New-York tribune., 1920-09-27
Reserve Shank at Phila-
delphia Says Public
Holds Whip Hand, With
Dealers at Its Mercy
Merchants Sense
Demand and Yield
Chicago Adopts Carry
Lunch Plan; Houston
Bans Loans to Hoarders
Special Dispatch to The Trtbun.


PHILADELPHIA, Sept. 2e.-Prices
Of clothing, food and other staple
products are being forced down
throughout the country by the refusal
OF the buying public to pay war prices.
comprehensive report of business
conditions issued by the Federal Re-
serve Bank of the Philadelphia district
retailers are fastening to meet the
widespread demand by the public for
reduction in prices.
Eleven out of sixteen commodities
listed by the Federal Reserve Bank
show tendency toward lower price
levels. The toboggan Of prices hits a
variety Of products, including bitumi-
nous coal, mems shirts, hosiery and
staple groceries. Three commodities
are holding. firm, according 10 the
summary of the. reserve bank, and
Two, silks and tobacco, are still classad
as high.
Food Price War Begun
Other reports forecast that the wave
OF prlce-cutting reported from many
sectlons OF the country last week is
expected this week to be extended pro-
nouncedly to food products, prices of
"hach heretofore have been held firm.
A Garry Your Own Lunch" cam
pal gn will begin. tomorrow in Chicano
and will extend through the week. Everv
person working in the business section
OF the city is being urged to carry his
or her lunch as protest against
restaurant prices, which are deemed
unnecessarily high. A similar move
ment is in progress in Detroit.
Chicago authorities announced to-
night that they would order about fifty
restaurant owners of that city to re-
ouce prices or suffer the consequences
OF an exposure of the extent of their
profits.
The price Of -four has fallen IS cents
barrel in the last two days.
Lower Trend in New England
While little relief from high food
prices is being experienced in New
England, tendency is noted for lower
prices in some kinds Of meats. Sugar
prices have been reduced there in line
with the general fall in the price Af
that commodity,
Secretary Of the Treasury Houston
announced yesterday in Washington
that the government would not be q
party to any undertaking to hold COM
modities off the market for speculative
purposes to maintain war prices, al
though he was in favor of every effort
to promote orderly marketing Of prod
ucts. This attitude of the government
toward extending credits to specu-
lators in foodstuffs ia expected to have
a cumulative effect in reducing prices.
With retailers clamoring for lower
quotations on goods in response to pub
lie sentiment for moderate priced mer-
ehandise, manufacturers are passing on
the fight on high prices by demanding
reductions on raw materials, the Fed
eral Bank report says.
Producers Are Affected
Reductions greater than the 25 per
cent on woolens recently announced by
the American Wooden Company are
sought by clothing manufacturers be-
fore they will buy goods, according to
the Federal Reserve Bank report. They
are not going into the market, the gen.
eral feeling being that prices must
come down further before the public
buys. Manufacturers, jobbers and re-
tailers are revising prices downward
as concessions to the high-price boy
cotting public.
Many retailers are just moving the
| stocks they have on hand before pur-
chasing more goods and until the pub.
lie pulse is "sensed."
Inc drastic drop in the price of
sugar and few other food commodi
| ties is regarded by grocers as fore
runner OF other reductions in food
supplies. Some grocery firms reported
to the Federal Reserve Bank that this
condition has resulted in some cancel
lations Of contracts on goods for future
delivery.
In the general resume OF conditions
the bank report points out that with
fine yields Of crops, prices Of produce
ward
Throughout the report it is manifest
that in nearly all commodities the
public holds the whip hand and is
breaking the backbone of high price
levels that have existed during and
since the war.