The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-11-01
By THEODORE H. PRICE. Editor Commerce and Finance.)

Copyright, Theodore H. Price Publish
 fishing Corporation.)
 New York, October 31.-(Sf'ecial)- process of readjustment goes on impeded by the natural resistance of those who are reluctant .o sell their property for less than they had hoped to get for it. In the west the farmers are holding their wheat, in the south they arc refusing to sell their cotton. The average retailer is fighting against the price reductions which show heavy loss on cost Sales are restricted in consequence ana manu- facturers and jobberS find it hard to move good
 These are conditions which try conner cial patience but We all expected them. We know that they cannot last indefinite ly and the more philosophically we accept them the less irritation we shall feel. Some commodities, notably coffee, rub Der and hides. are down to pre-war prices, but large proportion of these articles of our consumption comes from abroad and their cost to us is reduced by the existing premium on the dollar in foreign mar kets In so far as our American crops this year are concerned it seems unlikely that they will decline much more. At all events any further fall in prices will prob ysably be very gradual, and when retailers have succeeded in working off the fall stocks for which they contracted last spring, Mlsiness ought to be on a more stable basis
 FEAR PRICE CUTTING
 Too many retailers and some middlenen also, fear price cutting and their a,yerc- Kant losses as hospital patient fears the Computation of a limb. Yet heroic meas tires are at times necessary, to assure fu- s ture health. When the patient decides to undergo the operation he does not have the limb amputated joint by joint. which would unnecessarily increase his pain and Eprolong his recovery. So in retail trade. Where dealers have cut heroically to the sound basis of replacement vaiues the great buying power of the public has been < quickly made apparent, and cheap goods # are moving in considerably greater quan- Y titles than last year. Tine latest avail 3i able reports of sales of chain store sys- items show increases of 20 to 45 per cent over 1919N The president of the Associa- ton of Retail Clothiers has advised it's members to forget all about profits A brand of muslin which every woman krows has been placed sale by a New York department store at 1c above the present wholesale price, which is one-half of the highest war figure, while few blocks away another store is asking near ly double the price. The first store is jamnedi
 Other lexamples of the efficacy of price cutting are numerous, but most retail CTS still fail to appreciate the obvious fact that farmers whose cotton and wheat nave QeCl1neQ severely are dVerSe to pay ing high prices for goods. Farmers rep resent 40 per cent of the country's pur- chasing power. The industrial and com ,mercial workers who represent the other 60 per cent are equally determined to get more for their money because they have generally followed the advice given them from all sides to reduce their spending in order to bring prices down. Their own ability to buy is also being gradually im- paired by the increased unemployment and wage reductions reported from many centers, including the New England and southern textile districts, Chicago ma ckine shops and Nevada mines.
 REDUCTIONS INEVITABLE
 Wage reductions, however. are in evitable in many industries, notwithstand- ing labor's determination to oppose them vigorously. As long as they lag behind the decline in commodity prices they de- note not less power to purchase goods, but more. Nor has unemployment reached alarming proportions. It un- doubtedy will be checked when those who deal with the public realize that their hope for future prosperity lies in present sacrifice of profits to set the wheels of industry turning and keep the buying ability of the workers unimpaired. A few manufacturers meanwhile are planning to avert further curtalmep4 by selling at retail themselves. an expedient which has been tried before in periods of de-