Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1920-09-24
Countrywide CUT
IN PRICES BEGINS
General Reduction Expected Fol-
lowing Action of Cotton Mills
and Auto Makers.

New York. Sept. 24-Gencral belief
that the peak Of high prices has been
passed and that the direction of the curve
Is now downward was expressed yester-
day hy business men in many cities of the
country following further announcements
of price reduction, after the original an
nounecmcnt by Henry Ford and the cut
in price Of It's cotton products 10y the Amos
kcag Manufacturing Company.
The III. III. Franklin Manufacturing
Company, manufacturer of the Franklin
automobile WAS the first of MIR. Ford $
competitors 70 follow his lead, and an
anounccd cuts in the price of ITS cars OF
from IL To n per cent.
Two oi the largest mail-order houses
in the world, Sears, Roebuck d Co:
and Montgomery Ward y Co.. both of
Chicago. announced substantial reduc-
INNS IN many lines of merchandise. Tho
lst included mems and womens cloth
ing. shoes, furniture and few staple
fuodstuns
How soon the consumer might expect
to benefit directly and the high cost
az living cut "a the average citizen was
"A matter of speculation. There was n
general AGREEMENT that the consumer
would benefit eventually, but could not
expect ~ gct the iuil advantage of the
Wholesale reductions at once
The consumer was expected 20 bcne-
III first in lower prices for clothing
and other manufacturers of textiles, at
the reductions IN the textile trade have
hccn more marked than IN any other.
Lower clothing prices are not looked tor
until next spring In other manuiac-
turcd textile goods further retail rcduc-
tlons may be looked for earlier.
4 al. L. sf,ff 70
country showed that substantial retail
price reductions had taken place or were
expected the tendency toward lower prices
having been N effect IN some cities for
several months. because OF an increasing
tcndcticy ON the part of the public To
refuse a. buy ANYTHING but necessities.
The general view of business men was
that this was the haSlc reason for the
recent wholesale price reductions, and
that the old law of supply and demand
was operating "a produce lower prices
hy a decrease IN the demand for nearly
every kind of manufactured goods. In
thIs particular situation the decreased
demand seems to have been caused 10y
the pfusal of the retailer 10 buy from
the wholesalers or manufacturers, which
was due m turn to the slowncsS with
Which the public bought from the re-
taIlcrs
The result has bccn that large unsold
stocks ~ goods remain with the manu-
incturrs, neCCssltatIng either the stop
page of the factories or sale At a lower
hrwc Onc more cotton mill IN New
England was reported TO have decided to
g. GA three DAYS week schedule be-
cause oi lack Of orders.
Although few business men could be
found to say that the wear your old
clothes and "ovcrall.' campaigns had
had ANYTHING 10 do with the reduction IN
tcxtIlc prices. II was admitted that the
WEAKNESS of the public in purchasing had
made retailers cautious about buying re-
placements for their stocks and that the
r,sult had been IN many instances the &C
cumuation of large amounts of manu-
featured goods IN the hands of the manu-
factuIers.
lev Hahn, managing director of the
National Retail lTy Goods Association,
sald retail merchants had been delaying
purchases recently IN the hope of q
shakedown which would result of lower
prices, and expressed belief that the
present price reduction movement would