The Republican journal., 1920-04-29
THE NEW CRUSADERS

which people are compelled TO pay lor
clothing of all kinds. These protests, or
kicks. if we may use that term, seem to
be aimed almost exclusively against the
retailers. Probably the reason for TINS is
that they are within easy reachne ois-
fance. Perhaps some of them deserve
tn he kicked. but inasmuch as there are
kicks enough to give merlted allotment
N all eoual and exact justice demands
that we should make an Impartial De-
stowal thereof. If any considerable and
lasting results are to follow the formation
of these clubs, the wool combine, the cot
ton combine, the manufacturers OF cloth'
the selling agencies, taxation and the
.,bolesalers as we'll as the retailers, must
he made to feel the impact OF the pubhc
boot. Furthermore, if anything worth
while is to be accomplished, the KICKS
must be FREQUENT and vigorous during at
least two OF three years. Ii TINS cluo
movement is to be only a summer tad,
merely a diversion during the silly sea-
son it would be better to amuse ourselves
in some other manner. There IS no douot
that there are many protiteers existing
and getting rich between the shearihg
sheds and the cotton plantations on
ono hand and the pocketbooks of the
nurchasers of clothing on the other
The public, fed on promises, has waited
svo years for the law to protect them
from extortion. 1t is evident that the
law will not be enforced until its enforce
ment is put in charge of some man VINO
will attend to his duties and does not
,,,aste his time and energy in futile efforts
to be nominated for President. The for
nation of these overalls clubs is good
omen. It means that the long suffering
nublic has become tired of setting on the
watchful waiting stool. 1t means that
war has been declared against the high
cost of clothing and this may lead to
revolution against profiteering OF every
sort and finally against extravagant ex-
nenditures of public money. Ii TINS war
AGAINST profiteering in the cost OF cloth
;no is fought hard enough and long enough
= can prohahly largely reduce the cost of
mems wearing apparel. We must not
deceive ourselves by thinking that the
hattie will be over when the retailers are
routed We may as well realize at The
start of this crusade, that at least oo per
cent of the advance in the price OF cloth
inc is due directly or indirectly to tax
atjnD and that three quarters of the other
so per cent is swallowed before the cake
Mate reaches the retailer. Almost every
bodv whose business is the manufacture
and sale of cloth, or who manufactures or
sells clothing, has had to pay largely IN
creased direct taxes, which OF course are
passed along, ultimately, to the Individual
customer, The government has put In
operation an indirect and, as we think,
somewhat reprehensible scheme OF tax
alton which also, in the ultimate, the
consumer has to pay, and this is known
as the f'excess profit tax" AS an illus
tration of how this form of taxation at
fects the price OF clothing we give the
following, which is embodied in an ad-
dress of VIM. M. Wood, President of the
American Wooden Company, delivered to
the National Association of Clothlers,
few weeks ago. He said his company
was operating 54 mills in New England
and New York and was employing 400
people and that the taxes paid to the
government were almost two-thirds as
much as the amount paid for wages. He
also said that the nominal profit left to
the company was some less than halt the
amount paid to the government as taxes.
In order to make the situation clear let
us suppose that the average wage of these
40, 600 employees was Sis week. This
would make the total wages S3l, 200 600.
TwG-thirds of this is $40, 8OU,O0O and
would 60 to the government as taxes,
while about $l0,O00,0O0 would 60 to the
mill owners as their profits. Whether
the average wage named IN our n.y.
pothesis is wide of the mark does not
hdGleI, DuI Cuele Is SoLuCIhihs III ChO
statements of Mr. Wood which leads to
at least a suspicion that the government
and the woolen mills are in profiteering
combine on FL basis, and that the more
the mill owners extorted from the public
the more profitable it would be to both.
1t would not be q great surprise to us to
learn that the government and the cotton
mill owners were boosting prices in the
same way, but as far as we are at present
Informed, no cotton manufacturer has
had the courage to stand up and make
public confession. Under the circum-
stances indicated above of course the
price of clothing is high and the price
will remain high till the wasteful expen-
diture of public money is stopped and the
laws against graft and profiteering are
enforced. We hope the overalls and the
old clothes clubs will place the blame for
high prices where it belongs and will
carry the war against high prices into its
strongholds. With that understanding
we are ready to place an order for suit
of denim.