Another Christmas

For the second time in as many months, the panic was on. Men & women crowded into the stores, bent on buying whatever they could while the buying was still relatively good. They bought liquor, they bought radios, they bought jewelry. On all these things (and many more) the drastic new taxes for defense went into effect this week.

There were several important differences between August's rush and September's. Last month's shopping spree was touched off by the Government's embargo on silk for women's stockings and panties (TIME, Aug. 18). It spread to a score of goods and gadgets which householders feared might soon be cut off by the war. Sales of electrical appliances rose 129% over August 1940--neck & neck with the jump of 134% in hosiery. Refrigerator sales leaped 121%. Piano sales went up 58%. . . . September came, and August's boom petered out.

This week's boom was in the luxuries which will feed the Treasury an estimated $846,800,000 in excise and nuisance taxes under the 1941 Revenue Act. Liquor led the list. The new tax on 100-proof spirits is $4 a gallon. $1 more than it was last month. The difference comes to as much as $2.40 on a case of Scotch, which is bottled in fifths. Department stores found they had to put on holiday shifts to take care of the rush.

Radios and phonographs (taxed 10% as compared with 5 1/2% last year) were close behind. Said an executive of Manhattan's Davego-City Radio chain (which normally sells at discounts up to 30%) in a tone of awe and wonderment: "They're even buying at list prices!"

Liquor stores, fur shops, jewelers helped the panic along by advertising the increase in taxes. Their warnings ranged from the bald admonition, "Buy now, before prices go up!" to such come-ons as Jaekel's (furs): "Buy in haste, rejoice at leisure!"

The boom1 was doomed to be brief--to end suddenly on Wednesday morning, Oct. 1, when the taxes took effect. But retailers were happy. Christmas might not be so good this year, but they had already had a kind of Christmas.

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