The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1919-08-26
TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
INFORM ALTON
BURE AU
TREDERIC J. HAGKIrs. paroc&GE.
WaahAngtGa. n. C.
WHY THEY RISE.

ADVANCE IN shoe prices announced py
manufacturers and retailers goes into
effect this fall. you will pay anywhere
from SIS to SIS pair for your winter
shoes. II you don't believe IL, listen TO
what a large shoe merchant has to say
about future shoe prices.
Prices Of shoes are high at the
present time, but they are going even
higher. The announced increases for
fall shoes range from 80 to 100 per
cent. A pair of shoes which now cost
the public $40 or $12 will sell for any
where from SIS to $40 this fall. The
same ratio of increase will apply to all
grades of footwear. Today. II find
it necessary to duplicate any of my
summer stock, I have to pay approx
mately SO per cent more than I paid
last spring. Oxfords which 1 am now
retailing for $40 a pair would sell for
SIS II had to 20 into the present
market for a new stock"
This same merchant predicts that
wooden shoes will go Gathering along
American sidewalks in 1920. unless
something Is done to cut down the
price Of leather shoes.
Authorities differ as to the cause OF
this situation. The federal trade COM
mission mas reported to congress that
there is 'profiteering going on in the
shoe industry" and some of the more
radical members would commander
every hide IN. the country. Others
would put a temporary embargo on
the export of footwear and other
leather products, and take every other
i possible step to prevent profiteering in
| the shoe business. Manufacturers
claim that an embargo would not help
the situation any. They say that the
world is approaching a sort of leather
| famine, and while we in the United
States apparently have plenty of
leather we cannot escape from world
conditions. They assert that an en-
| barge would place us i'm a still worse
position, for the reason that we import
about half of the number of hides used
annually in this country.
Senator Capper, of Kansas, who has
made careful study of the shoe
| leather industry, believes that an en-
barge for a reasonable period would
| bring about a reduction in the price
of shoes. He is also convinced that
| there Is considerable profiteering go
| ing on in the shoe industry, not so
| much among the little fellows as
among the big leather dealers and
shoe manufacturers. He says that
while the cost OF production has ma
| terially Increased during the last four
years, there Is absolutely no SuStifica-
ton for the excessive prices that are
now being demanded, and which are
going even higher. He contends that
| the increased price Of the finished
product Is out of all proportion to the
average increase in the cost OF produe-
ton.
Like many other members of con-
gress, Senator Capper favors Presi-
| dent Wilson's plan OF marking the
| manufacturers price on every pair of
shoes. He T. INKS this would cut out
much profiteering on the part of the
| middieman, and would also tend to
deter retail dealers from making ex-
cessive profits.
In his investigation OF the shoe in
dustry, Senator Capper asked the Shoe
and Leather Reporter. of Boston, for
| information as to why shoes and
leather cost more today. The answer
he received presents the manufactur-
er's side of the question. as follows:
| Perhaps the chief obstacle in the
way of a return to lower prices for
! shoes is the fact that the most ex-
IRENE prices quoted In our domestic
| market looks cheap to European buy
ers. 1t would be conducive to a bet
ter understanding II the American
public could be informed that shoes
have been selling for 325 and $40 a
pair for many months in Europe, in
both warning and neutral countries
The equalizing process following
peace, and the resumption of free
| trading. should have the effect of low
ering price abroad while correspond
| ingly raising them in the United
| OFFICES,
| world conditions must be faced.
"A similar situation exists in leather.
The tanneries of continental Europe
have been completely demoralized by
the war, and It II a well understood
fact that upon the completion of the
ming will be in abnormal demand to
rehabilitate the idle tanneries The
stocks Of hides and skins thruout the
world are known to be insufficient. ex-
cept that of Russia, about which moth
ing is known. 1t is hoped that large
denominations of skins are held there
and that ultimately they will be avail
able and can be added to the dwind-
ling stocks of the world
TT is well understood in the leather
industry, that hides are a by-product
and do not follow the ordinary law of
supply and DEMAND. Cattle are not
raised or slaughtered for their hides.
The hides are produced incidentally, in
quantities determined by the sale of
beef. The slaughter of cattle was
greatly stimulated by the war by the
contracts for canned beef to feed our
armies. and also for export to feed SOL
diers OF countries allied with Us This
increased the supply of hides automat-
ically but the war developed an
enormous new demand for leather,
and much of the increased supply was
used up in this way"
hC IcpO also SHOWS EHdI because
or the present high price Of meats the
demand for II has become much less,
and this means less leather.
In sharp contrast to the statement
made by the Shoe and Leather Re-
porter, the federal trade commission.
after very thoro and exhaustive in
vestigation OF the whole matter. finds
that the high prices of shoes cannot
be justified by the underlying eco
nomic conditions" The commission
! reports that the larger packers con-
troll the supply Of hides and have made
excessive profits out of this business.
1t is also asserted by the commission
that the manufacturers OF shoes have
also charged unusual margins and that
the prices charged by the retailers are
not justifiabie."
The commissions investigators
: found that thereswas a great advance
in the cost of producing shoes be-
tween 1914 and 1917. the principal