The Columbus dispatch. (Columbus, Miss.) 19??-1922, 1920-03-21
MERCHANTS ASK
CHANGE IN ORDER
MISSISSIPPI MER CHANTS
SENT LARGE DELEG-
ALTON TO THIS
CITY.
MEETING FRIDAY
Ask Modification OF Margin OF
Profits List Issued BY Fair
Price Commissioner;
Present Arguments.


Forty Mississippi merchants from
various points in the State came to
Columbus Friday and appeared before
Fair Price Commissioner Thomas j.
Locke, asking for notifications in the
margins of profit list issued by the
commissioner a week ago.
The delegation was headed by Mr..
X. E. Remington, a well known mer-
chant of Jackson and Hon, Oscaf
Johnston of Clarksdale
The hearing was held before Com
missioner Locke in the council cham
Der of the city hall. The merchants
arrived from various points in the
State over the noon trains and were
escorted to the Gilmer hotel by COM
mittee of Columbus citizens. Here
they held a private conference among
themselves before appearing before
the commissioner.
Certain notifications of the profits
order were asked for, and arguments
in support of these requests were
presented. Selling price rather than
cost price as the basis of figuring
profits was the main point presented
at the conference. The merchants also
asked that profits be fixed on certain
lines Of merchandise only up to a GER
tain figure, pointing out that when
prices were paid above a certain fig.
ure that the article became a luxury
and is not regarded as a staple.
In other words they asked for free
reign on the high priced articles, and
pledged their hearty cooperation ir
the matter of holding prices down on
the staple commodities of life.
Mr.. r. E. Remington was the
spokesman for the delegation. He
prefaced his remarks by stating that
the merchants came before the COM
missioner in the spirit of co-opera-
ton and with the desire to cooperate
with the government in every way
possible to lower the cost Of living
He presented the schedule of modi-
fications asked for which had been
prepared at the pre-hcaring confer
ence, and explained the various items
therein.
Mr.. Remington stated that the
merchants association of Mississippi
stands ready to cooperate actively
with the Commissioner for their own
protection, and to see that every mer-
chant in every community complied
strictly with the orders of the com
missioner. He submitted that the
merchant would be in position, bet
ter than anyone else, because of the
keen competition, to keep a line on
the situation in the matter of check
ing violations Of the orders.
Mr.. Remington was followed by
Mr.. j. L. Seavey of Brookhaven, who
made a forceful appeal to the com
missioner to grant the notifications
asked for in the order in simple JUS
tice to the merchants Of Mississippi,
He said that to enforce certain pro-
visions of the margins of profit order
would mean disaster to the mercantile
interests of Mississippi.
Hon. Oscar Johnston Of Clarksdaie
submitted to the commissioner data
on conditions peculiar to the Delta
section and asked for certain modih-
cations in respect to that community.
He pledged the hearty cooperation of
the people of the Delta section and
assured the commissioner that his
people stand ready to render all the
help possible in the campaign to lower
the cost of living
The principal items asked for in
the modification schedule we're: Won
ems shoes selling from So TO $l2, 35
per cent profit; above $l2, forty per
cent; mems straw hats, flat margin
of 40 per cent; ladies' and children's
hats selling up to $5, 33 l-3 per cent;
from S. to SIS, forty per cent. They
asked that no price be fixed for hats
above SIS, contending that hats above
class. On STAPLE items Of merchand-
Use not included in the above list the
this figure passed into the LUXURY
merchants asked that fiat margin Of
25 per cent on selling price be allow
ed, and 40 per cent on fancy lines not
mentioned in the price list issued by
the commissioner.
Mr. Locke, at the close Of the con-
rprpure assured the visitors that fhair