The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1919-09-10

very true that prices will be higher or the merchant may have iufOrna- ton which leads him t1 believe that 'hcy will From his point of view, it IS good business and good udvertiss- ing, and we have no intention of critiCising him. Nevertheless. we doubt whether the majority of Hart ford merchants wish to place their interests before the general public in tcrests, when a divergence in the re- spective interests becomes likely. The editorial to which we have reference makes it clear that while individua: merchants are sincere and weTI-ucan- ing, the tendency of a "Buv-NOvv'' ToliCy is to increase the demand i'm torial in The Times of Saturday. The editorial depreCates the Buy Now" movement promoted generally by merchants throughout the country. and concludes with the sensible re- flection that 'it Is time to put on the
 brakes"
 Without wishing in the slightest to
 criticize any merchant in Hartford
 and admitting cheerfuHy that any
 member of this committee might sincerely pursue the same policy if he
 were conducting a store. we submit
 that the editorial in question is amply
 Illustrated by a perusal of the recent
 advertising columns of the newspaper
 in question.
 Buy furs Saturday," says one ad- vcrtisement You will save cOnsid- erably if you buy now"
 'AnOther states that customers may pay one-third of the value of the furs and the balance in Octo-
 Der.
 Another store makes the assertion
 in conspicuous 1S-point type: silks
 will be higher |" Buy while you have the chance of low prices If such statements mean any thing they mean that prices will be ! higher than they are in-other words. ! just what they say. Now, it may be . mediately. The retailer himself is obliged to buy more goods. Pres ently the wholesaler boosts his prices accopding to the law of supply and demand1 the retailer Is compelled to boost hfs. and the consumer is con l fronted by a further increase in the cost of H~ing, at the end of what { the editorial terms the vicious 1 circle
 I've will not go so far as to say ! that in many cases the consume CT , would not be wise in buying now. l Our point is merely that he should 1 not buy articles which he does moi need, simply because he is told to do 1 so. NO merchant whom we have in ] mind would place himself on record 7~ urging cuetomers to buy articles : of any description unless he actually needs them. We do not anticipate that any merchant will find reason . for resentment in our remarks. Any one who finds that the coat fits is | welcome 10 put it on. We gre con-
 fident that the public will see the
 point of our advice. and will under . stand the spirit in which it is of- { offered.
 "we are reluctant to believe that l the interview with Food Administra- | tortor S-oviIia, published in the Cou- rant Saturday, represents Mir. Sco- 1 viIle's attitude towards our work. Our ! Information ,~ that MT. Scoville gave | the interview ever the telephone from ! his home at Taconic. We believe | there must i've been some misunder- | standing, possibly oacssiOned by tha | fact that our publicity was read in ! part 10 him over the telephone and | that he did not sec 1t in toto. We can
 assure 8fr, Scovilis that it has beer
 no part of our campaign to urge peo- | pie to hoard money. OF to adopt a | hostile attitude towards merchants On tho contrary, we have urged peo- 1 pie ,, t to hoard. but to invest theii ] money in conservative securities