The Durant news. (Durant, Miss.) 1882-1985, 1950-02-16
Behind The Scenes
In American Business
by Reynolds knight

1S6Ai6 w uASCOVeT tldt
the RFC, the governments iber-
al lending agency, is willing to
underwrite small as well as large
business undertakings. At any
rate the number of little enter
prisers knocking at the RIGS door
these days is the largest on re-
cord. A big lure is the fact that
borrowers are given up to ten
years to repay, tempting bait for
many of the struggling little fell
lows in our land. And now Sen
ator Lucas D-Ill.) has introduc-
ed a bill to make the repayment
period unlimited. Anyone want
ing = loan, though, must meet one
major requirement: he must have
exhausted all private loan sour
ces. This sounds sensible enough
but, as one observer pointed out
what it amounts to is handing out
taxpayers money only for those
enterprises on which private
bankers have pinned too risky
tag.
OF course, RGC doesn't deliber-
ateily pick out the riskiest ven
lures as loan recipients. As a
matter Of fact, it wants plenty OF
assurance that borrowers will be
able to repay before it opens Its
cashbox. In other words, the
deal can be something of a gam
BILE, but not too much of a gam
bic. And what is small loan?"
Anything from couple of hum
dred UP to 100000. 4
WATCH OUT - A credit prob
lem on the big business side Of
the fence made news as February
got under way when the RFC
turned thumbs down on the Wal
them Watch company's bid for
another whopping loan $2,-
100000 this time. Not enough
collateral, said the lending agen-
cy, backing up its contention that
it won't run an unlimited risk
ganut. Waltham, in the throes
of reorganization for about a
year now. promptly set I'D
irUwi 70 the effect that Swiss
competition was breaking the
handspring of the American watch
industry. Significantly silent,
meanwhile, were Waltham's COM
petitors, Elgin and Hamilton, both
of which have been ticking along
profitably.
OFF BALANCE - Additional
evidence of lack of balance be-
tween various states taxes and
license fees on heavy truck, on
the one hand, and the amount of
trucking their roads have to take,
on the other, is revealed in a
compilation issued this month by
Griffenhagen and Associates.
Some of the states whose high
ways support the heaviest bur-
den of truck traffic levy the light
est taxes on those commercial us
ers of the public roads, according
to the tabulation by Griffenhagen,
noted consultants in public adj
ministration and finance. Mas
sachusetts, New Jersey and New
York, all heavily truck-ridden,
rank 48th, 47th and 46th, respect
lively, in size of fees collected from
heavy trucks, despite the fact that
highway experts maintain these
vehicles cause the greatest am
cunt Of highway damage. Each
of these states collected about
half the national average of ST.
1922. The corridor" state of New
Jersey, carrying the nations heav-
lest truck load, collected only 1892
per heavy truck compared with
$2,760 paid to Colorado. where
fees are the highest, the survey
showed. Other heavily over
trucked states listed in the bot
tom ten" Of states collecting low
fees are Rhode Island, Missouri,
Illinois, Connecticut, Delaware,
Ohio and Maryland.
THINGS TO COME - buffers
can brush up on their golf game
with a lightweight plastic prac-
tice ball which flies like a real
one but travels only a tenth as
far. The idea is to help you cor
rect that slice or hook by letting
you follow the balls flight from
start to finish. :. A virtually air.
tight mustary pot promises to
keep mustard moist for weeks.
It's British made, is fitted with a
trigger device to squirt the con-
tents on your plate Want to
get weighed in the dark? You can,
with new scale. 1t comes with
a light that goes on when you
step on the scale. Outdoor
furniture takes better beating
in bad weather, but not if you get
a supply of the newly marketed
plastic furniture covers A
versatile new elertric hot air
blower not only dries hair in iip