The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1920-12-04
NOLAN TELLS
 OF BUYERS STRIKE
(Continued From Page one.)

Continued From Page One.)
 Last year the same thing happen tations on pork in Chicago dropped but l noticed that not long after it was back to it's old level again and l will bet you money (of course in moderate sums) that by the first of February pork will be selling for at least 40 cents a pound, but the pack CTS trust will have protected itself against the possibility of the growth of small independent producers"
 MT. Nolan passed the Times man a newspaper clipping which he said he tore from a daily paper only a few days ago. The paragraph which he called attention to read as follows: "H W. Boyd, head of the Armour Leather Company of Chicago, eclar- ed that leather prices a t the tanner1es and all along the line up to the re- taller of shoes are now too low;
 that they can not go any lower if the wh holeSalerS are to remain in DuSl- ness. He put the profiteering in leather squarely at the door of the re- tailers He indicated that the move ment in the leather trade is so slow, that unless they are cut to stimulate | a movement of the goods, the tanners and shoe manufacturers will have to suspend business altogether"
 Now this is not SOL he went on, T will give you an example. Shoes which We paid $3 a pair for at the factory in 1917, were advanced until I-he price was $9.50 pair. At the factory, mind you, and not nearly as ! good as they were at $3. There have been two or three drops of fifty cents | a pair on those shoes. l have not had quotations on them for few | days but the price has not gone be-
 low SS. There you have it. The factory price forced up over three
 times; now something like a dollar
 drop, and then these fellows say that l it is all the fault of the retailer"
 Tt is no such thing. What has 1 happened is jus. this. These prices
 were forced up by the trusts which
 control the raw materials. They
 made millions of dollars which they
 were not entitled to. It is for theiI | interests now to have a period o1
 rapid buying and so they set in mo- fallen and that they are going tc
 fall more, the newspapers take it uI
 and spread it, and the result is thi: | buyers strike, which has slowed | business down and if continued i: going to hurt everyone, the buyer in | cluded."
 T began business here in 1869 witt my father. We had a falling marke
 then just as we have got now, but i | was very different matter. There wa competition and you could do business
 But now it is different; competition
 has been eliminated from business t'
 a great extent and these trusts no only control the price of basic ma
 terials but they also find way t determine the retail price.
 'It is amazing how a scare vii
 spread and the damage it will do.
 recall an instance here some 25 year ago. One morning the local pape
 came out with a big scare head tha
 there was smallpox in the town | Everyone became alarmed at once
 people stayed out of the town, am hundreds of thousands Of dollars o :. business was lost. As for the facts
 there was just one suspected case | It was taen to the hospital and prov ed to be a mild form of varioloid. There is a similar effect iron ; these scares that are put out con | corning business. There is seld or
 much basis for them and they do
 lot of harm. Of course prices hay . come down some. Very likely the 7 may in time come down some nor , but any one who expects that price are going back to what they were few years ago is crazy. They ca not do it. Those people forget ths the whole world has changed and a
 the world conditions. Even , Sweden, which was a neutral couT try and did not go into the wa , prices are higher by a good deal tha : in the United States today. I kno for I send them there.'
 There is no basis for hard time , There is no reduction. The1 is not a house in Bridgeport hardl
 but what needs painting. There hardly a family but what needs 7 replenish linen or clothing or some = thing. No it is not over-producuo that is causing a depression or wi