Free trader-journal and Ottawa fair dealer. (Ottawa, Ill.) 1920-1927, 1920-11-19
CANCELLED ORDERS.

which mems hats, derbies, soft hats
velours and other varieties, are manu-
featured only one is said TO be run
ming today, and that one only few
days week.
The desperate plight Of this indus
try is cited as one of the results o.
the present situation in which there
has been Wholesale cancellations OF
orders that had been placed with man
ufacturers generally.
Broadly speaking. all the mems hat
of good grade in America are made
In eastern centers such as Philadel
phia, Danbury and NorWalk. Conn
Nearly everything that goes into men :
hats comes from abroad. Hatter's
fur, rabbit pelts and coney come from
Australia; beaver, from central En-
rope and Australia; shcllac flake from
India; the silk which enters into the
hat bands. the binding and the lining
from China and Japan. and the leather
in the sweat bands comes largely from
England
Costs of manufacturing hats, it ap.
pears, have not come down. Where
there has been reduction in manufac-
turers prices, not infrequently it has
been due to the use Of cheaper ma,
terials,
Standard manufacturers started this
year with their goods at from $12 "A
dozen up. There We're some hats at
$66, but to get them jobbers and re,
tailers had 20 buy an equal quantity
of the $72 grade. This refers to good
quality hats Jobbers and retailers
had to add their profits to these
prices.
In February and March the sales
men for the factories placed their or
ders for the fall trade and the manu-
facturers We're sold up" for the sea
son.
In May there came a sudden drop
IT followed cut in various other lines
OF wearing apparel, By the end of
May manufacturers began to get re-
quests to reduce their orders one-half.
All through the summer there We're
other reductions in orders placed
uFh lnl tai f,i,, a
restleSsness. Since then things have
grown progressively more disturbing
dealers cancelled the orders arbitrar.
lily. In many instances the goods had
been shipped Some retailers refused
them, Express companies ware
houses became crowded The manu-
tacturers had to telegraph to have the
goods returned and incidentally pay
the express charges both ways.
That made pretty kettle OF fish tor
Them. They had paid for materials,
mad paid wages and various other
charges and their goods were returned
or the orders for them cancelled
Their plants were tied UP and they
could see little hope in the immediate
future.
In this situation, one Philadelphia
company adopted a radical course. It
had to hold the hats it had made or
dispose of them. IT tried to dispose
of them in bulk, but failed. Then it
opened retail store in Philadelphia.
1t advertised. 1t told the public the
Invoice price, the manufacturers price
and offered its stock at practically
half the cost Of manufacture lmmi.
grants and bankers, clerk and profess
bional men, mingled at the sale and its
stock soon was almost all sold. The
company took a heavy loss. but il
moved its stock and has cash on hand.
ITS business ethics in entering the re
tail field have been ques toned. but its
reply is that it met disastrous situa.
ton resulting from cancellation of or
ders and has saved its life.
The case brings out defect in cur
merchandising system that should
have attention. The cancellation
evil as it now is called opened the
way for jobhers and retailers to give
orders for more goods than good judg,
ment warranted. II they didn't need
the stock, they could cancel the or
ders. This overloaded the manufactur
ers with orders and led them to pro
duce accordingly Then they were ir
no condition to stand the heavy can
Cellations that came.