The Durant news. (Durant, Miss.) 1882-1985, 1942-04-30
BEHIND THE SCENES IN
AMERICAN BUSINESS
BY John Craddoek

NEW YORK, April 27.-DEM-
OTORIZATION-War came to the
Atlantic seaboard in the most en-
phatic way thur far, with news that
gasoline rationing is really just a.
round the corner-to go into effect
May Is in II eastern states. In this
area live about 54,000,000 people,
almost two-fifths of the nations DO
pulation. Individual motorists for
the most part were philosophical but
businesses that are dependent upon
the continued comings and goings of
the great American automobile
and there are a lot of such bushes
ses, come to think of it-found the
actual %rationing announcement a
stiff blow. Filling station dealers, of
course, were distressed, and some
what inclined to protect that the
dealer rationing' system had been
working out all right. The New Eng
land tourist industry, used a dea-
lers, and financing companies which
have been depending on used-car
! financing are three other industries
severely staggered by the order
There was much doubt about what
the actual gallonage of the ration
would be-but no doubt that it would
be vastly less than the national av-
erage consumption, in 1941, of IS
gallons per month per car.
AHEAD of TIME-Most reports
from the war production front are
good. The. word on conversion of the
industry to arms work is still "fas-
ter than expected" with changeover
unemployment declining rapidly. In
fact, F. H. HARRISON, labor expert in
the employing branch of WPB fl
cures that in another six weeks the
auto industry will be employing as
many as in June, 1941, biggest month
of that big year 4. Mass produc-
ton techniques are being applied to
many war jobs, with the result that
original price contracts r being
readjusted downward by hundreds
Of millions Of dollars, to avoid rak-
ing in utterly fantastic profits (. l..
General Electric expects to produce
a billion dollars worth of war ma
terials this year American Loo
omotive's 1912 production will be a
bout three times as large as the
$73,OOO,O 900 turned out in 1941 -
SAFETY FIRST-Our thankful
ness at the fast rising production Of
planes, tanks, guns and other war
weapons, has to be tempered with
misgivings when we note a parallel
increase in industrial accidents. Such
accidents last year resulted in deaths
Of men in the sch ctive service age
group equal in number to two full
army divisions! A safety campaign
to check war production time losses
| caused by accidents on and off the
| Job was launched last week by lead
ing industralists through the Nat
ional Safety Council. The council
will seek to install effective safety
programs $4,000 industrial plants
which now lack them. In this connec-
ton, Harry Guilbert. a regional dir
ector of the Labor Departments
Manpower Conservation Committee
and for more than 20 years safety
Director of the Pullman Company,
declared that accidents fight only
for the Axis" He said fatalities in
England's factories increased "a per
cent as war production hit wartime
peaks. Guilbert, who has been res
ponsible for Pullman's excellent
safety record, holds that the trend
can be reversed if every worker
and plant manager is taught that
"an accident can happen to me-"
BITS O'BUSINESS CONNECTIONS
ers, bakers, bottlers, ice creamers
and such are redoubling their sugar
stretching efforts by changing for
mulas and other means, since ration
ing now puts them on 20 per cent
of 194l sugar use instead of 80.
There probably will be much mar
rover ranges of flavors in soft drinks
and ice cream this summer, as one
result Cuffless trousers are
gradually making their presence felt
on the fashion scene. A Philadelphia
store advertises de-cuffing at 81 a
pair, and it sends the dollar to the
Red Cross and the material to the
wool reclaimers New York City
cleaners are sending cash accident
ally left in suits to war relief or
CARNATIONS Only a little more
than half as many women's fancy
hose win be made this year as last,
and they'll be practically all rayon.
Silk doesn't come here any more
and nylon's gone off to the wars in
%parachutes and other things. The ray
on stockings will be better than
rayon used to be, though.