The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1907-01-14
ANYTHING FOR AN EXCUSE.

One of George Ade's fables tells OF
two men who were together At a social
affairs and happened to overhear their
wives talking. One man discovered by
his wife's conversation that she fairly
worshipped him. though he thought she
was Indifferent. the other husband
learned that his wife thought him some-
thing Of a frost. though he had sup
posed she was completely infatuated
with him. When the party broke up
both men got drunk. the one because
he was so happy, the other to drown his
sorrow. The Adesque moral was: Any
thing for an excuse"
The same sort of logic seems to have
taken possession of restaurant keepers.
hotel men and everybody else who is
looking for a chance to increase his
profits. The plea is that everything
is dearer and we have to raise prices"
In New Orleans the hotel men an
nounced a raise Of % per cent because.
they said. the pure food law compelled
them TO use American canned goods
only. and these had gone up. OF course
the tale was untrue; the law does not
bar any pure food. American. European,
Monaghan or African. Nor does the
proportion of canned goods In any good
hotel cut such a figure in the cost Of
food as TO even suggest a rise OF this
kind, even if the price Of the food had
risen. The hotelkeepers simply meant
to gouge the public. and wanted to UNI
load the responsibility for their act on
the handiest subject they could find
1t has been so with a good many 9TH
OF people. Because copper has adj
vanced, the makers of clock works have
boosted their wares: jump in cab
bage Of cent q head would be ample
excuse for some restaurant men to dou-
bic the price of kraut or cold slaw a
flood ina the Columbia would mean an
increase i'm the price of salmon for some
Of the avaricious; and i blizzard on the
desert sheep range would afford an ex-
cuse for lifting the price OF mutton
chops. In this the little fellows are only
taking note from the book of the
trusts as far as they dare. and utiliz-
ing the dire necessity Of others TO add
to their own profits.
Fortunately. the law of demand and
supply works yet with more or less
efficiency. The public is slow TO wrath,
and slower TO recognize discrimination.
but it eventually locates any wrong,
and when ii does takes it's own way Of
righting things. Those New Orleans
hotel men discovered that the crop of
suckers is limited: the restaurant
man who boosts prices unduly discov-
ers that competitors are not always as
rapacious as he. and the landlord who
insists ON eXorbitant rentals finds in
the long run that the good tenants who
don't have 10 stand imposition pay bet
ter i'm the long run than the man who
will agree to pay any price
The cost OF living has doubtless in
creased \ good deal within the past
five years but with wheat way below
the dollar mark. fancy cattle at So. 10 to
81, hogs at $3.50 to s6.40 or Whereabouts.
and sheep below So in Chicago. the
commodity prices are long way from
famine quotations yet The man who
wants t. have nothing but porterhouse
and choice cuts of everything is penal
lied for his luxurious tastes. but one
who really wants TO live within his
means and save money need not suffer
at the current earning capacity of a
good man in any line of activity.