Evening star., 1945-12-23
YuIe SoIes Set Record
Despite Inflated Prices
Commentator Sees a Government
Error Partly to Blame
Bu RdUnto7,d MOIey

By Raymond Moley
We are just completing the dizziest
Christmas shopping spree in history. 1t,
moreover, may be the greatest for many
years to come. It is predicted that the
retail trade this year will pass $75,O00,-
000, 900, as against 500 900 900 900 last
| year, which was the record then. In
1929 mere $4,000, 100000 were spent.
The volume for the Christmas period
alone will be about 10 per cent over
last year.
This has happened despite the fact
| that transactions have been fewer than
in some previous years. The unit sales
prices have been higher Low-priced
goods are hard to find In textiles, for
example, price control has been motor
| iously ineficient. While the averages
| of all commodities other than food have
| risen no more than one-third, the off,
cial index shows that textiles have risen
| SO per cent. And this is probably a
considerable understatement. The old
dollar and dollar-and-a-h mems
shirt has vanished, and frayed cuffs and
disintegrating collars have driven even
the thrifty into the three to- dollar
| class.
| + y - n
1t is equally significant that this rec
ord buying has been in the face of great
gaps in available lines of goods. Re-
| frigerators, radios, television sets, wash
Ing machines, automobiles and the like
are not yet available in any consider
able numbers. A foreigner would as
sumo, from reading the business news,
that we are as badly of as Moscow
once was, when about all that could be
bought were phonograph records. But
the same foreigner would be amazed at
what we actually have to SELL The
| choice is not what it was, but there still
Is snare for every loose dollar.
And the loose dollars are here in
force. Every mustered-out soldier has
an extra $500 burning hole in his
| pocket. Hundreds of thousands of
these men need new equipment, from
top to toe. Suits and hats and shirts
and ties have been found-at price
! The savings of the civilian popula-
ton are at an all-time high, There is
money to spend, even though the SILL
o0000o,o00 Victory Loan probably will
be oversubscribed by nearly $4,000 O0o.-
600. And spending has gone on despite
strike unemployment, with It's empty
pay envelopes.
All this has happened in the face
n fnat
something like Governmental inspired
sitdown strike in many manufacturing
lines. This was due to the indescribably
foolish act of Government in ANNOUNCE
ing, in September, the end of the excess
profits tax on January l. 1t became
obvious, as early as October, that many
manufacturers simply would wait until
such tax relief was in force before
making stuff for which there was a big
demand. This reporter was one Of
those who pointed out that Congress
very considerably would enlarge its tax
intake and appreciably check imitation
II 1t would remove the excess profits
| tax Immediately. John L. Lewis pointed
this out in connection with the eyre
time to strike when management
was willing to- close up shop until next
year.
The temptation placed before the
manufacturer to delay making things,
for which he might get double the
! profit later on, was too much to resist.
1t also was apparent that the retailer
could sell surplus stuff already SUD-
| piled by the manufacturers at premium
prices. If, when time comes to think.
the Christmas shopper has any doubts
about the wisdom of his purchases, he
can put some OF the blame on the
| lneptitude of his Government. Except
for the excess profits angle, more goods
and less expensive goods might be
nesting under the tree on Christmas
morning
( But We can have the comforting
expectation, after the children have
retired on Christmas night that next
year We shall get more for our money
American productivity in the shop and
on the farm is rising. The volume of
commodities will rise. Money will move
fast. The buyer will regain some OF
his old-time rights. This will be a
Christmas past, but it surely will be
long remembered as our most extrava-
CANT holiday season.