Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1920-04-20

one paper m ArkansaS earned the item with the heading: "Here' s Hope for the Weary; Says Prices May Come Down." By many it was regarded as the first real move to- ward a reduction in the high cost of living. The next day or so retail shoe store patrons from coast to coast and from Oshkosh to the Gulf visited their favorite dealers to buy the cheaper footwear The dealers, many of whom had not had mark ed down" sale since before the war, said they had not heard anything about decline in prices.
 The news spread in the trade, how ever, and soon dealers, jobbers and manufacturers began to bomba rd Mir. Slater with inquiries as to the basis for his assertion. Meanwhile, MT. Slater had been interrogated
 here by THE ASSOCIATED PRESS regarding the correctness of the statement attributed to him and he declined to comment on 1t. Where upon Mir. Williams, formerly Federal Food Administrator and Fair Price Commissioner, was visited, and he confirmed the statement as sent out by The Associated Press.
 It became known, however, that much of the confusion had been caused by the form of the announce ment made from the office of the Fair Price Commissioner, for instead of indicated by the announcement the only plan in contemplation was linn itation of profits in New York City; and even that has failed to be put I into effect. MT. Williams, however, stood by the statement as carried by The Associated Press. He said it was correct and he would assume full responsibility for it.
 i MT. Williams explained that early this Spring the Federal authorities made an effort to reach. an under standing with New York retailers concerning the profits on footwear. In his official capacity as Fair Price Commissioner, he said, he received on March p last, communication from MT. Slater as president of the New York Retail Shoe Dealers As sociation, containing proposal for limitation to a maximum of 21 to 35 per cent. of retail profits on shoes selling at $10 or less per pair. Mir. Williams said he referred the pro- posal to United States Attorney Caf- fey. No action on it has been taken by the Department of Justice. MT. Williams has since resigned and no successor has been appointed. Mean while the retail price of standard shoes in New York remains as high as ever.
 While declining to make any state ment for publication in regard to the diverging views of Mir. Williams and himself, MT. Salter sent an "eXpla- nation" in letters and telegrams to newspapers and members of the shoe trade over the country, saying that Mir. Williams had told the reporters that he thought shoes would be cheaper. He denied he had told this to MT. Williams, and, said that al- though it was true negotiations were under way for limitation of profits he saw no basis for the assertion that prices would come down.
 A Fort Smith, Ak, merchant who wrote to MT. Slater received a reply which apparently gave the death blow to the expiring hopes, built up- on the announcement from the Fair Price Commissioners office, that shoes would be cheaper in New York or anywhere else. MT. Slater said: "In making my recommendation to MT. Williams about the maximum profit to be allowed on nontaxable footwear I told him that the price of shoes would not come down." Explaining his stand in regard to higher-priced shoes, he added:
 "In my arguments with the gov ernment I take the stand that the excise or luxury tax placed on shoes of S1O or over, takes them out of the necessary (Necessity) class under which the Lever Act operates. The Lever Act specifically states that there must be no excessive profits on the necessaries of life such as feed, food, shoes and clothing, and gives them the right to regulate this profit"
 A Springfield, Ohio, firm which wanted to know who was responsible, MT. Slater or Mir. Williams, for the demands for cheaper choes with which dealarS wara heinp homha I'd ed wrote letter to The Associated Press in which it made this com ment:
 "It is such misleading reports which are causing 90 per cent. of the discomfort among the buying public. This does not apply exclusively to the shoe business but to other lines of merchandising. The public be- :llllllIlIIllIlllIlIIlliIlllllllllllllliIIllllE i: IT :"