Milford chronicle., 1947-09-05
NO ONE KNOWS HOW LONG it will last,

ana expressions, none Oh WHICH, have IIIStCcIldI-
lied. Last June, according to Department of
Commerce figures, personal incomes in the
United States hit the record annual rate of
$193,O0O,OOO,OOO. In that same month the
number of productivity employed people
passed the 60,000,000 mark for the first time,
and the July figure was still higher.
1t is true, of course, that the purchasing
power of the dollar is much lower than IN
previous times. Even so, wage increases have,
for the most part, kept pace with price In
creases, and in some industries have mater
tally exceeded them. The maj jOr exceptions
to the rule have been the white-cOllar and
professional classes, whose earnings, mea-
sured by the yardstick of purchasing power,
are less than during and before the war.
People living on fixed incomes have taken a.
tremendous financial beating. 1t is the la
boring groups which have benefited most.
Herbert Hoover recently said that he
could not fOresee any important drop in busi-
ness in the near future. That point OF view is
widely shared at the present time, even by
some of the commentators who anticipated
economic upheaValS this summer. This Optl-
miSm as to the immediate outlook is prOduc-
ing increased pesSimiSm as to the lOng-term
outlook on the theory that the longer the
boom lasts the more severe will be the break
when it comes. 1t is a situation where the old
prize-ring dictum that "the bigger they are
the harder they fall'' applies. But this is in
the realm of speculation. The business in
dices are still going up, and the goal of "full
employment" seems to have been reached. In
many important lines, output would be a
great deal larger than at present if more sup
plies were available.
Every consumer knows what all this has
done to prices. Here, again, those who fore
cast last fall that substantial price breaks
would come by mid-1947 were badly fooled
The Bureau of Labor Statistics price index
recently touched another new high, and it is
expected to go higher still. That is the result
of many factOrS-gOvernmenta fiscal policy,
foreign buying in a tight market, ever-eX-
panding business overhead etc. To choose the
most obvious reason, higher prices are newt
able when 60000,000' people, earning the
highest pay in history, are painting for goods
and services of all kinds. There are still
many people to whom price is of little conse-
quence-as the so-called fused automobile
market abundantly proves. Throughout the
country, 1947 automobiles bring bonuses of
from $4OO to $1,000 on the used-car lots
and dealers report that there is no dearth of
purchasers.
The loosening of the regulations on time
payment purchases has been a factor in keep
ing sales of expensive articles at the peak lev
ell. When families run out of cash, they can
keep on buying on liberal installment terms
In some fields, such as radios, evidence OF
Over-production is apparent, especially OF
unknown brands. But staple, advertised
goods of all kinds are selling well.
Very few people believe that this is &
healthy economy. Economists for industry
shake their heads when they start talking
about the longtime future So do the eco
nomists for the labor unions. All of then
are concerned with what might happen if we
had depression accompanied by high prices
1t has never happened in this country. 1t has
happened in many other countries. And it il
definitely an unpleasant prospect.
WE OFTEN WONDER whether every
business has the headaches connected with i
that are continuous in the printing and news
paper industry. But then we hear of some
other business with it's aches and pains-anC
our troubles seem to be little indeed. 1t wa
with much amusement that we read an edi
torial in the Eastville (Virginia) Easter
Shore Herald, in which they tell of some o
the difficulties encountered in the recen
change-oyer in size of that newspaper TIL
editorial, under the heading of "A Seven-Da
Week." follows:
eve have heard some very kind remark
about our new edition of the Eastern Shor
Herald. There are some kind people left i
the world after all.
Everything went wrong in the Heral
office last week. Changing the size of
newspaper within week is more of jo
than the new inexperienced Editor figured OF
consequently there was no time to be spen
) on proof-reading last weeks edition and re
gretably we made many errors in spelling
punctuation and layout.
: ''Then Socrates, that's the big press ths
r prints our paper, was extremely obstinate
I He had been printing off the larger size,
: sheet paper for years and years and had n
t desire to change over to new size. We PEE
t suaded him on bended knee. from Friday a
: ternoon to 80 Saturday afternoon, and a
= he would mutter was Know thyself' Final
S he figured we had learned our lesson and b.
gan to run off the papers as of yore.
e eff the walls of the HERALD office cou
Y talk they would tell you many a tale of VIII;
ao1Ip1 old Socrates +bo