The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1919-07-09
MARKETS ANDMARKETE

| On an average the middIemen---:
smaller dealers, chiefiy--are not
wealthy. difficult of proof to say they
are profteers year in, year out; no
considerable number of great fortunes
among them. On the other hand as
many small dealers go to the wall as
small mechanics or small farmers.
Some farmers, some mechanics, and
some merchants, of superior skill and
intelligence, grow wealthy; but not
enough of them to prove iniquity
exists in their callings.
(! Yet the householder frets and be-
rates the middleman because prices
are thus and so; often points the
| finger of accusation at the wholesaler
or the producer. Meats for example:
farmer getting from 81 to So less for
his meat animals than last year and
! packers alleging that no more than
IA small fraction of a cent of profit
per pound exists for them, who gets
! its?
/ Another phase develops iii what we
! may roughly term regional prices"
| In one part of the city a housewife
| may buy round steak for IS cents
pound; In another the price is 3s. and
in still others prices range between
| those figures. What's the cause?
Explanations are always difficult
and disconcerting. All small shops are
not operated on the same plane. All
housewives are not temperamentally
alike, All households are not pressed
by similar needs About the only
thing upon which housewives are
agreed is that prices are too high
Their sole relation to distribution Is
with the rniddieman. so they blame
him The niddleman can only turn
to the wholesaler, the whosaler to
the producer.
But does any one ever blame the
/ buyer
] The average small shop has certain
| fixed charges which must be met be-
fore arises the element of profit They
are rent, clerk hire. the maintenance
of delivery system. which includes
cost, upkeep, and depreciation on
horses and vehicles, depreciation of
perishanle stock. and. by no means
least, the loss side of the credit sys-
! tenn
| These items make up what We are
/ pleased 10 call service" We are city
/ folk. All we know about milk pro-
| duction. let us say is that milk is
| something habituaIly found in bottles
! on the back porch, How it gets there.
what labor is concerned In that casual
! incident. what an infinite variety OF
acts contributes to its production,
| from the scientific knowledge of the
dairyman to the unfailing regularity
OF the delivery wagon-no matter: it
is there; service.
We have had nothing to do with pro-
dactfon, and we do not understand the
multifarious divisions of labor Look
AT so trivial thing as pin: ore must
be mined. reduced to workable metal,
wire drawn, cut into lengths. heads APP
piled. polished. pointed, put into pa :
pers, packed into boxes. shipped to
the wholesaler. then to the retailer:
| in all these divisions, including trans
portation, must be skilled workers.
and in many of them must be highly
effective machinery. which itself must
have passed through the varied chan
nels of production. The paper into
which the pins are stuck In rows must
be developed through many intricate
processes, the wooden boxes through
others; an amazing completely.
We demand service. but rarely con-
slider the enormous industrial concen-
tration needful to produce that serv-
lice. Nor is service thing which can
be applied with absolute impartiality
| in all localities alike. One section OF
the city Is Inhabited by those who
want what they want when they
/ want it" This brings in the element
of special service. Special service en-
tails certain amount of waste In
order to be prepared to render special
service grocer must have special We
Eicles at hand, This means these We
lhicles must lie idle a part of the time
costing overhead in order to be avail :
able for special service.
If II were possible for a shopkeeper
to expect a steady flow Of patronage he
might manage with fewer clerks. He
must have more, because trade comes
in squads and piatoons and then not
at all When trade is brisk clerks are
operating at maximum profit. When
III Is dull the overhead mounts
Many shops extend no credit, have
no delivery wagons and few clerks.
The overhead goes down. But how
many housewives take the trouble 10
seek them out or. in fact. TO go mar
! keting with an eve for cheapness :?
I Service is too genial and too easy of
acceptance to be given up for the
bother of marketing.
The average housewife prefers not
ITO be bothered about difference Of
two cents In the price OF an article
when the luxury OF having the articles
sent to her door interviews. And yet
il she takes care of the pennies the
dollars take care of themselves"
Easy to rebuke the producer. the
wholesaler. the packer and the grocer