Republican farmer., 1919-08-15
Leather PrOfiteers Have Already
 Milked Public For 175 Millions
Admissions Are of Intentions to Educate Public to S25 Shoe and Further Fleece Those Who Have Been the Victims of Spectators Who Acknowledge Adding 20 Per Gent.

' Out of an estimated production in
 1919 of $S763 346 PIP in leather of all kinds profiteers will eNtort from the public-unleSs some means is speedily found to stop them-the immense
 sun, of s175.269.25 These gains they are not entitled to. They have already
 mulcted the public of three-quarters
 of this sum.
 The figures on which the calcula- tions of profiteering are based were
 furnished by persons high in the
 councils of the leather trade and who
 are thoroughly alarmed at what they
 call the "orgy of excess profits now
 going on and fear Federal inquiry and legislation will rip the artificial mar 1 ket wide open and cause heavy loss
 es to even those who have come hon estIy by their profits.
 The facts siven are all the more worthy of sober consi iteration for the reason that they come from the pro- ducers of leather and not from the manufacturers. While the manufac- turers are joint profiteers, it is the producer who controls the supply of
 raw leather and who sets the basic price for material, from which the manufacturer works in fixing, say, the price of shoes.
 Moreover, the figures of export and
 production are those furnished to the leather trade by the Department of Commerce, Washington. They are the figures upon which the trade bases all it's business calculations and are periodically set forth in the Statistical Review, issued by the
 Tanners Council at No. Al Park Row. This council is the organiza- ton maintained by the trade for the dissemination of precise information on all subjects pertaining to leather It maintains many departments. one of the most important being the For
 eign Trade Bureau.
 The profitecring figures submitted were given with the understanding that the source should not be named for reasons which will appear clear, at least. to any one in the trade They are admittedly conservative A re- porter who has been investigating the leather situation received much high CT estimates, but these are used be- causce of their conservatism.
 The informants figure prSfiteering at 20 per cent. of the price asked and received for manufactured goods and for raw material. The so per cent re-
 nainder of price is admittedly high, but is excused on the ground that labor costs more, that leather like everything else, is rising in response to imitation, and for the final reason that "business is disorganized.
 Attention was called to a statement issued a few days ago by J. Franklin McElwaine. President of the National Boot and Shoe Manufacturers ASso- ciation, which has its headquarters ln Boston. In this MT. McElwaine said the shoe manufacturers of the United States "deplore the unprecedented advances which have taken place in hides. leather and shoes during the past six months, and each one of us should do his utmost to curb and check the advance and discourage all b11vine of a speculative character both among manufacturers and mer- chants"
 The word "profteer'' is under strict ban in leather circles. The word
 "speculator'' has taken it's place, so when lIr McElwaine talked of curb ing speculators among leather men ne meant profteers. The statement from
 which the plea of Mir McElwalne IS
 taken was made after he had called a
 meeting of his association to discuss
 the alarming advances He professed
 to be much disturbed.
 While even the tanners and middle
 men cannot give accurately in pounds
 or money value the stock of hides and leather goods, including shoes,
 held for shipment abroad, 1t is an ad-
 mitted fact that storehouses are
 packed to the roofs not only here
 but throughout the Middle West. If
 the leather men did know 1t would not be for their interest to divulge the facts, for they would then find 1t
 exceedingly difficult to show the pub e,bn should e listed to sell
 at s25 a pair within a. few months while immense quantities of shoe stocks are on hand.
 It has been suggested that the leather interests hope to so thor oughly reduce these stocks be- tween now and next spring as to be able to then say with truth that high prices are a result of depleted stocks. A Federal inquiry begun now prob ably would result in much more illu- minating findings than if put off until winter has passed.
 A glance at the Governments ex- port tables affecting leather discloses | some interesting facts concerning the | cutgo of feathers. These tables are
 brought down to June 1. The calcu- ! lations for June exports were fur ntshed by John R. Arnold, Chief of | the Foreign Trade Bureau of the | Tanners Cornell.
 During January, February, March | and April, 1919, the exports of leather | totalled s52,5S7,443, against $15. .S67,- | ell for the final months Of 1918. This | is an increase of S36, ,719,S32. The | figures by months were: January, | ss,702,060; February, s9,272, ,902;
 March, $12,ss3,615 and April, s20.- | 72s,s66. In May exports dropped to | S12,S62 SS2, followed by the immense | advance of June. when the total
 reached the record breaking figure 1 of s30,00o,00o. Figures for July are | as yet unobtainable, but it is con- | ceded that they probably will make | a. new high record.
 | Leather folk will be very happy if | the increases go right on, for who | knows but they will be able to force i shoes up to $25 or even $40 pair. | They say the publia has taken the I boosts more stoicaliy than was ex- | pevted. not only in shoes but in all
 lines of leather goods. The fact that ! it now costs from s3.50 to S5 to have | q pair of shoes tapped has not caused | Americans to lose their we'll known | abiIit,r +o ,oaet htrb nriceS with