Shutdown

In Maynard, Mass, the American Woolen Co.'s Assabet Mill, world's largest producer of woolen and worsted goods, closed down last week for the first time in eight years. It called the shutdown "an Easter vacation." In Atlanta, the Atlanta Woolen Mills Co. also shut its main branch. But it put no sugar coating on its reason: "We closed because we did not have enough orders to keep going."

They were by no means the only ones. In recent weeks, more than 20 woolen mills employing some 3,000 workers had been forced to close in New England alone. Thirty more were operating on three, four, and five-day schedules, and many others were curtailing production. Said a veteran New England textile man: "We are over the hill and on the downgrade."

It was not quite as bad in the South. There, many manufacturers, notably worsted weavers, were rolling along on backlogs that would carry them well into fall. Nevertheless, there were cutbacks there, too, in low-grade products.

To some of the hardest hit, the slump seemed to have come with startling suddenness. Actually, the causes of the slump, stemming from the war, had been noticeable for some time. In spite of OPA's efforts to prevent it, many of the mills had switched to more expensive goods on which they could make more money. When OPA died, they continued to do so because of abnormal demand. But when buyers' resistance began to be felt, manufacturers refused to shave their prices. Their profits were high enough--and demand for quality goods still heavy--so that they could take a chance on shutting mills making sleazy goods in hopes that the drop in buying was temporary. Some even talked of boosting prices of men's suits. But the bitter facts are that goods are not overproduced so much as simply not wanted at current high prices.

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