Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1920-07-29
|HUCKSTERS DENY
BOOSTING PRICES
Curb Dealers Say Wholesalers
Force Costs Up by Hold
ing Food Stocks
REFUTE LOAFING CHARGE

City hucksters are indignant at
charges that they work ono day and
Ioaf one dsy." They also assert they
are not responsible for the differences
between wholesale and retail prices o'
vegetables.
William T.. Walsh. president ot the
PHILADELPHIA Curb Market Mems AS
sociation. today made n counter accuSa
tiou against certain commission mer.
chants, who, he says. II they cannot
ret ton prices for produce. hold IT. ana
let ,it rot, rather than sell 1t at lower
prices.
81 won't say that this class Of wharf
merchants predominates. said Mr'
Walsh. "but I will say there are many
Of them. and that the very ones VINO
have been attacking the hucksters r''
Gently are nothing moro nor less than
profiteers in this way; A.,
..Tbey do not buy their stuff from IN"
South or from farms of PENNSYLVANIA or
New Jersey. but buy 1t at the wharV"S
and resell VI Mt large proht lns!
base their selling price only on tn'
scarcity Of the article.
"Other wharf merchants. and thahE
fully they are in the majority Keep !"
close touch with the public through us
me nuCKSIPTS. anu " wv " '''''''
4 certain article will not bring proht
A. the pricc they are asking they VIII
come down in price. rather than lot us
70 away without buying. As result, ,
these fellows are cleaned out every nlGht
while the other man has stock ac"umu
latine.
"Charges that we work one day and
loaf the next arc all bunk. II wc can
not get a certain vegetable at reason q
able price. and that very often occurs
we do not take that particular vegetable
on our DAYS route. ACCORDINGLY. Som'
days We start out with only six or
eight articles instead Of ten or doHcn.
but we 60 out daily If it is possible to
get any stock at all.
"Our hours arc from o'clock in the
morning until q o'clock in the after
noon, and it is steady, hard work. Some
Of the commission merchants VINO nave
been attacking us work only from ! a.
M. until noon.
Denies Huge Profits
"As for tho prices which have been
quoted as showing that We nr" pr"htPer'
ING. they arc misleading. som" arc ab .
aolntely false such a. tho rharg" that
A huckstcr made S31 on thirty baskets
of tomatoes. ! challenge any one to hhl
a case Of such profit aS that. some OF
the unusually low prices quoted oDH th'
commission merchants in their charge,
are OH vegetables which no one Wnu'd
buy. and which are distinctly l3'fo
rate. 1t Is unfair to compare tn" pr!'r'
charged by huckstcrs with thoS" OF rot
ting tomatoes and yellow curumo"r'
and bad cantaloupes in the WHOLESALE
markets. Persons going ther" to bu'
produce never buy such things. am
they are only sold when the canning
season starts.
'.The huckstcrs of Philadelphia sci
their goods az chcaply as they can. tax
ing into account the wages of IN
driver. his assistant. tho upk""p OF
horse, and other continually incrrasin
costs. ] tell my men to sell at lowe
prices rather than bring a load or an,
part of n load of vegetables back.
Z j. to my advantage. a well uS to tina
of the public.
"Can the commission merchants. wh'
wait until an article is scare" aud thcT
boost prices. say as much: They know
that they can always dispose Of thei
goods TO expensive retail houses and no
tells, so they do not worry abut hurk
stcrs. but in doing as they do they arr
making the public suffer.