictures of the things which
made living so easy before the
war.
GOODS disappearing
Those gorgeous pictures of big,
heavy dreaded tires, shown in the
mail order catalogues, will make
many a mouth water in the
months to come.
The washing machine pictures,
the refrigerators, the bicycles, the
lawnmowers, the cameras and the
hundreds of farm and kitchen
gadgets portrayed, will also bring
many a sigh from those of us who
have become accustomed to easy
living
Most of us, l imagine, have lost
track of the hundreds Of items
which industry is now prohibited
from manufacturing. We learn
about them gradually by the try
to-buy method and are quickly
realizing that, during the past
month, the stock Of merchandise
available in many types Of stores
has become extremely limited.
With practically all things made
of metal or rubber having gone
to war or rapidly joining the
forces, the available civilian mer-
chandise is dWindling like a snow
ball in July.
CADETS Christmas
Last week 1 received from
Washington a new list of articles,
made from iron and steel, on
which manufacturing will be en-
tirely prohibited beginning next
month. The list, which is simply
an addition to many previously
issued, includes hundreds of pop
ular items. A few of them are:
Atomizers, automobile accesso-
ries Except those required by
law, awning frames, bag and
pocketbook frames, beds, binocu-
lars, bird cages, blackboards, cash
registers, chick feeders, Christmas
tree ornaments, cigarette lighters,
clock cases, compacts, corn pop
pers, croquet sets.
Those are just a few of the
items listed under A, B and C..
But they are enough to give a
general idea of how rapidly all
kinds of items are going to dis
appear from the market. By COM
pairing this one list with the index
of mail order catalogue found
it called for the elimination Of
more than 200 of the products
indexed.
When l first heard that pur-
chasing power in 1912 would
greatly exceed the merchandise
which we would be able to buy,
it was difficult state to imagine.
I couldn't picture anyone going to
town with money in his pocket
and not being able to spend it.
When the Christmas shopping
season comes around again the
great scarcity of goods will be-
come strikingly apparent to all
of us. There is apt to be very
little to put under the 1912 Christ
mas tree except war savings
stamps.
FUTURE promising
We are going to learn to get
along without a lot of things, but
that isn't going to stop us from
wanting them back at the first
possible opportunity.
When the war ends there is
going to be the greatest demand
for goods that there ever has
been in the history of this country.
With our pockets loaded with war
bond money, there will be mill
lions of us who want to make the
down payment on a new auto