The Durant news. (Durant, Miss.) 1882-1985, 1949-12-29
Behind The Scenes
In American Business
BY Reynolds knight

rnism now prevailing among
many people with prices slid
ing, they're beginning TO look
through their rose-colored glasses
again. More and more people are
pricing television sets, or hope
! FULLY scanning automobile ads.
They may have to keep stuffing
their piggy banks for a while if
they want a new car, though it
looks as if prices will stick pref
ty close to present peaks for some
time yet. The reason: new pen
sion plans are costly. They'll not
only keep the motor makers Ia
Dor costs up, but will probably
boost the cost of the steel they
need, too. So don't count on any
substantial dips in auto prices.
They're most likely to move up
again. About the only cuts on
the horizon right now are those
for new automatic transmissions.
Pontiac, Oldsmobile, Cadillac and
Buick already have lowered trans
mission price tage. But that shiny
new $1,000 car is still long way
around the corner.
COLD WAR - The much-ma-
Hinged common cold is finally do
ing some good. In the past few
weeks, in fact, it's rolled up a
rafting new business for the ma
tons drug stores. Since the de-
velopment of the first anti-his-
famine tablets half a dozen or
more "cold-killing" connections
have flooded drug shelves - Ana
hist, Inhiston, Kripton, Resistab,
Neohetramine, Neo-Antergan, ETC.
all clamoring for what's sure TO
BIT roaring new market. It's
still too early to predict which one
will wind up on top of the heap,
especially with the American Me-
dical association and Better Bust
ness bureaus casting slightly du-
bious glances at some of the more
startling claims being made by
the tablets manufacturers. Mean
while, consumers are being treat
ed to the kind of slam-bang COM
petitive fight that made American
free enterprise what it is.
TAX TALK - Secretary of
Treasury Snyder has put his fin
ger on retailers sore spot by
coming out in favor of slashing
excise taxes. Snyder joined
Commerce Secretary Sawyer,
Senator O'Mahoney, and other
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. admins
tration leaders by branding excise
levies as damaging to the little
man in business.
When government policy arbi-
trarily erects distinctions between
'Hluxuries" and necessities" for
tax purposes, living standards
tend to be lowered. Continued
"war-emergency" levies on lug
gage, jewelry, phone bills, trans
portation tickets, distilled spirits,
cosmetics, entertainment, and
other so-called luxury" items
thus run counter to the whole eff
fort of the economy. Unless all
consumers are some day to be re-
duced to substandard levels, it
should be recognized that any
article for which widespread de-
mand exists is essentially a ne
cessity Also, today's "luxuries"
would have little revenue-raising
power if they were not in fact
necessary to Americas standard
Of living, Yesterdays luxury
(the automobile, for example) is
today's necessity.
THINGS TO COME = Mechan-
ical nursemaid? A bakelight sty-
rene clamp now holds the baby's
bottle while mama's busy clean
ing. 1t will hold any bottle at the
proper feeding angle, assures milk
in the nipple until the last drop
is drained For milk drinking
grown-ups there's a new line of
space-saving plastic half-pint and
pint containers E. Another space
saver for small-bathroom homes
is an enameled- steel clothes ham,
per with adjustable top and sides
which enable it to slip easily UNI
der any standard basin. Added
feature: it hides unsightly drain
pipes , Upper trick: clothing
won't catch in your Upper any
more if you use a new model
with a swivel case attachment on
the slide. A twist of the swivel
opens the Upper and frees the
cloth Water too hard? You
can soften it with a powdered
water conditioner called "Calgon."
Smack in the middle of winter
comes the newest summer style
note: tailor made" sunglasses.
Equipped with flexible and un-
breakable temple shafts, they can
be readily fitted to either oval or
moon-shaped faces, are easily re-
shaped for pass on-wear.
BITS O. BUSINESS - Time