OCR Text |
Show West Expected to Lead East And South. in Yule Spending Copyright, 19S7, for The Telegram CHICAGO, Nov. 25 (UP) Christmas spending will be freer in the middle west, southwest and on parts of the west coast than in the Industrial east and most of the south, United Press Yule- tide survey indicated today. The October stock market crash and general business recession were responsible for predictions of less spending In the east. Strikes and factory shutdowns darkened the holiday prospects in some sections of the west ooast. while in most of the south generally poor prospects were reported. Farm Income, reported near a 10-year 10-year peak at flO.000.000.000 in 1S37, has boosted early Christmas spending spend-ing sharply la Iowa, Minnesota and parts of Nebraska Increased agricultural agri-cultural Income was at least partly responsible for a brighter Christmas Christ-mas spending outlook in Texas and other southwestern states. Smaller Christmas savings club funds will be disbursed on December Decem-ber 1 than in 1938, and this will cut Into the national Christmas figure. fig-ure. The 137 funds amount to $330,000,000 about I3S.000.000 less than last year. Becauss of smaller Christmas club savings, and the other drawbacks draw-backs to free spending strikes, closed plants and the eastern trade recession shopkeepers as a whole will be satisfied if the 1937 Christmas Christ-mas bill equals that of 193 when (30S0.000.000 was taken in. In Los Angeles, tradesmen Indicated Indi-cated they expected a general increase in-crease over the 193 total. San Francisco, too. looks for a better year than In 1930. Boston storekeepers looked for no Increase over last year and possibly pos-sibly a smaller Income. New York tradesmen expected to do less business. busi-ness. Cleveland, brightest spot In ths eastern section, reported prospects pros-pects wsrs "distinctily better" than in 1934. Chicago retailers expect a 10 to IS per cent advance in Christmas hopping sales over last year's S1.4S8.000.000 sales. New Orleans, which reported expectations ex-pectations of a 10 per cent increase, and Birmingham, Ala., were the brightest spots in the south. Generally, Gen-erally, the Christmas volume was expected to be smaller in the south, despite a bumper cotton crop. Seattle, Wash., where 1937 volume vol-ume was expected to be only as much as In 1930. or even below last year, and Portland. Ore., where labor la-bor trouble has cut sharply into the local spending power, were the most pessimistic cities in the west. |