The labor journal. [volume] (Everett, Wash.) 1909-1976, 1920-06-04

IN DRESS GOODS
Is ENORMOUS
(By Neil Burkinshaw)

| nous prOflteering in women's dress
goods was revealed today by w. Jett
Lauck, consulting economist of the
! railroad unions, in a survey submitted
the United States Railroad Labor
Board
"In the majority of dress goods
of all kinds" said Mr.. Lauck, profits
are absorbing approximately half
the price paid by the consumer"
In support of his profiteering
charges, Mr.. Lauck submitted au-
thoritative figures showing the divis-
ion of cost and profits in such we'll
known goods as unbleached cotton,
printed percales, blue denim, wash
satin, georgette crepe and fancy
wooden suitings.
In the case Of unbleached cotton,
which is the basis of most cotton
fabrics, the survey shows that be-
tween 1910 and 1919 the increase in
the cost of mill labor was only one
and one-ninth cents per yard, the
increase in the cost of all labor plus
mill expense and the salaries of of
tlcials only two cents a yard, while
the retail price increased over twenty
cents, or ten times the increase of
all labor costs.
The survey shows that by far the
largest element in the advance of
retail price, from eight and one
third to twenty-nine cents a yard
was the increase in profit margins.
These show an advance of II cents
approximately six times the in
crease in the cost of labor, salary,
and mill expense. The disparity be-
tween the increase in labor's share
and that of the profiteer, it was
pointed out in the report, is appar-
ent in the fact that the labor item
increased 1l5 per cent while the
mill profit rose 748 per cent. In
other words, the mill profit in 1919
was more than eight times as large
as in 1910. Moreover, the total cost
of producing this basic cotton cloth,
which sold for 20 cents, was only
14A cents.
In the case of printed percale,
Mr.. Lauck's figures revealed the
same unwarranted increase in price,
due chiefly to profiteering. 1t was
shown that whereas the increase in
the share of the price received by
labor amounted to only a cents per
yard and the increase in labor, sal
aries, and mill expense combined to
less than pc cents per yard, the
retail price advanced in 1919. as
with 1910, by Is cents
twelve times the increase in the la
Dor cost and six times the increase
in the combined cost of labor, salar-
les and the mill expense. The in
crease in profit margins alone
to approximately five
times the increase in the share taken
by productive labor Labor and mill
expense together amounted to less
than onesiXth the retail price, or
only Al cents per yard.
The eXorbitant share of the price
being taken today by the profiteer
in the case of blue denim is another
revelation in this comprehensive re-
port. 1t is shown that the entire
cost of producing these denims,
which retailed in 1919 for 80 cents
was only twenty-five and one-eighth
cents yard. pproXimately one
half of the price paid by the con-
sumner went to the profiteer. In
this instance, the same dispropOrtion
between the increase granted to la |
Dor and the increase in price is |
shown. The increase in the labor |
item was only one and one-ninth |
cents and in labor and mill expense
combined only one and one-half cents, |
as contrasted with an increase in |
the retail price of 81 cents per
yard. The total profit margins for
denim are shown to have increased |
by sixteen and three-fifths cents,
to nearly fifteen times |
the increase in labor. The mill own
ers' profits actually increased 600
per cent.
with such instances before the
public" said Mr.. Lauck, "no one
,an continue to attribute the increase |
in prices to increases in wages. |
comes back to the real |
the manufacturer and the |
distributor"
A similar situation is exposed in |
the case of various standard silks, |
such as wash satin and georgette |
crepe. With respect to these fabrics |
the goods is less than half |
NndI Ine consumer Is forced 10 pay. |
Here again, as in cotton goods, the |
of the price received by |
abor has actually decreased, while |
profits show a corresponding in
,rease. 1t is shown that the mill |
cost of georgette and wash satin is
slightly over a dollar and a half a
yard, while retail prices vary from
So 80 to $500 a yard.
'In retailing their goods" said |
Mr.. Lauck, "the department and dry |
goods stores usually add 90 per
cent to the price at which they buy |
from the mill. On fancy silks, espe-
eially those which are greatly af
fected by the change in fashions,
they add 100 per cent or more"
Turning to wooden goods, the re-
port shows that the first step in the
cost of suits and coats is
lue to rampant profittering in the
wooden industry. The profits on
voolens increased more than $50 |
per cent, being more than four
times as great in 1920 as in 1910.
with such facts before u.s." said
Mr.. Lauck, 1--WE are not surprised to
find, in reports published in leading
financial manuals, that the profits
If eight large and representative
.eXtile manufacturing corporations
we're in the years from 1916 to 1918 |