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Show THE HOUSEWIFE When it come3 to selling most commodities, woman is the dedd-j dedd-j ing factor. She manages the best . of all markets, the American home The Administration, in its drive for higher prices, is faced with definite def-inite housewifely protest against advancing costs. The housewife speaks through the figures. Department store sales, based on dollar value and not volume, have fallen steadily. Mrs. America had become acust-omed acust-omed to bargains; when they disappeared dis-appeared she stopped buying. To offset this, the government is intensifying in-tensifying Its campaign to get more money into the hands of the public. As for business in general,, the picture Is so mixed as to be impossible im-possible to depict accurately. Some businesses are up, some are down, and some are pursuing a sedate middle course. On the whole, industry in-dustry is substantially better off than it was when the year opened, open-ed, and heartening gains have been made in employment, wages, working hours, and in profits of many large corporations. The dark spot in the picture still is the farm situation. |