Morgan County republican. (Versailles, Mo.) 1906-1914, 1907-11-28

I'LL prices
To the consumer the cause is subordinate to the effect;
he effect is apparcnt-the cause problematcal SO far rs he is concerned.
The cost of living has increased greatly, and the question now is-"Arc
high prices a benefit to all consumers?"
There are two kinds of onsum~s-prOducers and nonprolucers
The producer gets a wage II a salary. Let us consider his financial po-
sition. If high prices are a benefit to him, after paying the increased
prices for rent, food, clothes, heat and light, he should have a large surplus
for recreation and the good things of life. Does he? Instead, he sees
the surplus vanish, and, of@nthmes, a balance on the debtor side.
But, it will be said, wages and some salaries have been increased,
and comparisons re attempted between the increases in prices and the
advances in wages and salaries. Nothing could be more fallacnus as
applied to the workingman paid by the hour or day. Questions of rates
mean little What he actually earns is the vital question.
The real condition of workingmen is not shown by comparing vicious
percentages claimed to represent increases in prices and advances in wages
and salaries. The only figures worth anything as an index of conditions
1. The number of workingmen having an increased surplus despite
the high prices.
2'The number having a les. surplus.
8 The number having no surplus.
4. The number in debt.
If official figures, honestly attained on this basis and presented with
out fixing" show that high prices have benefited the wage worker and the
smalsalaried man, then the heavens will rain mamma again, and we may
all sit down and eat and drink and be merry. Until then, the dealers,
and doctors, and other creditors, will have their unconectible bills, and the
pawn shops and money sharks will increase in number and wax rich with
increased business.
And this brings us to the nonproducers who ar not paid by wages
or salaries, but by profits. They have to pay the increased prices, too;
but they have the remedy in their own hands. What they have to sell,
Others must pay for or go without. By nonproducers l mean all who
transport, buy or sell what the consumer needs, including money. The
whale has its auxliaries, who lead it to its feeding grounds, and the bank
es and money-brokers are all adherents and helpers of the great god
capital
Restraints are being placed continually upon I'M mahuiacture, WIG
often is the consumers best friend, especially when he eliminates the
mddleman and gets close to the consumer. At present we have, between
the maker and the user, the wholesale dealer or commission merchant, and
the retailer. The three, manufacturer, wholesaler and retailer, may each
make only a fair profit; but three fair profits make q price burdensome to
the consumer. An increased wage or salary may help the consumer; but
IL il only enables him to make both ends meet, and does not restore or
increase his surplus, he is not benefited.
Probably the majority of nonproducers benefit by high prices; for
they, as a rule, live on a percentage of profit,
and the larger the figures, the greater the.
profit. Even if the percentage is less than in N kS~
former years, the increased volume of business Nv IT,
gives a larger return.