The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1916-03-29

JapS are taking every advantage OF
their opportunity.
Certain lines of silk selling hereto
fore at 81 a yard are entirely out OF
the market at this time. When We
have sold out the supply on hand, and,
if possible, obtain more, it will go up
to $1.50 a yard. Similar increase is
noted in spring goods.
4 just finished talking to a velvet
| salesman this morning and find velvet
that the company has been paying 80
cents a yard for. mills have asked
S1.40 a yard for and since this advance
| have sold out entirely and the whole
| saler is unable to get more of any col
or or at any price. When 81 velvets
are out we will be forced to charge
$I.25 for the same quality.
Cotton Innings have advanced from
10 per cent to 25 per cent. Linen
/ crinolines, one of the staple dress
! goods articles, are out of the market
entirely. The same condition exists
in our kid glove department. Most
gloves of this class are imported from
Germany. French gloves are selling
| for $1.75. The present gloves selling
for SIPS a pair are no better than
gloves sold by us in years past at SO
cents a pair"
Up Goes Furniture.
Take furniture as an example: Ac-
cording to C. A HARLAN of the HARLAN
Furniture company, this commodity
/ has advanced within the past five
/ years from ten to as high as 25 per
cent in some lines All furniture has
| advanced but where upholstering
| plays a part, on account of the ad-
vance in the costs of dyes, the advance
/ has been greater. Beds, chairs, dress
| ers, in fact furniture of all descrip-
1 tons costs more today than ever. The
! big demand for furniture lumber does
not augur favorably for any relief in
I En aRaTr h. , =
opinion of several dealers in Topeka.
/ Take the old fashioned chair that as
/ a child we all remember so well. A
/ few years ago the lumber for this ia
| bic chair was sold $500 per thousand.
/ Today the price is $40 per thousand
/ Couple to this the advance in all
grades of machinery, leather betting.
paints, oils, nails and labor and one
| can easily see just where and how fur
| niture costs more, the equipment to
manufacture the finished product
| costs more, and the various things to
make it a finished article cost more,
| hence the finished article is bound to
cost both dealer and customer more.
Finished Dresses.
Increases of 80 to so per cent in the
cost of raw materials has been fol-
| lowed by increases in the cost of fin
| ished dresses, skirts and other Wom-
ems wearing apparel, according to To-
!
while the cost of raw materials
has increased more rapidly than the
| cost of completed garments, we are
now paying from Is to 20 per cent
more for dresses than we paid at the
beginning of last season. says Her
man Greenbaum of the Greenbaum
company. Scarcity of materials,
principally dyes, is responsible for
! the advances and every indication
points to decided advances at the be
ginning of the next season. But even
more serious than the advances in
prices is the fact that some materials
are disappearing from the market
completely and are rapidly becoming
unobtainable at any price.
1.-THE rapidity with which prices are
being advanced was brought home
lforcefully to me recently while in the
east purchasing a stock of goods,
Harry Endlich of the Outlook remark
ed this morning Immediately after
! [ had purchased a bill of silk goods.
and while 1 was still in the office of
| the concern where l made the pur-
d, chase, the head of the firm was noti-
| fled Of an advance in the price OF
silks and advances were made at once
in the prices of all goods similar to
those I bought but a few minutes be-
fore 1 could have sold my goods at a
profit without having them sent to
Topeka
shoes Higher in Price.
William E. Brelsford, president OF
the Payne Shoe company, stated to-
day that every article that goes into
the manufacture of shoes has been ad-
vancing for year and that the ad-
vance continues.
1.-THE advance in the cost of ma
terials that go into the making of q
shoe has been remarkable" he said
Everything from the leather to the
buttons and eyelets has gone UP in
price and continues to go up. 1 don't
know where the stopping point is go
ing to be. The effects have not beer
felt by retail purchasers to any greal
extent for the reason that shoes be-
ling sold now were not bought at the
higher prices.
lone reason for the increased cost
is that fully sixty per cent of the
leather used in this country ordinaril!
is imported. Leather is a contraban
article and hard to get from foreign
countries right now. There are fewer
cattle raised in this country than il
years gone by and that contributes Il
the scarcity of leather. More than the
matter of high price is worrying the
shoe man. He can scarcely get shoe!
at anv price He can't get the definite
! promise of any shoes at future
= period Money will not extract
promise from the manufacturers"
Hardware Advances.
r G. Bauer, vice president of thu
w. A. L. Thompson Hardware com
pany, threw up his hands, figurativel!
speaking, when the matter of advanc
ing costs was mentioned to him.
There may be a few things thi
firm handles the price of which ha
not advanced" he said, "but they ar
few. And 1 know of nothing tina
costs less than it has heretofore.
/ see no relief in sight. Even bar steel
from which nails are made, is highe
in price now than nails were not ionl
| ago. There is a general increase in al
most every line of hardware. 1t began
about year ago and has continued
steadily. We expect further increase
as time goes by. 1 have here on m,
desk a letter quoting a price on nail
for future delivery, a much highe
price than it would be necessary t
pay now, am not sure it wouldn't b
a good buy. 1t is impossible to bu
nails and other similar articles in hi
quantities now"
Nearly all drugs have increased Il
/ value both to consumers and to re
! tailers according to James McFarlau