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Building. The decline in the volume of nondefense construction, 

 which has been going on since the middle of last yecjr, will apparently 

 be accelerated by the order of the War Production Board, dated April 9* 

 drastically curtailing nonessential building. Last October the Supply 

 Priorities and Allocations Board announced that projects requiring the 

 use of certain critical materials and not required for defense or for 

 public health and safety would not receive priority assistance. Under 

 the new order, however, while ordinsiry maintenance and repair work may 

 continue without restriction, no new construction, except on small \ 

 projects or those essential to the war effort or to public health and 

 safety, may be started without the specific permission of the W. P.B. 

 The order also states that construction now under way may be halted if 

 the materials used are needed for war projects. However severe this 

 order maj' be, the W. P.B. expects that the total volume of nex>r construction 

 in 19^2 v;ill exceed the total for 13^1, owing to the upward trend in 

 the volume of awards for military projects, 



April reports are not in, but department store sales continued 



to increase in March. In some districts, sales viere particularly heavy 



in the following lines; radios, women's and misses' coats and suits, 



and men's and boys' clothing. Considerable gains were also reported in 



the sales of sporting goods. Sales of mechanical refrigerators declined. 



Stocks of merchandise held by department stores v/ere very high. Evidently 



these stocks had been built up in anticipation of Inability to obtain 



war 

 supplies as more of our effort is devoted to the production of/materials. 



Corn . Last January, certain federal agencies emphasized the 



fact that corn disappearance during the last quarter of 19^1 v;as light, 



relative to the total supply on hand. At that time, we pointed out that 



the large fall pig crop had not yet been able to consume much of this 



corn, but that in later months the great expansion in livestock would 



