Great Falls daily tribune., 1919-02-02
FALLING PRICES NOW

FALLING PRICES NOW
The movement downward in commodities was
accelerated considerably last week. In the
wholesale commodities market report % con1mo-
dities marked a lower price, and they included
MANY Of the most important staples, while only
IA marked a rise and these were mostly OF less
general Importance as staples The Springfield
Republican in noting the crumbllng OF the hlgn
cost Of living prices says: Insofar as the cruA
of the present trade situation is prices, 1t can be
said that the high price structure IS gradually
crumbling. For nine weeks running price feceS-
sions have outnumbered advances. Last week ~
the commodities market there were 30 declines
as against ii advances. There has been recently
notable fall in prices Of dairy products IN both
Chicago and New York. The mild winter and
uninpeded railroad traffic have something TO do
with this development but peace conditions are
beginning to have marked effect. The drop IN
corn prices means lower prices for All food an
imals fed on corn; beef, hogs and sheep are tend
ing downward and the best eggs at New YORK
are Is cents a dozen less than a year ago. Cloth
ing is also going downward. At no time since
the civil war have such sharp cuts IN the price
Of cotton textiles been reported as during the
past week in general the prices dropping thlrd
from the maximum Of 1918 in the effort q the
mills to start new buying movement and to
keep the mill hands employed With prices tall-
ing for the necessities Of life, there will be fewer
labor troubles over wages which IN most trades
cannot be maintained at war levels.
The question that interests every business
man and waqe-earner Is how far this price re-
|
keen up. Neither the business man or the wage
Garner really wants il TO 60 much further At
present It means loss to the business man on
his stock Of goods purchased at higher price
! level It means gain TO the Wage-earner II II
n does not 20 To the extent Of reducing ms wage
It is evident that this result is inevitable II price
reduction proceeds to the point where there =
no profit left to the manufacturer at the present
labor cost Of production. Then one q two Things
must inevitably happen. Either the producer OF
manufactured goods must shut down and stoT
loss by stopping production, or he must produce
cheaper. and that means either more work fol
a dollar or cheaper wage scales. Some indus
tries are already Up close to this problem and VIZ
guess some have already reached il, That il
shv w sav that further reduction in the cos
living or tne DilCe VI SolilIiiodl1lS9 I 1o pal
ticuIar moment il not desired by either the busl
ness man or the wage-earner who is fully posteC
IN economic laws and how they work out anC
their results.
FOR that reason We will all watch with jnteres
the wholesale prices as they move back an(
forth, particularly those prices that affect Mon
tana products. These are copper, wool grains
AGRICULTURAL products, cattle, sheep and swine
These with gold and silver lead and zinc anC
some other mineral PRODUCTS are what Montan;
has to sell chiefly. We are all interested in th
price thev bring whether we contribute Iabo
onlv to their production are directly interested
~ the sale Of the finished product. Of course i
these things could remain high priced while al
other things we consume would decline in prlc
II would be an ideal result from purely seIfisI
noint of view But no such miracle Is to be eN
nected under the reign of economic law, and on
product prices will go UP o. down largely a. othe
nrodncts do under the law Of supply and demand
The demand has fallen off sharply iii recen
weeks Perhaps it will revive somewhat whe
normal peace conditions obtain once more i
Furope. That will stop the downward trend o
nrices in some Of our products we have To sci
nerhaps. and tend to our further prosperity an
stability of wages. Let It's hope it will be *
High cost of living is not an unmixed blessin
or curse.