It has often been contended that, in this country, the independent merchant is being undermined by chain stores and mail-order houses. Judging from the results of the last census, this contention is not quite correct. In the year 1920, there were 1,328,000 independent businesses; in 1930, this number rose to 1,704,000. According to the information received from the census office, this total includes chain stores, but their number was only 160,000. The cause of the increase in the number of chain stores and of independent shops between 1920 and 1930, is not quite clear from this data. It may, however, be distinctly seen that the latter have considerably increased in number.

On the other hand, turnover in chain stores and mail-order houses has been greater than in independent stores. From the evaluations made by the census 2office, it can be seen that the turnover of the former is on an average, twice as large as that of the latter. At present, approximately every tenth retail store is a chain store, accounting for about one fifth of the total turnover of the retail trade.

It has been contended for years that the nature of retail trade has been changing at a swift pace. Many have looked upon this development as suspicious, and even dangerous. But the data of the census bureau makes it clear that there is still no sign of an immediate union of independent businessmen. The tendency is present, to be sure, but the process is a much slower one than has been generally assumed.