The Parisian. (Paris, Tenn.) 1907-1962, 1920-01-16
PRICES -
NO HIGHER THAN
BEFORE THE WAR
Measured In Commodities Or Labor,
They Are In Some Instances
Cheaper.
MOST PEOPLE FIGURE
THIS ONLY IN DOLLARS
Luther C.. Humphreys Makes Few
Comparisons and Gives Figures
To Prove Assertions.

For the past few days newspaper
reports have been stating that the
retail prices of mems clothing were
to be higher for the coming season.
No changes in style or color of the
fabrics are predicted, but rather it is
declared that conservatism both as to
cut and color of next seasons wear
ing apparel will predominant. Nine
ty percent of the cost of a suit of
clothes is contributed by labor, it is
stated, since the supply of wooden
cloth is on the increase.
In an interview with Luther c..
Humphreys, f the firm of Humphreys
Bros. & Foster, clothiers, of this city,
regarding the high price of clothes,
Mr.. Humphreys said;
"Most people seem to think clothes
prices are high. Measured in the
number of dollars it takes to pur-
chase a suit they are. But measured
in the prices of things which the pro-
Queer has to sell, or in the wages paid
for service performed they are no
higher than they were before the war.
All manly liloJaIlICoJ Gto q ili0LbCl VI
fact, they are not so high.
Compare clothes prices, for in
stance, with that of corn, the great
American money crop. In 1914 the
farmer had to haul fifty bushels of
corn to market in order to get the
money to pay for a $25 suit of cloth
els. Now he can get $50 suit and
a $40 pair of shoes for his fifty bush
els of corn,
st may be that he doesn't haul
corn to market but feeds it to his
hogs. On December Both, 1914, he
had to sell 400 pounds of hogs at the
top price of the Chicago market to
get the money to pay for $25 suit
4Snd a SO hat. On December Both,
1919, if he sold 400 pounds of hogs
at the top price of the Chicago mar
ket he came within SO of receiving
the money to buy $50 suit and
there have been long periods in the
last two years when he would have
got from $50 to 1872 for his 400 lbs.
of hogs.
"If, on December 30th, 1914, he
marketed thousand pound corn-fed
steer at the top price of the Chicago
market he got $3.50 for it. If he
marketed it on December 30th, 1919,
for The top price he got $195 for it
enough to buy pretty nice
outfit Of clothes even at present pri-
ces.
wheat is raised in very wide Sec
tions Of the country. Official govern
ment reports tell us that the average
farm value of wheat on November l,
1914, was n cents a bushel. The
farmer who sold fifty bushels of it
got $3.50, or just about enough to
buy $25 suit, a SIS pair of shoes,
So hat, two or three good shirts, and
then some handkerchiefs. The farm
value of wheat on November 1, 1919
was $2.13 bushel and the farmer
who sold fifty bushels at his home
station received $10650, or enough
to buy him a fine $50 suit ard a big
thick overcoat If farmer happens
to live in the northwest and to have
held his wheat until now he can get
somewhere near So bushel for grain
of good quality.
"You may think the Northwest is
particularly favored territory but let
US look at the South where we raise
cotton. We all remember how in the
fall of 1914 the "huy bale of cot
ton" campaign was on TO save the
producer from ruin
The price of cotton IN 1914 was
down to 6 cents q pound for time,
but that's hardly a fair comparison.
Let's go back to November l, 1918,
when the average farm price was 13