The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1919-11-16
Edited by
Mansfield r. House

I see in the market page of this
mornings paper that pork has droppce
from SCI to $b3. 50.'' remarks Mr.. Average
Consumer over his toast and coffee
Why not let's have some pork chops to-
night, dear, They ought to be within
reach OF our pocketbook by now.
Fine.' agrees Mrs Average Consumer
I'll get couple of pounds, and while
we're on the subject, / think I'll invest
IN some shoes. I see that leather has
dropped 20 per cent in price. That would
make $40 shoes cost only S..
This may not be a stenographic report
OF the conversation which took place in
thousands OF American homes within the
last ten days, but it's fairly close APP
Proclamation of Ii.
Newspapers throughout the country.
cost of living problem, did not fail 70
feature the reports from chicago ane
ST. Paul that the price of hogs had de-
creased from s21 to $3.50, and in some
cases even to So.
But the publicity attained by this IN
formation was small compared to the
Associated Press report that ]. F. Nc
Elwain, president of sthe Boot and Shoe
Manufact urers' Association, had stated
at a dinner of the Middle States Shoe
wholesalers Association thatA leather
had dropped 90 per cent and that cor
responding decrease in the price of shoes
might be expected within a short time.
Unfortunately Mr.. McElwain's subse-
uuent denial of this statement, coupled
with the announcement that what ne
had said was that hides had dropped ~
rer cent and that there is no indica-
ton OF recession in the price of shoes
in the near future" did not receive neariy
as much publicity as the original dis
patch.
Therefore, when Mrs. A. Consumer
+i-1 oct a
purchasing her pork cnops at half price
and her $40 shoes for IS, she returned
with the firm impression that retailers
i'm general. and butchers and shoe men
in particular are robbers, cheats. thieves
and profiteers-not to mention being
sharks. brigands. bandits. thugs. sand
baggers burglars. swindlers and even
stronger terms not ordinarily found 10
the vocabulary of the lady
Would you believe t2' she demanueu
that night, ''Henderson's not only naon
dropped their prices on shoes. but they'd
raised them And pork chops. They're
t;,o high to even talk about. The decrease
in wholesale prices must be true-I saw
1t in the paper
"Hoasv VS.. "Pork."
But, dear lady. did you see 1t IN the
paper?
pertinent points, let's analyze what you
reed.
The next report stated that hogs"
not pork" had dropped in price. That
means the hog ION the hoof''-the en-
tire animal. The report didn't state
anything about labor transportation
or overhead charges or handling costs
or any of the other factors which play
such important roles in delivering pork
chops to the kitchen door.
Hogs are down., is understood by
the layman-by the woman who does
ths buying-to mean that pork Prices
should instantly decrease, while in the
same newspaper there is likely to appear
an article stating that some labor or
ganization has won in its strike for
higher wages The readers reaction to
both reports is the same: Good. I'm
glad to hear that.' Glad that food is
going down and glad that wages are
going up. entirely overlooking the fact
that the latter more than offsets the
former.
In the case of shoes. Mrs. Consumer
read the first report of. Mr.. McElwain' s
n .tembnt and naturally took it for