Merchants of the local area agreed yesterday that the influenza epidemic which put 400 men in Stillman Infirmary this month has appreciably reduced their business. While restaurants suffered most, haberdashery and variety stores also noticed a decrease in volume of sales.

Stanley Sumner, manager of the University Theatre, remarked that of the 1000 children who usually attend Saturday matinees, only 500 appeared last week.

Woolworth's profits are normal, a spokesman said, perhaps because of rising prices, but six of the sixty employees are ill. Nevertheless, she added, this rate is better than that of last year's epidemic.

Sales Dip

Howard Johnson's, 25 percent of whose business comes from Harvard, noticed a five percent decline. The Wursthaus and Brigham's report ten and 20 percent drops.

As for the policeman in the Square's traffic box, he finds "business as usual for me; nothing changes."