New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-11-26
Sale of Luxuries
Diminishing at
Accelerated Pace
Curtailment of Buying and Sub
s.itution of Cheaper Arti-
cIes in Evidence
By Archer Wall Douglas

II is already in the air that govern
mental fat may shortly curtail the sale
OF luxuries and non-esseutials. Also It
is already fact that the high prices
Of many luxuries are automatically lin
iting their sale in the usual way OF the
application Of economic laws.
The natural question arises as to the
definition OF Injuries. In conventional
use il means those things that We can
we'll get along without. In actual ex-
perience it is apt TO mean the fummery
and frippery CT indulgence and the
things that crafty our tastes and sp-
peal TO our whims and csprices- Auto
mobiles, pianos and candy we're once
very definitely Injuries, but that would
be a narrow and untrue definition OF
them at present. Let US find out IL we
can from to-day's happenings Just what
things the average man-and woman
classes as Injuries.
Sales Slowly Falling
It is very sure that the sale Of such
items has fallen of in the last four
months, and this threatens to continue.
with probably slow acceleration in the
near future. There is no set proper
ton to such decline that can be safely
stated, nor any rigid classification that
can be laid down. Wherein the newt
able statistician must not expect too
much.
The frst intimation Of what are the
articles regarded as Injuries comes
from the general purchasing community
Of the multitudinous many. and the
surprising thing about it is its singular
unanimity in many cases in practically
all sections.
Not long ago, when all articles made
Of brass and copper went up in price
every little while, say every Saturday
night. the hardware trade noticed that
solid brass head furniture nails and
solid brass shoe nails simply quit sell
ing. and apparently the sale had shift
ed to the brass-platedon-steel nail in
each case. So long as the solid brass
nail continued at high prices il was
practically luxury, and the plated
nail seemed to answer every purpose
Il was q case of the question OF the
solid brass nail being a luxury under
these conditions, and developed the very
interesting and apparently unnoted fact
that the decline in sale Of Injuries
does not necessarily mean proper
tionate decline in the use Of such arti-
cles, but is sometimes merely shifting
Of use from the highest priced to the
cheaper and. for the time being,
equally serviccable article. This pre-
walls in a much larger measure than
seems generally spprehended.
Substitution
A kindred instance to the shoe nail
matter brought out somewhat related
case. Hardware dealers noticed an I'M
usually large sale Of all shoe findings,
that is, such goods as are used in cob
bling and repairing shoes. There could
be but one explanation, and inquiry
among the makers of handmade shoes.
the old-fashioned shoemakers, revealed
an almost total dearth OF orders for
shoes and an almost unprecedented de-
mand for repairing shoes partly worn
out. In large Western city shoes TO
be repaired were coming in by parcel
post and express from points as far dis
tant as 500 miles.
Another case is that Of a certain
kitchen ware, or rather two certain
kitchen wares, of entirely different ma
teial, design and appearance. They
had been growing in popularity for
some years, for they have many points
of merit, but the price Of the material
from which they are made hit the ex-
IRENE upper end of the price spectrum.
Then the sale automatically fell OF all
over the country at about the same time.
as if by tacit consent OF all the buyers
Of these goods. The easy reply is that
women were doing the buying, and they
always know what goods cost, and there
is an irreducibe maximum beyond
which they will not go. Meanwhile an
other line of kitchen ware, somewhat
cheaper, and well and fayorably known,
suddenly increased in sale, for it
seemed to fill the bill.
Now here is the interesting percent
age proportion in relation TO the COM
parative sales of these kitchen wares,
and this a sop to the statistician. The
falling off in the sales of the two high
priced wares was somewhat greater, say
from 10 to Is per cent, than the gain
made by the lower priced ware, which
indicates, though not conclusively, that
under such conditions there are an ap-
preciable number of buyers who don't
buy at all. not even substitute, but
made out as best they could with what
they already had-wherein this story
differs from that of the brass shoe nails
and shows the danger Of generaliza-
tions. For Il must be remembered that.
in the last analysis, the probably best
practical definition Of luxury is some
thing that we really do not need at ali.
being a superfuity in our present
mode Of life.
This again had a very pertinent IL
lustration in the case OF the sales OF
certain hand agricultural implements
which were absolutely needed for har.
vesting the crops last spring and sum.
mer The high priced ones fell of
about 90 per cent from the normal
sales, despite the great excellence OF
the goods in question. and most, though
81 A.