The Pensacola journal., 1919-09-22
Largest Drop Expected in Tex
tiles in Immediate Future if
Middlemen and Retailers Can
Be Held i'm Check.
LANDLORDS ALONE NOW
DEFY PUBLIC OPINION
Rent Burdens Continue Increas-
ing According to Noted Amer
lean Economist, Writer on
Business and Financial AffirS
BY RICHARD SPILLANE

There Is aDunuant PROOF lHe1l tiiS
cost of living is declining. The in
dex figures of the various statistical
agencies show drop in food prices
within the last three weeks.
1t is not pronounced but it is a re-
cession and that is something.
Armour and other larger handlers of
foodstuffs predict lower prices.
That is cheering.
Much larger drops in textiles are
likely than in foods in the immediate
future if middlemen and retailers can
be held in check.
Quite recently in this correspon-
dence the prediction was made that
cotton goods would decline sharply.
Since then raw cotton has slumped
in sensational manner. In the first
week of September cotton futures
showed a loss of nearly $50 points
which means $3.50 a bale. Better crop
prospects and the absence of foreign
buying in the volume expected are the
causes. The fall in the price of raw
cotton must find reflection in the price
of yarns and cloths and in all the ar
ticles of human apparel that come
from the spindle and the loom.
The sale by the government of tex
tile supplies left over from the war
has served to weaken the market for
cotton goods but this is temporary. So,
too. is the sale of foodstuffs from the
government surplus stock accumu-
lated in the war period.
What counts more at the moment
than the sale of the government sup
plies is the sharp decrease In. exports
of butter, eggs, meats and flour on
the one hand and of general material
on the other
There has been a contraction in
every kind of exporting. With foreign
exchange demoralized and no rectifi-
cation in sight Europe cannot afford
to buy except such goods as are of the
most pressing need.
Temporarily this will serve to lower
prices in America and aid in lessening
the pressure of the high cost of living
but ultimately it win result in a loss.
Landlords Are Most Arrogant.
While declines are recorded in food
stuffs and in clothing and further de-
cIines are certain there is one item in
which no recession is evident or likely
until public opinion forces correction.
That is rents. The landlord seems to
be the most arrogant and uncompro-
missing of all the profiteers. He is in
an extraordinarily strong position.
The nation, owing to the stoppage of
building operations in the war period.
is short more than 100000 dwellings.
Owners of tenements. flats and apart
ment houses in the cities flooded with
applicants, have taken advantage of
the situation to advance rents over and
over again.
In New York and other cities ten
[ants, threatened with eviction when
they protest or refuse to pay the
amounts the landlords demand. have
appealed to the courts. Efforts to get
relief by going to near or distant sub
urbs have not been productive of good
results. Speculators were quick to see
the opportunity afforded by the situa-
tion and there has been an unusual
activity in real estate. Men of modest
means who have had the notion they
could escape the city landlord by pur-
chasing a small house in a remote
suburb find that they can buy a fair
$4,000 house for $1,000 or a $4,000 house
for $4,000 and that rental is impoEsi-
BILE except at a figure that is ssagger-
ing to a salaried man or a wage
Garner.
In some communities citizens ere
forming associations to n.tvise the tax
asgesser and tax collector &C the val
Nations placed upon properties ard the
rentals demanded by property owners.
The citizens insist that the r., 'ori.ies
tax the owners on these valuations so
that they be penalized for ~; hardship
they arc inflicting upon the people.
Hundreds of instances lave been
furnished of owners of n certain class
charging 25 or more per cent rentals
to tenants than more humane property
owners of nearby dwellings of the
same character.
The association members point out
that it would be grossly unjust to tax
the property owner who is honest with
the public as heavily as the rapacious
property owner who squeezes every
dollar he possibly can get out of the
public in a time of stress as the pres
ent.
A lot of reforms must come out of
the multitude of troubles that plague
the people today. The looseness and
waste of marketing have made prices
of food far higher than they should be.
The inequality Of our land laws and
the vagaries of our tax methods have
made it possible to exact toll from the
helpless that is oppressive.
Thus far nothing has been done by
nation, state or city to bring correction
of these evils. They are potent ele-
ments OF unrest. Without correction
in distribution costs and in taxation
wrongs living costs can not be brought
down to the level that, is possible and
lust.