Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1919-12-20

LOCAL COMMENT

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or course any man IL entitled to the
privilege Of paying 81 per month adj
ditional auto license for every month
he delays after Jan. II he wants IT,
II he would avoid the penalty he VIII
got his auto license before Jan. l. ana
II he waits until after Christmas he
will stand In line for hours awaiting
his turn at the window, There are only
eight business days left In which TO IL
eense about 1000 cars, How can two
clerks be expected to handle $50 per
day without delay for somebody
The city OF Ottumwa is about one
third larger than MarShalltown but It's
school house problem Is very much the
same as the problem here, so the Vot-
! ors authorized q bond issue OF $500
600 this week for q new high school.
! This is larger, even, than the s6Oo,ooo
voted a year or so ago in Fort Dodge
| for new high school.
I A drop in the price of hogs from
! s22 10 sl3 since the war and unemploy-
| Elent among railroad and factory men
caused by the fuel famine, together
with the snow embargo placed on all
| travel to Marshalltown by automobile
during the month of December. has
affected trade In the local retail stores.
/ Farmers do not feel Us flush as they
did when they were getting nearly
twice as much for their hogs. with
the roads blocked with snow and tenn
perature below zero people will not
try to drive forty miles by auto TO Mar
Shalltown to trade. When railroads
take off trains the train crews are out
of n job end when factories cut down
to short time for lack Of fuel all sur
plus help is discharged. There have
been good men temporarily out Of
work in Marshs iltown this fall and it
has interfered with their usual bust
ness at the stores. Times will prob
ably get better as employment re-
sumes. If the roads could be opened
for travel by auto more people would
come to town 10 trade Resumption OF
passenger trains will enable custom
ers TO come 10 town in the morning
and return the same day. whereas for
weeks a trip to- Marshalltown has
meant two days Of time ana a hotel
bill. Narshalltown retail business has
felt the effects of recent unusual con-
ditions axd 1t was TO be expected -
had to lie.
People generally have been buying
extray agantly. They are far more 20
blame for nigh prices than the retail
merchant in most cases. The average
merchant sells on a fixed margin
ahove cost, his selling price being fixed
by his cost. Abnormal demand for
goods causes prices for raw materials
and for labor to go up at the factories
where goods ore made and the rise in
price usually takes place before the
goods reach the retail store, but, OF
course. sacrifice sales. CLEARANCE sales
and counter selling will never be quite
so close when other customers stano
ready to take the goods regardless OF
price as they will when people are
forced by unemployment, travel en-
barge or falling income to economiZe.
The merchant viii feel the change first
before he can mako the manufacturer
feel it By reduction In his demand for
goods but the change will have to
come some time. The wise policy for
all is 10 get ready for it. Things that
20 up must come down. The only IN
certainty about II Is as to when and
where.
There is always a good deal of bunk
about price fixing by public commits
sions. We thought during the war
~, ~,
too high and now we have the adr1is-
sion of the high government officials
who fixed those prices that they were
too high. Alleged s24 suits announced
in Chicago can't be found. About the
only thing people can do who object
TO high prices is to quit buying. The}
chances are that the merchant VINO
stocks merchandise IN quantities to be
parceled out by the piece at retail Is
just as much opposed 10 high prices
at the wholesale house or the factory
as his customers are at the store. II
the Times Republican could have its
own way about things the newspaper
business would go back to pre-war
prices for print paper with plenty OF it
and to pre- war wages, pre-war ad-
FeftlSlDS anu piiCSFS' poN
it is impossible until all wages. all
food prices, all clothing prices and all
costs OF living go back together and
nobody believes now that all prices
are going clear back to where they
were before the war. All we can ex-
pect is a recession part way back as
fast as the pressure Of foreign buying
is lessened or as an increase in supply
overtakes the demand.
4
The holiness of thief who Will
walk into a jewelry store in broad day
light and Zip" g. merchant out OF val
liable diamonds suggests that the pub
lie safety demands a police force Of
the maximum energy, efficiency and
determination to catch criminals II
they can be caught A thief can not
always be found even by the best OF
officers. Thieves smooth enough to
rob a bank or to steal chickens in the
dark often go at large until some
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