The Waterbury Democrat., 1946-12-13
by DrssU Pearson

nroshorhooa og Teamaters h bitterly opposea lo aN general strike for any cause. I am therefore Oroer membeFn ol our international union Co bring thA gen eFal strike Co en end mmedlately and to retum Q work as soon ae possible.
 s1f there are grievances, endoAsor to obtain con. fefenoes and reach settlements n the regular orderly leaal manner as outlined n the consultation Of the international organization
 No general strike hes ever yet brought success Co Che labor movement On the contrary, the only result Of general strike b Co pefsecute and incon~ venence the public and seriously njure the thousAnds of fair employers with whom we have contracts"
 Tobln9 telegram would have made headlines, q released. However here is the inside story of wh&
 As soon as Dave Beck received Tobns wire, he phoned Tobin, begging him not to release the tee- gram. Beck said that important conferences were h progress and the release of the telegram might ins lure the union in its negotiations. So Tobn agreed to wait until later in the day for the meeting to break up.
 While robin was awaiting news from Beck, the radio bared out the news that the sreat Dave Beck had called off the strike ell by himself Pictures showing Beck ending the strike were printed national iy. Meanwhile N was Tobns wire which did the Tobns telegram as his own in his statement to the press
 The end of 0PA has had some significant effects on the volume of Christmas buying this year, which 60 far Is running behind last Christmas time.
 Shopping crowds are as large as usual but 0ov- ernment figures indicate that the buying public is keeping its purse strings frightened People just aren't buying as much, apparently because prices are too high.
 Actually the dollar value of Christmas sales for october. Noevmber and December will be roughly s2e63 O000O0 which is about % percent greater than last year. But this apparent increase due to higher prices not more buying.
 In terms of actual merchandise sold, this Christ mas season is running behind last year, even though the quantity of consumer items available for sale far less ct that time So cautious has the shop ping public become that unsod inventories depart ment store shelves are 237 percent compared with inventories in the pre-war i935-30 period-or more than twice as much.
 Top-heavy inventories are due in part to higher prices, following OPA decontrols and in part to overstocking by merchandisers who wrongly estimated that the public would pay prohibtive prices for modities that were scarce during the war years.
 Biggest slackening-off has been in womens apparel, which normally constitutes 60 percent oi department store sales. However, all luxury items ares affected Some retailers have become 80 desper- ate that they are even conducting pre-Christmas sales of expensive furs
 On the other hand, consumer "durables" such as hardware, refrigerators and household appliances are in great demand, while sales of chdrens toys, now in the luxury class. have dfopped off
 NOTE-Whie the public is slow about buying goods, 1t has done well on its purchase of Govern ment bonds, which will total about S8O00 900 this year, or s20O0O000O0 more than Treasury expecta- tons.