New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1920-05-23
Price Cutting g
Ignored by
Wholesalers
Textile and Shoe Jobbers
and Manufacturers Fail
to Follow Example Set
by Retailers Over Nation

Reduction of prices of many com
mo4ities by retailers throughout the
country has not brought down prices
i'll wholesale and manufacturing cir
cles, according to reports received by
The Tribune from textile and shoe
producing centers.
1t is admitted in some quarters, how
ever, that if the retailers persist in a
lower price campaign and both they
and their customers buy less merchan-
disc than formerly, production will
have an opportunity to catch up with
demand and cause price drops in the
primary market.
Even such a course, some manufac
turers assert, will not prove of lasting
benefit unless raw materials decline in
price and labor will produce more
goods or accept smaller wages for the
present quantity of production.
Wholesalers and manufacturers in
this city are inclined to lay the bur
den of high prices on high wages and
the disposition of workers in all trades
to produce less. In some quarters the
closing of plants is considered to be
the proper answer 10 to demands for
higher wages or shorter working hours
Raw Materials Watched
Manufacturers are now keenly watch
ing the raw material markets and the
temper of the buying public. Evidence
of possible softening in prices of raw
materials is beginning to be apparent
Some of the lower grades of raw wooY
and seven few of the finer qualities
declined last week in the Boston wool
market, when Australian and New
Zealand woods were auctioned.
Raw silk is approximately 40 per
cent lower than in January. and re
Gently the lower grades of hides and
leather dropped about Is per cent: 1t
will be some time, however, before
these declines will be reflected in
prices of finished articles to the con-
sumer.
The point that most manufacturers
consider as all important is that the
rapid rise in prices has been checked
Whether an equally rapid decline will
ensue depends upon such a multitude
Of conditions that conservative think
ers hesitate to venture an opinion.
Limit of SIS on Shoes
Retailers are telling manufacturer
that the public is refusing to pay the
abnormal prices to which some com.
modities have risen. At a conference
between prominent retailers and manu-.
facturers of shoes at the Union League
Club few days ago. it was said that
the retailers told the manufacturers
that SIS was the high water mark al
which footwear will flow easily anc
steadily and that, it was up to the
manufacturers to produce shoes tha,
will sell below that figure. Some
factories are considering using cheaper
grades of leather to meet the demand
for lower-priced shoes
The first widely announced price
reduction in mems clothing at whole
sale for the coming fall season came
yesterday, according to the "Dail,
News Record" from the Baltimore
firm of Strouse & Bros, in an ap.
proximate 10 per cent cut on it's fall
lines to retailers. Smaller manufactu
rers in New York and Rochester are
understood to have reduced prices or
spring and summer clothing because
of an overproduction resulting from
cancellations on late deliveries.
Reports from textile and shoe pro.
(csPunusd On pass threel