"Behind The Scenes
In American Business
—By John Craddock—
//
New York, Jan. 2&—PAY-AS
YOU GO — With fiscal experts
here offering 3 to 1 that Congress
will adqpt some form of “pay-as
you go” system of collecting in
come taxes before June, specula
tion is centering on how it will
be done. Reports are that the
greatest volume of mail since the
lend-lease discussion has been
landing on Congresmen’s desks,
practically all of it from consti
tuents who demand some solution
that will enable taxpayers to get
tax payments on a current basis.
The President, who maintained
strict silence on the subjemt when
the Ruml plan wtos under discus
sion last summer, is now on rec
ord as favoring the pay-as-you-go
idea if it can be accomplished
without “forgiving” 1942 taxes—
a pretty strong indication that
some acceptable compromise will
be found. The Treasury, which
has fought the Ruml plan with the
argument that the forgiving of
1942 taxes would give those in the
upper income brackets a windfall,
is now said to be considering a
combination of withholding at the
source and forced savings. While
John Taxpayer would pay the
current year’s estimated tax by
funds withheld from his wages, he
would also be required to buy an
equivalent amount of bonds,
w'hich, at the end of the year,
would be applied on the 1942
tax debt.
“bLCAK —Alumina looks like
powdered sugar, but is even more
precious for it is the material
from which aluminum is made.
It’s extracted from bauxite. War
is repidly depleting the nation’s
once-large reserves of high grade
bauxite in Arkansas and wartime
shipping problems are prevent
ing us from bringing as much as
we need from South America,
where there is plenty and from
which we have been importing
large quantities for 20 years.
Now the Aluminum Company of
Amreica, culminating 25 years of
research, has announced perfec
tion of a new process which ex
tracts from low-grade bauxite as
high a percentage of alumina as
was formerly obtained from the
high grade ore. The new pro
cess becomes important because
of the large reserves of lowi-grade
bauxite in Arkansas. Neverthe
less, Alcoa coupled with its an
nouncement the statement that it
more economical to use the high
grade ores, so that these would
still appear to be more desirable.
We can use the low-grade ores un
til the shipping conditions im
prove, but ships are still the No.
1 problem, and it would seem that
when the war is over the com
mercial industry in a competitive
world would be obliged to revert
to using the higher-grade more
economical ores.
BOOMERANG—The scrap we
sold to Japan in the decade pre
ceding the war is coming home
again and soon will be back on
the firing line, only this time we’ll
do the firing. Speakers at the
annual convention of the Institute
of Scrap Iron and Steel revealed
that the metal situation at the
nation’s steel mills has been ma
terially eased by shipments of
metal scrap brought back from
the battlefields of the South Pa
cific and North Africa as ballast
in ships returning from those
fighting fronts. It includes much
of the metal originally shipped to
the Japanese who converted it
into armaments and munitions
which United Nations fighters
then proceeded to re-convert to
junk. Japanese and German
tanks, airplanes, guns, motorized
equipment and marine wrecks, i
stripped of all salvageable parts,
make up the bulk of the welcome
material. The supplies are said
to be actually piling up on the
Pacific Coast with one large steel
mill having such a large stock on
hand that it is finding difficulty
providing storage space for 200
additional carloads just received.
THINGS TO COME—A sur
gical sewing machine made by
Singer which does a -much neater
job. But you don't get such fan
cy stitches . . . for blackouts, a
luminous electrical switch plate
which, after a few minutes ex
posure to average room light,
glows for afbout two hours . . .
plastic license plates, already ad
opted by Massachusetts . . . two- j
in-one wax that clean floors and
polishes them at the same time.
FAREWELL, MY LOVELY—
Cigarette smokers who have clung
loyally to brands which had their
greatest popularity before World
War I are in for a shock. Mostly
Turkish types, their passage de
corated with lush harem beau
ties, the cigarettes of the “23
Skidoo’ area, probably will fade
,quiet|y from the scene as tobacco
companies faced with a demand
that out strips the supply, con
centrate on the big-name brands.
Last year American manufactur
ers turned out 200 billion cigar
ettes and tobacco farmers failed
to keep pace with the rise, which
amounted to about 25 per cent
over 1941. In 1935, when pro
duction was only 162 billion cig
arettes, farmers grew 1,286 mil
lion pounds of barley and flue
cured tobacco. Last year they
raised only 1,176 million pounds
of both types. In addition, there
is a growing shortage of glycerine,
used to keep cigarettes moist,
and cellophane, for wrapping.
GOOD NEWS—The cheering
news that sufficient alcohol pro
duction is in prospect to meet all
industrial needs, including en
ough for synthetic rubber re
quirements, was revealed by a
high-ranking official of the War
Production Board in a recent ap
pearance before the Senate Agri
cutural [Subcommittee. One fac
tor behind this news was the
fpeedy conversion of all whiskey
distillers to war alcohol produc
tion, which made available to the
government the largest single
source of supply. Schenley dis
tillers corporation, for example,
with 14 distilleries busy day and
night on this task, multiplied its
output tenfold in 1942. Altoge
ther XJ. S. distillers will produce
more than 240,000,000 gallons of
alcohol this year.
GITS O’ BUSINESS—Ladies
of the assembly line now have a
fashion booklet devoted to work
ing styles. Published by General
Electric and directed specifically
at welders it offers styles created
by famous designers—jackets,
aprons, gloves, headgear and
helmets.
The Brewing Industry
By
ALVIN GRIESED1CK
Chairman, Brewing Industry
Foundation
Sharing with all industry the
extraordinary problem of wartime
production—and its necessary re
strictions—the Brewing Industry
faces 1943 with more than aver
age concern.
The economic hazards of 1943
not only encompass gasoline and
rubber ratinoing, as with all busi
ness, but also include physical
problems of packaging the pro
duct after manufacture has been
completed.
Another factor confronting the
brewer is increased consumption
with decreased facilities for dis
tribution. The common man, by
nature, drinks moderately. Beer
is his beverage. Today, with na
tional income soaring (estimated
at $117 billion for 1942) millions
of men are earning and working
beyond the average levels; ami
beer is in demand.
The political aspects of the
coming year are somewhat dis
turbing. Dry factions, in both
state and national legislatures,
will be increasingly active, using
the war as a screen behind which
to again disseminate their propa
ganda. Had it not been for the
popular uprising against the
e\*ile of Prohibition and the out
spoken intervention of War Sec
retary Stimson, Navy Secretary
Knox, numerous Senators, and
public figures, the Dry bide might
have been successful in its at
tempt to outlaw the sale of beer
to soldiers, sailors or marines,
near military j)osts. The Josh
Lee amendment to the Teen-age
draft bill sought that objective,
and had it been enacted might
have constituted the first step
toward a return of national Pro
hibition.
Accepting the premise that beer
sales follow the dips and rises
in the national income chart,
beer is, and will continue, falling
below the income rise because of
the (peculiar problems engaging
the industry. While beer is at
an average of 64 million barrels
today, the increase is far under
the rate of increase in national
income, which is 23.8 per cent
over 1941, as compared with 12
per cent for beer sales. This
can be particularly attributed to
the high excise taxes paid by the
brewer on each barrel of beet
sold.
Physical reasons for under av
erage sales relate immediately to
distribution and delivery. The
tire problem is so acute that some
breweries have resurrected old
brewery wagons and have acquir
ed th once familiar Percheons and
Clydesdales to make up teams that
arc sharing the delivery load
with trucks. Even horses are
scarce and so do not offer any
major relief. Practically all
breweries have cut down the
number of deliveries per week.
Cans, during 1942, became a
total casualty as far as civilians
were concerned. They are now
available only for overseas ship
ment to the armed forces. (Canes
take less shipping space than
bottles). Tbe shift to total
packaging in bottles developed
heavier demand for crowns. In
spite of this new load, breweries
were allowed only 60 per cent of
the weight of crowns they used a
year ago. Laboratories have been
experimenting with composition
substitutes. None have been ac
cepted as yet. Meanwhile, this
problem might become more acute
before a solution is found.
Machinery manufacturers have
gone to war. Like scores of other
domestic industries, brewing must
—and gladly does—make its way
without much needed replace
ments during the war.
An adequate supply of ingre
dients is the most favorable fac
tor at the present time. The
brewers’ raw materials do not
compete with the table—such
materials, as in the past, have
been grown in surplus quantity.
The single exception is hops. Un
less later indications point to a
more favorable outlook, scarcity
of pops pickers may cause a
shortage.
Important among 1942 de
velopments was the rise of one of
beer's by-products—brewers yeast
—in recognition and acceptance
as a valid vitamin source, and
therefore, having an important
place in the war effort. Dr. Ed
1
W A DOBSON
Regional Executive, Region :
No 6. Boy Scouts of America
ward S. Rogers, director of the
Office of War Nutrition Services
ct' the New York State War Coun
cil, announced plans to supply
war workers with vitamin B com
plex through brewers yeast tab
lets. The supplemental diet for
war workeis is part of the New
York State nutrition plan which
will reach not only into the in
dustrial plants, but i^fco into the
workers' lunch box and the home.
The brewer contributed in va
1 ious ways to the war effort dur
ing 1942. But taxes, war bond
purchases, and morale-building
were his major contribution. In
the first year since war bonds
were made available, the indus
try has purchased more than 20
million dollars' worth.
Brewers during 1942 handled a
record tax assessment—more than
eight times the rate paid per bar
rel in 1914, when beer consump
tion hit its all-time peak. The
new Federal tax, $7 per barrel,
became effective November 1. (In
1914 the Federal tax was but $1
1 er barrel and there was no state
tax, which now averages $1.42
per barrel throughout the coun
try.._
The 1942 Federal tax was ap
proximately 590.000.000, or at
the rate of more than one million
dollars a day. Adding approxi
matelj $ 1 35,1)90,000 in state and
local taxes, beer’s total contri
bution to public revenues was
(about $525,000,000) over a half
billion dollars
Overshadowing the economic
complexities of the year for the
brewing industry, the role of beer
as a morale-building asset for the
ai med forces ranked above all
ether considerations within the in
dustry. No single factor bright
ened the outlook for the brewer
more than that military offic
ials in all branches of service
publicly reaffirmed their faith in
beer as a force for moderation
and temperance.
Major Merrill Moore, writing in
the Military /Surgeon, reiterated
the expressed convictions of Cab
inet officers, Army, Navy and
Marine Corps officers, when he
stated:
“I, for one, think emphatically
that beer should be sold and that
drinking in moderation should be
encouraged.”
Much of the favorable public
expression about beer as a bev
erage of moderation has emerged
since the self-initiated, self-regu
lation program of brewers was
undertaken in 1938 under the
sponsorship of the Brewing In
dustry Foundation. The program
was in operation in 14 states be
fore the first Selective Service
registration; its objective being
the maintenance of clean, decent,
wholesome retail outlet conditions
by tavern owners. This plan was
well organized prior to Pearl Har
bor and has been intensified
since.
Today the brewing industry ia
actively cooperating with State
and local goverment, and with
commanding officers of Army
posts and Navy stations, to main
tain wholesome conditions in all
retail beer outlets in a total of
87 states, in which concentrations
of our armed forces are now lo
inc Drewing inqustry s pro
gram of self-regulation is quite
simple, and is proving effective.
In each state where the Founda
tion conducts a state-wide opera
tion, a State Director is in
charge of a State Committee,
whose members are all brewers
and and beer wholesalers doing
business in the state. The State
Director's duties are first to warn
those beer retailers ian whose
places violations or infractions
arc observed by his field force. If
those warnings are unheeded, the
State Director is empowered
automatically to petition the prop
er authority to revoke the offend
er’s license or otherwise to take
action against him.
In these states in which there
is not a full-fledged Foundation
State Committee, the work is car
ried forward by the state brewers’
association, the state wholesalers’
association, or by the individuals
in the industry where no associa
tion exists To date, the work of
the Foundation Committee alone
has assisted retailers in bringing
about voluntarily more than 2,
400 corrections of minor law in
fractions, and in officials revok
ing, suspending or taking “close
up action” against more than
1,600 irresponsible proprietors.
In conclusion, the brewer can
say, with all modesty, that this
industry has endeavored to meet
the highest obligation of good
citizenship and to deserve the
trust and confidence which the
American people have placed in
beer as a beverage of moderation
find as an aid to the national
morale.
THIS WEEK
WASHINGTON
Washington, D. C. (NWNS) —
Eveu. the smartest political inter
preters are still puzzled over why
President Roosevelt, facing the
first anit-New Deal congress since
1932 set off political fireworks at
the very opening of the new ses
sion by naming Edward Flynn to
be “ambassador” to Australia.
To anyone in Washington who
knows the political relationship
between Mr. Flynn and the Presi
dent, it was clear that the Presi
dent was (paying off a political
debt—but no one here believes
that Mr. Roosevelt was so indebt
ed to the New York politician that
it was worth the sacrifice of repu
tation he made to give “Eddie” a
break.
As chairman of the National
Democratic committee, Mr. Flynn
undoubtedly has thrown a con
siderable amount of support to
the President, but Mr. Flynn’s
reputation, particularly in the
East where he is known, is ques
tionable. Even loyal New Dealers
will find it difficult to forgive the
President for appointing such a
man to handle such an important
and ticklish job as being represen
tative of our country in the Pa
cific.
On several occasions since he
has been President, Mr. Roose
velt has been able to get away
with appointments which were
based chiefly on politics—such as
the appointment of Justice Black
to the U. 'S. Supreme court—but
this most recent appointment has
brought more criticism than any
made so far.
Obviously fearing that he may
not have the isilpport of the new
congress, the President made
strong pleas that politics be set
aside for the duration of the war
and Republican leaders agreed
that politics should in no way be
permitted to interfere with the
war effort. But now that the
President has, in the eyes of the
Republicans as well as many of
his own party, shown a complete
disregard for the non-politics
agreement, it is feared that pol
itics will hereafter run rampant
in Washington
Some analysts feel that the
President made the Flynn appoint
ment as a means of testing his
power with the new congress, but
all agree that, no matter what his
reason, he has invited a political
blackeye that will hurt him for a
long time to come.
So. far as the war program is
concerned, however, even those
who most strongly oppose the do
mestic policies of the President
are expected to continue to give
him the support he needs. It is
very difficult for some congress j
men to consider approving a fed
eral budget of over 100 billion
dollars, but it is known that the
people favor expenditures of
money, no matter how fantastic
the amount may seem, if it seems
necessary to guarantee winning
the war. There is little doubt
therefore that, Flynn or no Flynn,
the appropriations will be ap
proved to furnish funds to pro
ducc more war equipment than
is being turned out by all other
nations combined.
Latest figures indicate that dur
ing 1943 Germany will spine
slightly over 34 billion for war.
Italy less than nine billion and
and Japan about Seven billion —
a total of about half of our ex
penditure. Among our Allies,
England is expected to spend
about 21 billion, and Russia 11
billion.
To produce more war supplies
than all of the rest of the world,
our civilian population may have
to make even greater sacrifices
than are now apparent. Such a
huge portion of materials will be
used for war goods that even
though plans on paper call for
giving civilians adequate food and
supplies, it is quite possible that
we may be lacking many essentials
before the year is over and our
distributoon system may suffer
many serious breakdowns.
Estimates call for production
of civilian goods which would
amount to ahout $500 worth per
family, hut this means that even if
everything goes ahead on schedule
we are apt to'be reduced to a scale
of living lower than many of us
have ever experienced. With
more money available to buy goods
than ever before in the history
of our country, and with supplies
less than they have been during
this century, it is apparent that
even with rationing and price con
trol it is going to be a very dif
ficult problem to keep our econ
omy from exploding.
The outcome will probably de
pend on the voluntary coropera
tion of the people. Hoarding,
black markets or any “me-first’’
activity will result in severe hard
ships for all of us.
AT FIRST
SION OF A
USE
666 TABLETS. SALVE. NOSE DROPS
PRESCRIPTIONS
FILLED AT
Houser Drug Co.
WE DELIVER PHONE 4771
windows On New Worlds
Hair-splitting is no longer a joke with the new electron micro
scope, which makes visible a whole world that has previously
been too small for scientists to study.
I
1. Using particles of electricity
instead of light, the instrument
makes a mosquito's stinger, 1/1000
the diameter of a hair, look like this.
2. Crystals, dust particles, disease■
producing viruses can be enlarged
to a million times to examine their
nature and structure.
3. Portable, operating from ordi
nary power lines, it is expected to
speed war research in laboratories
of colleges and war plants.
4. After the war, it may be useful
in many fields — for example, in
searching for the cause of such dis
eases as the common cold.
General
Electric believe* it* Erst duty a* a
citiren is to be a good soldier.
' ''ompany, Schenectady, N. Y.
m so tn
GENERAL ^ELECTRIC
Here’s the EASY WAY TO SLICE
/ X / mm _
Uy the loaf on its side with
' i inaf away tr°m
bottom ot loo '
you * * * start slice at
ner of loaf
* * * Be sure to use a sharp
knife * * * use l°n9< steady
th® blo^c.
ZZ* A—TOSlRVt
ENRICHED WHITE BREAD
GROCERS RAKING COMPANY
GASTONIA, N. C.