Nine Lives

The Senate Small Business Committee cheerfully reported last week: in the first two years of war, only 17% more firms shut their doors than in the last two years of peace--despite rationing, shortages of men and goods, etc. The net shrinkage was from 3,340,000 U.S. firms at the time of Pearl Harbor to 2,840,000 at the end of last year. But an analysis of the casualties was brighter than the bare figures.

Retailers, who make up more than half of all businesses, accounted for more than half of all the closings. Construction and service businesses were next with a 36% shrinkage. In most cases the defunct enterprises were strictly one-man affairs: of the 147,000 retailers who shut up shop last year, only 9,000 employed three or more people, only 200 had more than 50 employees. The big shrinkage in one-man enterprises was mainly due to the fact that many proprietors were drafted or could make more in war plants than behind their counters. Most significant of all: 573,000 new firms, started since 1941, made up for about half the closings.

All this proved that Small Business in general had shown a catlike ability to survive. The Committee pointed out that the number of closings dropped sharply towards the end of last year, showing that the worst of the storm is past.

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