The Washington herald., 1920-03-01
How Detroit Cut
Liuing Cost uith Their Stores
tBy a stas Cerre.pe.a..,..

1sS16 SSo =
tBy q STAG CerrespeaAen.,
Detroit, Mich. Feb. 2s.--In this
town somebody Is always trying to
start something. Sometimes II Is
finished. and again 1t Is not. of.en
It Is snowy business done for sdvsr-
tising purposes. Occasionally It Is
pulled on In the dark with the fer
vent hope that Il will never see the
light OF day. Again It may be con-
sidered commonplace and II escapes
public attention. In the latter cat
egory shall be placed one OF >ne
most marvellous enterprises which
has lately become q part Of the
country's complex Industrial life.
| Last September with the mount
ing cost of necessities and with the
government refusing to increase
the small wages Of the members OF
the Railway Maintenance OF Way
Employees and Shop Laborers, with
! headquarters in Detroit, a move
ment was started by this organI<a-
tion which bids fair to revolution
ice the system of barter and trade.
With the majority of the members
| in receipt Of an average salary OF
$3.50 a year something had to be
done. it was felt by Grand President
A. f. Barker. Assistant Grand Pres
ident o. c. Trask and others. To
make up for the indeauate income
the officers decided that they would
try to provide commodities much
under the present cost. A start
was made in a small way. but .he
business has so increased that 1t
threatens to sweep everything be-
fore it.
Went Into Market.
At first the officers went Into open
market and bought at wholesale or
from Jobbers such things as under
wear. gloves and minor articles OF
wearing apparel. The demaLd.
however. increased so fast that
branching out, became q necessity,
and thus today the organization
owns five factories, is planning TO
buy more. and figures on establish
ing a national bank in oraet 10
more readily finance. its own enter
prises, as we'll as to obtain an OPP
portunity to invest its own funds.
ANY one of the $4,000 members
who incidentally threatened to go
on a strike ten days ago may buy q
tailor made suit of clothes all the
way from $50 to S6s, where from
the tailors in their own town they
would have to fork over" from 10
to Sl25 for similar goods. The ash
pit man or the section hand may
send In his measurement and get
by return mail a pair Of overalls for
tS2fs and for which his retailer asks
$3.50.
I Maintenance OF way employees
perhaps use up more gloves and
mittens than any other class or Ia
Dor in the country. 1t is quite an
item. BY buying IL from his own
store" he saves from 10 to 20 cents
a pair. He will save 10 to IL cents
on an ordinary can of peas or from
! 8 to 10 cents net il he clubs in with
his feIIow-workers or other union
men. So il Is all the way down the
line.
Cheaper Than In Washington.
While I was in the Office OF the
president a carload OF apples came
in from Maryland. They were fne
apples, too: such as sold in wash
Z al q
sides by Maryland orchards. ror
about $3.50 to Sc a bushel. Mem
bers of the craft in Detroit could
get all they wanted for $3.50 a
bushel.
A carload of -four went from De-
troit to Chicago the same day. the
commodity to be sold there at sl.S0
a bag Of twenty-five pounds. Simi-
lar -four was sold as leader in
one of Detroits biggest stores the
day before at S2.27.
How do we do it?" repeated o.
c. Trask, in charge of the purchas-
ing and selling department. 1t Is
no secret. We simply buy as low
or lower than anybody else, then
sell at cost to our members. We do
not aim to make penny on our
purchases. but are prepared to stand
a loss, IL necessary, although we do
not look forward to such a turn OF
affairs.
AT first we had some trouble in
being able to buy from certain
manufacturers. They were afraid
to sell to us for fear that they
would lose the trade of the retail
ers throughout the country. Then
hurdles in various ways were en-
countered, but these were gradually
overcome when we planked down
the cash and bought in larger guam
titles than any wholesaler or job
ber. Then there was another Oh
lection. Manufacturers pointed out
to us that no similar enterprise had
ever succeeded. We persuaded them
to take a chance. Where opposition
developed we took the bull by the
horns and bought first the crtire
output of certain factories. and
later the factories themselves. IN
this connection it might be pointed
out that we did not disturb work
ing conditions in the factories we
took over. All employees were re-
tanned, and in a glove factory which
we bought in Toledo, the president
of the old company is our general
manager.
Says Jobbers, Not Retailers, Cause
High Prices.
"we have the same feeling TO-
wards producers generally and also
towards retailers. We are gradu-
ally putting the retailers out Of
business, but we don't want to.
They are not the greatest prof.
teers. This distinction goes to the
jobbers, and there lies the main
trouble. If jobbers should not fig
ure some wholesaler makes extor-
tionate profits. 1 know, because l
h a va had dealinps with nil of thsYn