Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1920-02-05
the war;"
To Catch Sman Dealer

a certain period or for the duration Of
the war"
To Catch Sman Dealer
This law did not apply to the little
tellow; to the corner grocer or the con-
cern that annually did less than $780,
OO0 worth of business; and they were
the most persistent offenders. But we
devised way to reach them. Under the
federal licensing system, which has been
done away with, wholesaler or licensed
dealer was prohibited from selling to
any one guilty of unfair practices un-
der penalty of having his license re-
voked
Wherever we caught any of the
small fry guilty of unfair practices, or
prohteering, they were given the choice
or cutting their prices or of being forced
out of business through inability to buy
any more goods from wholesalers.
Another feature of the licensing sys-
TEN was this. No wholesaler or retailer
was permitted to collect more than one
profit. That is, no wholesaler could sell,
let US say, sugar to another wholesaler
and pocket bis profit after which the
man to whom he sold it again disposed
OF 1t to another and pocketed another
proht. They were in danger of being
! put out of business. Let me illustrate
To-day a retailer in West Philadel-
| phia or downtown sells a staple for
| thirty cents when it is known that the
| price paid the producer by the big
wholesale firm was ten cents. But the
big wholesaler who paid the producer
ten cents sold the article to another
wholesale house and collected a profit
of five cents, as the case may be. The
second wholesaler again disposed of the
! article to smaller wholesale house and
he also pocketcd his profit of five cents.
The latter in turn sells it to the retailer,
who is the end of the chain, and collects
a third profit of five cents, bringing the
cost to the retailer up to twenty five
cents. The latter disposes of the staple
to the consumer for thirty cents, making
his profit of five cents, which might be
considered legitimate.
Thus you observe four profits, per
| fectly legitimate in commercial sense,
were charged against a single article
The exorbitant price to the. consumer
Justlhes an apparent charge of protiteer
ing, but close examination of invoices
and books would clear the retailer.
This is only one example. To ar
rive at these facts consider the amount
of research and examination that is in
volved in tracing those transactions bach
to the original wholesale firm which
purchased the goods from the producer
in 1000 dozen lots? The licensing sys
tenn prevented such juggling by permit
ting only one profit between the whole
saler and the retail dealer"
Fair.Price Committees Limited
"What legal powers are conferred oil
present fair-price committees in theil
attempts to halt profiteers in thei
work?'
None, ! am very sorry to say. The!
can make examinations as to prices anC
suggest a maximum and minimum fai
price and notify the public if they pa,
more than the maximum price they ar
paying too much, and that there i
reason to believe, other prices in tn
same establishment being on the sam
high level, that there is profiteerng
But this can only be proved by careful
examination of the books of the con
Germ.
IF a dealer is charged with profiteer
ing, is taken into court and the ev
dence proves the contrary, a grave in
Justice is done the individual which can
: not be rcdressed.
, - In one instance under the food ad
ministration' regime a big firm in an
other part of the state was accused q
, protteering because it was selling but
ter at twenty cents per pound abov
the fair price maximum. We investi
gated and found that it was true. bu
the butter was a special brand put ou
by the firm that had always sold
from fifteen to twenty cents above til
, market price and its cost warranted th
price.