Newspapers / The Johnstonian-Sun (Selma, N.C.) / Feb. 8, 1945, edition 1 / Page 2
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PAGE TWO THE JOHNSTONI AN SUN, SELMA, N. C THURSDAY, FEB. 8, 1945. BEHIND THE SCENES IN American Business By JOHN CRADDOCK New York, Feb. 5. Reports to the Census Bureau from 18,221 inde pendent stores, representing most kinds of business except department stores, add up to an increase in sales volume of six per cent for 1944 over the previous year. It may be estimat ed, therefore, .that total volume for all retail outlets independents, de partment stores, chains and mail or derran at least as hiirh as $66 billion last year, a record. This is quite an achievement for a country during a third year of war, Allowing for a 25 per cent rise in average prices and the fact that some 32,000,000 persons have entered the armed forces, the estimate indicates that America's civilian population en joyed during 1944 a standard of liv ing, in terms of merchandise' bought at retail, on a par with that obtained in the 12 months prior to Pearl Har bor. The retailers of America are to be congratulated for handling such a physical volume with greatly reduced store personnel, and industry and agriculture, likewise, for supplying such a volume while maintaining an unprecedented flow of armaments, equipment and food to the armed forces of all the United Nations. the multiplying problems of the small farmer not only by saving man-hours, but also by improving the quality of his production. SAVING SMALL FARMS The family-size farm, backbone of Ameri can agriculture, needs greater mech anization to survive competition from increasing, large scale operations with complete labor-saving equip ment. To meet .this need, industry is planning new and improved equip ment for volume production after the war, according to Joseph W. Frazer. chairman of Graham-Paige Motors. Pointing out that less than a third of the six million U. S. farms1 are adequately mechanized and that .there are still 13 million horses and mules on farms, he said that horse-drawn implements must be replaced with' economical, time-saving machinery if small farms of 100 acres and less are to flourish. He said his company will produce tractors and rotary tillage implements, and that other companies have indicated they will introduce new one-man balers, harvesters, im proved combines, mechanical cotton pickers and similar equipment design ed to aid the small farmer. Greater mechanization can mean fewer mort gage foreclosures, Mr. Frazer said,! 734 VS. 45,000 When the govern ment synthetic rubber plant at Louis ville passed the two-million-pounds mark the other day, statisticians noted that this two-year record was accomplished with a staff of 734. But it would have taken some 16 million Far East rubber ' trees, tended by some 45,000 natives, to have turned up an equal amount of natural rub ber in the same tune! To many persons who have regard' ed synthetic rubber as a great job creator in itself, the contrast between 734 and 45,000 will be quite an eye opener. It illustrates the point that John Collyer, president of the B. F, Goodrich company, which incidentally built and operates the Louisville plant, has long emphasized. Although Mr. Collyer, earliest and most per sistent advocate of synthetic rubber for national defense, is strong for maintaining substantial operation af ter the war, he has always made it clear that it will be the widening of markets, made possible by low-cost raw materials, that will be the princi pal factor in providing more jobs. Where synthetic fits into that pic ture is. in the. fact that America's skill in "making its own" rubber has created a potential ceiling on the price we will have to pay for raw rubber, whether tree variety or man and low-cost mechanized tools which industry is planning will help solve' an inevitable merging of the laundry LAUNDRY FUTURE America's commercial laundries today are hard pressed to keep up with service de mands for a reason that may not be apparent to most customer?. Lack of manpower is one reason, of course, but even more fundamental, in the opinion of A. It. Braun, president of the Prosperity Company of Syracuse N. Y., is the increasing scope of laundry operations. Before the war laundries were equipped preponderantly for wet wash and other semi-finished work, because housewives were inclined to do their own ironing. But when millions of women. , tgok war jobs, demand for full-finished , laundy work shot up ward and caught ' the laundries un prepared. Mr. Braun believes that housewives, having once been reliev ed of the ardous task of starching and ironing at home, will continue to lean on laundries for such work even after the war. This will force expan sion, mechanization and further mod ernization of the industry to the tune of an estimated $100,000,000 outlay for labor-saving presses, modem Washers, tumblers and extractors. Moreoverv as laundries move forward to full, finished service, he foresees and dry cleaning industries, already closely related. , BITS O' BUSINESS New light ing fixtures and new store fronts lead the list of postwar improvements to be made in the nation a grocery stores, according to a survey by the National Association of Retail Gro cers . . Railroads handled without serious congestion in 1914 the great' est volume of export freight traffic on record, 1,866,324 cars compared with 1,401,186 in 1943, a gain of 83 per cent. by JameS Preston The Senate controversy over ap pointment of former Vice President Wallace to succeed Jesse Jones as Secretary of Commerce has at least revealed to the public the almost un limited powers given the commerce secretary over the nation's business and industrial life. "I have authority to make loans in any amount, for any length of .time, at any rate of inter est to anybody," Jones told a Senate committee . . . The War Production Board is ready to give stronger backing to the War Manpower Commission's voluntary procedure for meeting labor short ages in critical production areas, it is indicated by WPB Chairman Krug. He says .the WMC's tightened employ ment ceiling program is proving ef fective in transferring workers from non-war employment to critical war jobs' . The Foreign Econouic Administra tion has sold 58,000 new and used lendlease machine tools to the United Kingdom at an average price of less than 20 cents on the dollar! . . . Congressional , leaders say action probably will be delayed on the ad ministration's proposals for a broad er social security coverage and a na tional health plan ... Russia's request for a postwar re construction loan of $6 billion is ex pected to embarrass President Roose velt at the "Big Three" parley. It is pointed out that the President lacks congressional authority to grant the request when Josef Stalin brings it up at the conference. Australia has been hard hit by a prolonged drought The 1944 wheat crop was only one-third of the prewar average. The Commonwealth supplies about three-fourths of the f odd for a i ,' xi m. . miicircau iun.es jn iiiat area. " -s LIPS RED as cinnamon hearts .... eyes, clear and sparkling . . . hair, a lovely lustrous frame for your so pretty face. For Valentine's Day and after . . . . f or being "picture-beautiful" you'll want one of our new cold waves. Your hair will be softer your curls more natural looking than ever before. You'll really enjoy having your hair done by our highly skilled and exceptionally quick" operators .... Phone 118-w for appointments. lady mm beauty shop MRS. MARGARET STAPLETON, Manager. MRS. ELIZABETH PEARCE HOLLAND, Operator. Phone 155 Selma, N. C. lo fiiiumuji w -rmHUii I'linnmumiiiiii i'Tii - v n iniiu iiiii pr m iri"i,ir' r . in in n. . ! i hztjhuil'i ii iiiiiiih,, ... nw w mmm n wi v.. Lit, -i Scouts of the world m brothers together" "Be Prepared" FEBRUARY 8 TO 14th 1940 THE 35 ANNIVERSARY OF THE BOY SCOUTS OF AMERICA f7&6tQQO Members Brancli DanMng & Trast Go, UNITES IN PAYING ITS RESPECTS TO THE BOY SCOUTS AN TO THEIR CREED M J L. vJ s-y ' .7..- ff'sfiL tfM- IT IS RATHER FOR US TO OE HERE DED ICATED TO THE GREAT TASK REMAINING--" ABRAHAM LINCOLN'S Gettysburg address might well have been written for America today . . . and for American soldiers now fighting and dying to keep freedom alive. Lincoln said of his soldier dead ... . "that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain." That goal, stated so many years ago, is the goal we now must set ourselves constantly to remember when, the fighting over, our war torn world must be reconstruct ed so that the peace will be a lasting one . . . . so that the freedom Americans died for shall not be attacked again, ""w . . ' 1 Obi? Ill 71 AM r n ' I w ..y ti) iou viii kJzJ9 inc. SELMA, North Carolina IWIV to o
The Johnstonian-Sun (Selma, N.C.)
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