Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1919-08-09
Eagle Grove Times Gazettc.I

Eagle Grove Times -Gazettc.l
v The Times Gaxette's city reporter
interviewed number OF our mef-
chants ON Monday as to the high cost
OF living. The retail merchant, In
short, has but one answer, and that
is he has advanced the price only In
proportion as II has been advanced 70
him by the jobber or manufacturers.
in other words, the buck was passed
TO him and he In turn les passing II
To the consumer
We found however that In most OF
the Eagle Grove stores the price has
not advanced on many articles that
are still In stock and were purchased
before the advance in the Wholesale
market. In fact, almost any article
can be purchased In Eagle Grove to-
day cheaper than II the merchant was
to buy and sell on today's market
Almost every article upon any shelf
or counter OF the stores OF Eagle
Grove has advanced in price since II
was purchased by the merchant. and
the merchant has not advanced the
price in accordance with today's ad-
vance, and the customer gets the BEN
eft
All goods. In almost every line of
merchandise has made stiff ad-
vance in the last 30 days, while many
lines are given a new price list every
week
A certain merchant was negotiating
for the purchase OF certain goods over
the telephone and the merchant asked
| II the price would hold good for n few
| days. mo sir" said the voice at the
| other end OF the line, "the deal Is OFF
the minute you hang up the receiver"
All Of which indicates that the whole-
sale price today may not be good to-
| morrow.
The Grocer,
To the question why do you charge
so much for groceries," the grocer re-
piled, MANY people think that be.
cause we charge so much we are maxi
ing a lot of money. but I would much
prefer to do business under former
conditions. We are not making more
money than usual. We are making
less. On most articles our margins
are less. We not only pay more for
our goods from the wholesaler. but
everything that enters into the retail
trade has advanced. We used to sell
canned peaches at $40 for a dozen
cans. now we pay $500 per dozen,
| wholesale. Black and red raspberries
have advanced in the same proportion.
We used to sell canned corn at 60 cents
dozen cans. now we can not buy at
less than $3.50 to $3.50 per dozen,
wholesale. And canned meats are a
fright. AS to store expenses. we used
to hire good man at s45 to $50 a
| month: now we pay from 800 to 1925.
We used to pay our girls s. per week,
now we can't get them for less than
s12 Ask the manufacturer why he
charges so much
The Druggist.
The druggist told us he was forced
to advance prices because the whole
| saler did.
The Tailor.
The tailor can also tell you why
! clothing is high. Woolens are from
| $3.50 to SO per yard higher, trimmings
! have doubled and trebled. Linen. used
! for a support or stiffening in the front
| of coats, that formerly cost 272 cents
a boldt now costs Sis. AS to tailors'
wages. coat maker now gets $40 for
making coat. and cutters in the cit
les and larger places get s45 for week
of forty-four hours. This is an eight
hour day with Saturday afternoon off
Dry Goods.
Our dry goods dealers tell us that
| they are selling most everything
cheaper than they can be bought to-
| day in the wholesale market. This is
because the goods were purchased
some time ago and have not been
marked up to keep pace with the rising
market. One dealer said that If we
were to go to New. York today we
| would find buyers from every foreign