No Sale

With due fanfare, Manhattan's R. H. Macy & Co., on Decoration Day, advertised 20,000 white shirts at $4.98 each. To Macy's surprise, customers did not kick each other in a rush to buy next day; the shirts moved slowly. This week Macy's tried again. It offered substantially the same quality. But the price had been cut to $3.98. There was no frenzy, no surging crowd. Commented Macy's Vice President Richard Weil Jr.: "The sellers' market in white shirts is about over."

Would it soon be over in other textiles? Dr. Claudius T. Murchison, president of the Cotton-Textile Institute, said: "The appearance of scarcity has been deliberately created." Actually, said he, cotton-textile production was 12% above 1939.

Nevertheless, textilemen expected shortages to harass consumers for some time. They guessed that the sellers' market in men's suits may not end for a year, although suit production is now above prewar. As for women's dresses, there should be a large supply in the stores by next fall.

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