The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1919-09-25
WHOLESALERS
ARE TRYING TO
BREAK PRICES
Realize Public is Getting Tired
and Won't Stand Profiteer-
ing, Says Sanborn.
BY WILLIAM r. SANBORN

Having just happily learned that
one may buy an "adorably simple
frock" of brick duvetyn, at retail In
Chicago, for the nominal sum OF $215,
we hasten to spread the tidings. 1t
Is comforting to know how far little
money will go in thrifty buying. Ger
tainly, some gowns are even cheaper,
as witness a fine spun silk crepe at
only $3.50, and a mignonette silk en-
bellished with tinsel, at $165.
But lest we forget, we will at once
cite the great saving in costumes for
school misses, to be obtained at an
other store. These tricotine dresses
are so absurdly cheap that we hesitate
to say that they are only $3.50, and
that a winters supply for any school
girl can be bought for few hundred
dollars.
And thus is the H. c. L. being re-
duced in Chicago-and elsewhere, so
why worry?
Local merchants tell US that the
present is a sellers market" and
doubtless this is true. Merchants
have to pay whatever manufacturers
agents and wholesalers ask, for all
kinds of fabrics, and then be satisfied
with their allotted share on date or
shipment
Useless to argue about price, they
say-it is take 1t or leave 1T. This
condition cannot long endure. The
end, we believe, is already In sight,
but not while feverish buying for the
coming spring persists. There Is In
deed hating here and there by the
conservatives, which as yet are seem
ingly5 few in number.
The Peak of Prices.
The feeling that we have attained
the peak Of prices in our climb for
profits, is sanely spreading. Unques'
tionably so. 1t is not expected, or
hoped. that we shall have a quick, pre-
cipitous decline, but gradual easing
down to accessible levels, as the high
cost goods are distributed, without
serious loss, but at much less profit
than now realized.
This must come some time, and the
earlier the decline begins, the greater
will the public benefit. 1t is only fair
to state that retailers are anxious for
lower prices, and to be able to buy the
lines they wish in the quantities de-
sired, with the assurance of complete
delivery at time specified.
The outlook for an active fall bust
ness was never better. What effect
the present strike may have can not
be foretold, but that it will cheaper
production or lower prices is most I'M
likely. Wages are high and money is
still plenty, the country over, so far
as the toiler is concerned.
There IS an actual shortage OF
skilled workers in the needle and shoe
trades, so manufacturers claim, and
also in the weaving plants. Produc-
ton has also been lessened by fewer
hours of work at the mills. None OF
these factors portend or promise lower
costs, but the people are gradually
showing a conservative tendency in
their buying, and consumption Will
thus be curtailed. Enough is enough
they will draw the line somewhere as
tc what they will stand in profiteering
At the recent convention Of the Ma
tional Association of Retail Clothiers
in Chicago, a reduction in the price OF
clothing in the early future was free
ly predicted. Lower prices are on
the way" said one large southern re
taller. Men can't be induced to part
with SIS or $50 for business suit"
The principal reason for the pres
ent high prices is the cost of labor,
he said, referring to yarn spinners
weav,ls and garment workers. His
statement that what prCfter1ng there
is in the clothing business, we intend
to stop" was applauded by the SOC
present.
The Price of Shoes.
The owner of one of the largest shoe
stores in Washington, the highest cost
city in America, informs compression
al committee:
at is abs. 1utely necessary to add
a selling profit of 40 per cent in order
10 enable the shoe retailer to make as
much as the brick layer.
Just why merchant should want
to make as much as a bricklayer OF
carpenter, he did not explain, but We
infer chat he could use the money. II
was admitted that the excess profit tax
and the income tax paid by the shoe
men, had been first deducted as an
expense and that their net profit repre-
scented money upon which these taxes
had already been paid. This Wash
ington dealer made this statement:
She, retailers invariably mark
their goods up &C % per cent above
cost. ard this realizes them 40 per cent
on the selling price" The witness