Arizona republican., 1920-10-03
RYDER DISCUSSES LOCAL CONDITIONS AS AFFECTED
 BY GENERAL MARKET

treme regret that I have noticed now and then that some Eastern concern has come out in a fashion that I would call grand stand play in an effort to deceive the public. You know and 1 know that no mon- ster mail order house has been do- ing business on such monstrous profit that they can afford to re- duce material prices 60@o or any such fabulous figure. think when the public reads such a statement that they give no more considera- ton to the matter than they give serious considerat ton to the overall fad or to the discussion of "wheth- CT women should smoke cigarettes or not" If the big department store ip the East which started with the Big noise of a 20eo reduction got a million dollars worth of advertising from their effort and reduced their overhead selling cost 15ao because of the increasing volume of sales they have been considered to have made a good investment, BUT is he selling today the goods at the 20eo reduction he advertised, and if he is, and if that wholesale house
 has reduced any article 60So. what are you and to think of the profits they were making before the reduc- tions were made? If there are any laws to prosecute profiteers then believe some of these grand stand
 playing big boys" should have it on their trail. On the other hand, let us refer to Marshall Field & Co.. which is generally considered to be the greatest merchandising estab- lishment in the world.
 They sell quality goods of stan- dard varieties and arc fully legiti- mate in every sense of the word. There has been no grand stand play on their part and on the oth- CT hand as the opportunity affords itself to present a lower price on this article or that article, they will make the reduction on that article . or the other, but will make no grand stand play about the trend of conditions until 1t has assumed
 large enough proportions to be
 termed trend"
 In our stores and other stores about town you are asking when
 the reduction in the price of clothes
 will effect the retail price. You
 have heard that a $100 suit was thrown on the market at the Madi-
 son Square sales in New York for s39.34. or some other ridiculous fig
 ure. Have you stopped to consider that what is thrown on the market there is such stuff as your mer- chants here would not think of sell
 ing to you and is such stuff as has been returned by carloads to manu- facturers, who in turn have dumped N on the market in this wholesale fashion in New York. You are hear. ing daily of bargains here and bar gains there. In my opinion the man who sells bargains every day is of fering no bargains at all. The time when bargains are created in T store is when the store is in need of immediate cash. or when they are unloading an overstock or when | they arc cleaning out lines of mer- | chandise. Theses amazing slaugh ters of prices, which are made l every da- in the year by some peo- | plc. and which are now excused in | the effort to smash the high cost of | living, still leave a percentage for l overhead expenses and also a good | " margin of profit. And when the 1 overhead costs in the profits arc | still added to the cost of the article l I can't be convinced that the offer l ing is a bargain. As an illustration 1 as to why merchandise cannot be
 sold at such terrible slaughter
 prices on no notice whatever, let me
 cite that if a merchant pays $50 for | suit and let us imagine that his l overhead and profit amounts to $f0, 1 ii would be important for him to
 sell that suit for less than s60 If
 he did. how in this big world would
 he remain in business2
 Make a little inside view into the | clothing market as was and as is.
 A year ago when there was a scare
 ity of clothing as well as furnish l ing goods when we placed our or
 ders with the manufacturers for
 goods at a certain price we had no
 assurance of receiving them at all,
 or at the price we purchased them.
 Before they shipped they possibly would tell us that labor troubles had | caused them to pay more for the | manufacture and they would there
 fore require us to pay 15so addi- | tional for the goods. In order to | get them to serve you we were forced to pay these additional prices You in turn were called on to pay us. but the merchants were | in no ways to blame for the situa-
 tion. Second. when a merchant went 1 back East to buy he stood in line in the eastern manufacturers plant | and was told if he was a customer 1 he would be given some goods and
 if he was not a regular customer he
 would get none. Third, a year ago | if a merchant wanted to cancel any | order for goods he was thanked by | the manufacturer and the manu . l facturer smiled because he was go- | ing to make 30eo or 40fo more by
 selling to someone else. This year, l however, the manufacturers are | trying to compel us to accept their l goods az the prices at which they
 were purchased. Fourth. the goods | which the retailers have been able
 to return to the manufacturers have
 for some reason or other been
 dumped on the eastern markets
 and it is this refused clothing which
 is being represented as having come
 down. Fifth. when you read an ar | ticle which tells of the fact that
 price of manufacturing on all mate | rials have gone down. remember l that this is on goods that will not
 be on the list before spring or later
 and remember that the goods on
 the shelves and the racks of the l Phoenix merchants are those goods | which were made months ago.
 Let us all down here in the South
 west be calm and remember that
 the merchants of Phoenix are more l interested in giving you lower prices
 if it is possible than you are your
 selves in 1etting these low prices | We are in the midst of a time of
 readiustment and I personally am
 in the very great hope that this re-
 adjustment will see a lowering of | prices which will effect us here in l Phoenix not later than next spring | Let us always put our cards right
 straight up on the table so that
 there can be no questioning Of our | wah.s ana means and motives There