1 point rise from the cumulative gain at the end of May.

The 8 Leaders in the Rise

The outstanding gain recorded in this month was that of 45 percent for heatingplumbing equipment dealers. Jewelry stores and motor-vehicle dealers shared second place with 36 percent increases over June 1940. The furniture-household-radio group participated in the advances with gains of 19-35 percent for the several trades. Lumber-building materials dealers and hardware stores, with gains of 26 percent and 18 percent respectively, complete the list of the 8 kinds of business showing the most marked sales gains this month.

Apparel stores recorded a 10-percent rise over the same month a year ago, a rise 4 points below the 14-percent increase shown for the 6-month period. Dollar sales of food stores were up 4 percent, one of the lesser gains for the month.

For the year to date--6 months--retailers of durable consumers' goods enjoyed the more favorable experiences by wide margins. The more marked increases were in order: motorvehicle dealers (38 percent), jewelry stores (30 percent), household appliance dealers (23 percent), furniture stores (23 percent) and lumber-building materials dealers (22 percent). The gain in June, however, for

household appliance dealers fell short of that recorded for the year to date.

Medium-Sized Cities Have Best Record

Only cities and places of less than 10,000 population showed increases for June that were substantially above those for the year to date. Cities of 5,000 to 10,000 population reported gains of 21 percent this month compared with the 16 percent gain for the first half of the year. For the year to date, cities of 50,000 to 100,000 population again had the most favorable record for any city-size grouping.

Increases in sales for the month ranging from 8 percent to 28 percent were shown for the 34 States. The increases were spread extensively among the geographic areas, with less than 10 percent gains shown only in Iowa and three of the Mountain States. For the year to date, 30 of the 34 States covered by this survey experienced business at least 10 percent more active than during 1940.

The statements given here are based upon confidential reports made by independent retailers each month to the Bureau of the Census and cooperating agencies. Reports for individual States by kinds of business and population groups are available upon request from the Bureau of the Census in Washington.

The dollar volume of department store collections on open accounts during June 1941, amounted to 46.2 percent of the balances of these accounts outstanding on the first of June. The June ratio reveals a decline from the open-account collection percentage of 47.7, for May, but an increase from the June 1940 ratio of 45.9.

For the first half of 1941, it is estimated that collections during the average month were 46.8 percent of first-of-month open-account receivables. This percentage, indicating that $46.80 was the average amount collected on each $100 of first-of-month balances in the January-June period of 1941, shows no change at all from average monthly collections for the same period last year.

Department store open-account collection ratios for June 1941 were higher than a year ago in six regions and lower in three regions.

Collections on Installment Accounts

Department store collections on installment accounts during June 1941 amounted to 17.8 percent of installment receivables outstanding at the first of the month. This June figure was lower than the 19.0 collection percentage for May 1941. A year ago, a decline of similar proportions occurred in the collection percentage between May and June.

During the first six months of 1941, collections during each month averaged 18.1 percent of first-of-month installment balances as against 17.3 percent during the same period last year.

On a regional basis, installment-account collection ratios during June 1941 were above June 1940 in seven regions, and lower than June 1940 in the West South Central and Mountain regions.

Accounts Receivable

The monthly index of department store open-accounts receivable for May 1941 advanced to 81.2, a gain of 1.1 percentage points from April. The May 1941 index figure showed a typical seasonal change from April 1941, but was almost 10 points above the May 1940 figure.

All regional index figures for May 1941 were higher than the figures for May a year ago. The regional data indicate that increases in department store open-accounts receivable for May 31, 1941, against May 1940, ranged from 7.2 percent in the West South Central region to 15.9 percent in the East South Central region.

A 15-Percent Rise

The index of installment accounts receivable advanced more than seasonally during May. This index rose 1.5 points to reach 103.2 for the month (December 31, 1939 = 100). It is estimated that department store installment receivables, resulting from sales to consumers on a deferred payment basis, were almost 15 percent above installment receivables at the close of May a year

ago.

the country, reported dollar sales amounting to $272,210,000 in June, which were 1 percent below May 1941. This nominal decrease does not differ extensively from the seasonal change usually shown between these months by this survey.

For the first half of 1941, all of the 35 kinds of business reported sales to be higher than during the same period of 1940. Led by wholesalers of metals with a 78 percent rise, all durable goods lines reported distinct increases, a trend indicated by the monthly data in previous issues of this report.

The Bureau of the Census will publish each month the year-to-date comparisons of trends in sales. The number of firms included in this cumulative figure will not be shown because the method of compilation has been improved so as to include data for wholesalers who might not report in the current month, but whose data for previous months are available.

supplies (63 percent), and electrical goods (61 percent).

All durable goods lines reported gains of more than 30 percent, compared with June 1940. While many lines reported expanding trade gains, increases this month for clothing and furnishings, except shoes and lumber and building materials, fell appreciably short of those recorded for the first six months as a whole.

Wholesalers of groceries and foods experienced the least marked advance, dollar sales being up 9 to 18 percent.

Inventories 20 Percent Ahead

The cost value of inventories on hand at the end of June for 1,693 wholesalers rose 1 percent from the beginning of the month, and was 20 percent over June 30, 1940. The gains of 1 percent during April, May and June contrast with the decreases usually occurring during these months. The increase over a year ago is the largest recorded by this series during the three years during which these data have been collected.

The ratio of stock to sales of 144 for June 1941 is, however, sharply under the figures of 167 for June 1940.

Collections on accounts receivable for 2,266 wholesalers were more favorable in June of this year than those reported by these same establishments for June 1940. Collections during June equaled 78 percent of accounts receivable as of June 1, compared with collection percentages of 74 for June 1940 and 79 for May 1941. Continuing to reflect recent expansions in sales volume, accounts receivable were 28 percent greater on June 1, 1941, than at the same date in 1940, and 4 percent higher than on May 1, 1941.

**

Better Business in Seattle

Sales of independent retailers in Seattle were 40 percent higher in Jure of this year than during the same month of 1940, according to the Director of the Census. Department store sales in Seattle increased 24 percert from June 1940. These gains exceed those recorded for comparable kinds of business in the

State of Washington. Included in this report are data from 3 department stores and 425 stores in other kinds of business in Seattle.

For the first six months of 1941, department stores in Seattle showed a 21 percent gain in sales. Other kinds of business showed a rise of 35 percent for the year to date, exceeding the comparable increase for the State of Washington as a whole.

More than 150 different cotton-stocking designs are now available to the hosiery industry, says the Bureau of Home Economics. Several of these designs are in production, and more will be soon, now that cotton is expected to be increasingly important as a source of yarn for milady's hosiery.

In an effort to reduce the mounting cotton surplus, and in anticipation of a possible shut-off in silk supplies, Congress 3 years ago appropriated funds to the Agriculture Department to investigate the use of cotton for women's hosiery. One of the Department's textile technologists has been developing full-fashioned cotton hosiery design for every occasion. These vary from cotton-web mesh for evening wear to plain knits in various weights for sports wear and around the house and garden.

The new designs are produced on a modern full-fashioned knitting machine at the Research Center, Beltsville, Md., and undergo severe laboratory and field tests for wearability, washability, and appearance. These designs, the Government confidently expects, are going to eliminate much of the longstanding prejudice against cotton stockings. Their durability and lesser tendency to "snag" and "run" should make them popular with American women, it is asserted. In Britain, we are reminded, cotton stockings are used extensively by women for afternoon sports and street wear.

Eighty-nine percent of the 16,200 fullfashioned knitting machines in this country are suitable for knitting cotton as well as silk, but only 47 percent can handle nylon yarns. Last year, American women bought more than 43 million dozen pairs of full-fashioned stockings. Suppose these were made from cotton; how many more bales of long-staple cotton would find use in industry? Nearly 300,000 bales, says the Department of Agriculture.

Plastics Replace Aluminum in Radiosondes

Six tons of aluminum will be saved for other vital defense uses by substituting plastic material in the manufacture of 31,200 radiosondes ordered by the U. S. Weather Bureau.

"Radiosonde" is an ingenious automatic weather-reporting device termed "the greatest advance in mechanical aids to weather forecasting since the invention of the telegraph." It enables the weathermen to make "three-dimensional observations" not only far and wide on the earth's surface but many miles up through the active atmosphere and well into the fabled stratosphere.

The device is carried aloft in all kinds of weather by a rubber balloon inflated with helium gas. It contains three major elements, which make observations or measurements of atmospheric pressure, temperature, and humidity, and a tiny automatic radio transmitter, which translates these measurements into electrical impulses.

These impulses are recorded at receiving stations on the ground and thus become an essential part of the special aviation weather service and the general forecasting activities of the Weather Bureau.

Steps to Make Sugar Supplies Available

The Department of Agriculture has announced an increase in the sugar quota supplies for the calendar year 1941 and reallotment of deficits in the quotas of the mainland sugarcane area and Hawaii, and in the duty-paying portion of the Philippine quota. This series of actions is expected to make available 7,769,621 tons of sugar to meet consumer needs. This has been done in part by an increase in the consumption determination from 7,627,563 short tons to 8,006,836 tons, raw value.

The 7,769,621 tons, it is pointed out,