Republican farmer., 1919-08-15

therefore is s534549,S36. or at the
 rate of nearly S50,O00,000 a month. In spite of these figures, manufac- turers want the public to believe there is a severe shortage in leather and that high prices must continue | indefinitely. All the leather journals
 play up this shortage and add much about the serious demands of labor, when the manufacturers are able to l get labor at all.
 If profteers receive 20 per cent
 and as stated tlris is a most con- servative flgure-then they mulcted the public out of S6000,oO0 on the June exports alone On the sana basis they required S31, ,54S, ,466 on tho imports for the first four months of the year, which totalled S157,742,- S29. Of course. Europe paid the pi- per in this instance. but Americans paid indirectly, as it was necessary to
 keep up prices here in order to un-
 load at high prifits in Europe.
 Getting down in the total sales iii 1919, as estimated on the Govern ments figures for the first four months of the year, 20 per cent on ! $S76, 6,346,272 would be $175, 5,269, ,254. The last sum represents the total
 profiteering for the year. This would l mean S1.75 tackled on the price of one pair of shoes for every one of the 00,OO0,OOO inhabitants of America. Persons who have been paying SIP and $15 for shoes that used to cost from s4 to s6 will not accuse the pa
 pers of exaggerating the profteering figures. In fact, they may question whether the difference between prof.
 iteering and legitimate profits is too low. In other words, a man who now payS S15 for a pair of shoes which in 1913 cost him $6 pays s9 more than formerly. The informants say that
 of this $9 profteers get S1.75 and
 that the balance, or $7.25 on each pair, is the result of higher wages, in fiattOn and the like.
 This is merely a concrete example
 to show how profteering works out
 Not all the leather goes into shoes
 but the boost goes into all classes of
 leather. The same average increase is
 found in gloves, belts. harnesses and
 everything of which leather is a part
 of the whole
 Leather operators generally deny
 that a dollar goes to profiteers. They
 point to the fact that in 1918 exports
 on hides and leather fell off T per
 cent, but they admit that the same
 on exports, which are set at IS per
 cent. of American production and
 manufacture. If the exports of 1918
 are taken as a basis for calculation
 then the total production and manu-
 facture in dollars was only $23S,O14,-
 PIP.
 What the leather interests do not
 seem able to explain is why in the
 face of this big drop, the production
 was not stimulated. Every one
 knows that the prices of finished
 material advanced sharply. As a
 matter of fact the only year in history
 Tn which there was a greater increase
 than 1918 is the current year. In 1918
 the excuse was shortage in supply
 Now the public is being prepared for
 coming boosts by being told that.
 even with a greater supply, the world
 cannot be supplied and citizens of the United States must dig deeper into their pockets and help foot the bill MT. McElwaine, in the statement
 already referred to, adds some ex-
 evellent literature to the volumes
 which have already been written on leather and prices As head of the greatest leather manufacturing asso- c1atfon, in the country it must be conceded he knows whereof he speaks Among other things MT. Me- Elwaine said:
 "The present prices of raw mate
 rial are nearly double the prices cur leIlI SlA IlOnlnS ago ana WHOLLY De- yond wartime or any other experi- ence, and have now made necessary prices for shoes far above any with
 which the trade Is yet acquainted We know of nothing which can quickly relieve the present tempo rary scarcity of materials or bring about lower prices for shoes for the coming fall trade. Shoes sold in the spring of 1920 must bring still higher prices. based on the present estab- lished prices of leather and labor, far beyond any past experience" This gloomy forecast for the inn mediate future is given when, by com mon knowledge. warehouses are bulg- l ing with raw material and finished products awaiting shipment to hard | pressed Europe, where folks will be | forced to pay any amount asked. MT. i McElwaine has a reason for the con I ditions. He says:
 "The cause for the situation is 1 easily discovered. The stocks on the f shelves of merchants have been de- 1 pleted by the lessened production l made necessary by wartime condi- tions. All classes of people continue well supplied with funds and eager | to obtain their usual supplies. The | increased price so far established has not in any way checked the steadily | increasing demand from the con- sumer."
 | large leather manufacturer said | that the above paragraph from MT. | McElwaine's statement shed a flood | of~light on the situation. Having been made, he said, in view of the known | fact that production will break all | records, it was illuminating to know | that "all classes of the people con- 1 t:nue well supplied with funds" and 1 are not complaining overmuch about [ the great boosts.
 President MoE1waine describes the | shoe manufacturers Struggling to | meet the increasingly large require | nlentS of their trade" and then adds | in the same sentence that they have | suddenly found themselves in conf | petition with leather buyers from Europe, seeking supplies for coun- | tries closed for several years dur 1 ing the war" He then says this com | petition has lied to the bidding up l of prices to the present unheard- Of and unpr eedented level. This situa- ton can snly exist so long as ths l orf d axy;e-