Omaha daily bee., 1919-08-30

| llS tlldt tuC lCtdli SioSSiS al
profiteers," said the witness. 81
can show you by our boks that we
are losing money on such staples
as butter, eggs and sugar. Yester-
day l bought IS bags of sugar in
Chicago at a price that will figure
1917 cents a pound at our store.
We will sell this sugar at II cents
per poundA which will be at loss
when you figure the overhead ex-
pense:-
people are more fastidious to-
day than they were five years ago.
The other day colored boy
brought back some pork chops and
complained that they were not from
the inside cut I offered to return
his money and thought we were
going to have a race riot.
Package Goods Expensive.
IF we would go back to the GUS
toms of Is years ago in some things,
we would live better and cheaper.
We used to sell molasses and wing
gar from barrelss but who will buy
them today from barrels? People
will pay 20 cents for an 8-ounce
package of soda crackers, which is
40 cents a pound. They could get
just as good crackers in 6-pound
packages at q cents a pound. There
goods.
They claim that package goods
are more sanitary. Our grandpar-
ents lived longer than people OF to-
day and yet they did not have SAM
tary package goods.
at is easier to sell porterhouse
steak at our store for IS cents a
pound than it is to sell the cheaper
cuts of meat. -,
Every grocer is working hard
himself today behind the counter,
and that shows he is not making
much money. We have. been run
ming at loss for the last two or
three wears. Ninety per cent OF
the grocers can't pay their bills
promptly"
7. ]. Cameron, secretary Of the
! Omaha Retail Grocers' association,
and the Omaha Retail Butchers as
ISOLATION, testified yesterday at the
state food probe in the court house.
that the average Omaha retail gro
GER is so careless about his methods
of figuring expenses and profits that
he is barely eking out living:
]. E. Bryan, vice president OF the
Basket Stores, Inc, testified to the.
| ALLEGED unfair practices among
Omaha wholesalers and jobbers i'll
restraining manufacturers and pro-
ducers from selling direct to Omaha
chain store concerns. Mr.. Bryan
asserted that specific information
of combinations formed against
those who will not maintain certain
fixed prices, has been furnished BY
his company to the Federal Trade
commission.
ITO illustrate the situation" said
Mr.. Bryan, Il will state that week
ago | went to Denver to meet the
sales agent of sugar refinery. He
told me he could not sell us any
sugar because we were in the chain
store business, and that his firm
would get themselves in bad with
the Omaha wholesale grocers if they
sold sugar to- us. We sent repre-
sentative to Chicago, where sugar
broker asked our man if he had
seen the other brokers, and he then
referred our agent to tn Omaha
sugar brokers. There was plenty of
sugar in Chicago at that time, be-
cause we obtained knowledge that
the same broker to whom we had
gone, few days, later sold AZ cars
of sugar to a Chicago chain store
company.
Cameron's Line of Defense.
"Competition among retail groc-
ers is so strong that they are afraid
to raise prices as fast as the whole
salers raise their prices. The retail
ers hold the prices down to the last
minute" was the line of defense Of
fered by Mr.. Cameron, for the re-
tailers. IF these grocersA would
figure into their expenses items of
salaries for themselves and men,
bers of their families who work in
the stores, most of them would
show a loss. If they knew how to
figure profits correctly, they would
make some money"
What Cameron Knows"
"Do you know of anyone who is
saving more money today by prac-
ticing the old principles of economy
you referred to-" asked Mr.. Mum
ger.
Eyes, know several" 'fr. Cam
eron replied.
do you know of any pro6teering |
within the last six months?" the
witness was asked
Il don't know of any. I don't |
think that the word 'profteering' is |
the right word to use. | don't be-
lieve that word describes the condi-
tons. l know of speculation in food !
products, but l would not call it |
prohteering. Take the sugar situa.
ton, for instance. l believe that the
rehners are selling at the regular
average prices, but it seems that
spectators have taken options on