The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-03-12
WOOD BELIEVES PUBLICITY WILL
 HELP THE CITY lt Prices Are Not Too High Advertisement VIII Be
 Great Benefit
HOPES AGE-HERALD WILL
 CONTINUE AGITATlGN
Difficulties of an Investigating Com. n1ittee as Suggested by MT. Van Hoose Are Pointed Out
 in Interviews.

Sterling A. Wood, president of the Commercial club, when asked yestor- day two give his views upon the sub- ject of alleged high prices in the city Of Birmingham, said:
 T am right glad that the discus sion has come up, as it will bear good fruit if the prices were too high, and will bear good fruit, blythe advor- tisement of the city, if the prices were reasonable.
 The national and state administra- tions are committed against the propo- sition of allowing trusts to govern anywhere. and if there is a trust here which arbitrarily fixes the price of commodities it should be put out of ex istence. The enterprise and thrift of the citizens of Birmingham are suf- ticient for their existence and for her existence without calling upon any such artificial aid and it Is to be hoped that the Age-Herald will continue to dig into this matter until the truth is known, and, if anything is not right, until it is rectifed.
 IHC tHtllS titS 10 HdAuiSdPPSo bJ this assertion-that living is too high here. We are all interested on getting it upon the proper basis. and we all ought to aid in seeing that the proper basis is arrived at.
 "Our state government is of course, very inefficient in the handling of all criminal matters. It even appears that there is no fund to bring back a fugitive from justice who has gone outside of the state.
 "The national administration has seized hold of the matters of the trusts, and has been pushing its nvestiga- tions along satisfactory lines. If neces- sary, the eHerald ought to start a fund in order to employ experts to pur- sue It's investigations. I should be glad to contribute to such a fund"
 Thinks Task Would Be Endless.
 The letter of J. A. VanHoose. which appeared in the ge-Herald yesterday morning, has caused considerable com ment Hinton G. Clabaugh said yes terday evening:
 "Mr. vanHoose urges that the present indefinite talk of the high prices of groceries be discontinued until some definite charges can be found. With references to the question of indefinite talk I would simply like to refer MT. NanHoose to the issue of the Age-Her- ald of January 2S. The talk printed in this issue of the paper Is sworn to by a renutahle notOry public,
 "It seems to me that the task which MT. VanHoose proposes in his letter, to be performed by committee con- sisting of MT. Barrett, MT. Wood, Judge A D. Lane and James B. Drake. would be an almost endless one that 1t would take them about two years to complete the work and then when 1t came to printing a report 1t would re- quira dozen large volumes to hold the report.
 ",rne suggestion Is evidently an earn est one and well intended, but to make t.e investigation proposed woa:d ne too much for the committee to stand. The easlest way to hal1la the matter, it seems to me, is to handle the Gif- ferent lines one at a time, taking them as we come to them, but now that we are in thu midst of the grocery qoes- ton il would seem best to me that tf,is matter be thraehed out, the real trouble definitely located, which I be- lieve I have already done, and then correct that trouble. This done it would be practicable to take up some oth CT line. and in time all the lines of neces- sities sug gested in MT. VanHoose's let ter.
 "In the meanwhile, however, there have been no reductions in the prices of groceries that the consumer can feel
 Job Would Be IntermlnabIs.
 E. w. Barrett, editor of the Age Herald, wrote the following personal statement in reply to MT. VanHoose's s card in Wednesdays Age Herald:
 .I have carefully read with some in terest Mr. VanHooses card in yester- days Age Herald, suggesting 0 commit tee to investigate the prices of groc- cries and everything else in B'iming ham.
 MT. yanilcose was good enough to suggest me as chairman of that com n,ittee. If such a committee were necessary l would be glad to seive on it, but the job would be an interminable one and the committee would have no pcwer whnterer to require the attend- ance of witnesses nor to bring out actual facts.
 "hs matter of fact this grocery dis cuss,on has been one on the part of the reople. and it is fact that since it was started prit es of many necessary commodities in Birmingham have bee, decreasei. Lard is s.. -ng no" by the retailer oh eaper than 1t was three weeks ago and I happen to know that the price of breakfast bacon has been generally reduced
 Mir VanHoose assumes that the peo- pie who want to make Birmingham a really attractive town, by making prices for the necessaries of life here as reas- enable as they are elsewhere, are 'knockers.' There may be some knock CTS in Birmingham but they are few and far between.
 JAS the editor of the Age-Herald have thrown open the columns of this newspaper for a full and free discus sion of all matters pertaining to the interests and welfare of Birmn ghal Tn. I am of the opinion that this discus son has brought about good instead of bad results, because 1t Is causing those who are dealers in the neces- saries of life to think and to adjust prices for necessary commodities.
 "As far as causing the drummery of the wholesale grocery houses of Bir- mineham to fail to sell their goods to country merchants this statement is, on it's face. absurd. No country mer- chant buys from any one unless he is first quoted prices and he certainly gets prices from Memphis, Nashville and Atlanta, as well as from Birming-
 F..