Evening star., 1920-06-01
c. |. CORby DENIES
HE FIXED RETAIL
BREAD RATE IN D. c.
Tells Committee, However,
Firm Refused Sales to Deal
erS Who Lowered Price.

tSrQaY, CldTlcS L. SOEOJs hOdo VI thC
Corby Baking Company, admitted that
his firm refused to sell bread to deal
ers who reduced the retail price. but
denied that he fixed the price at which
it should be sold to consumers.
I'VE are told by our attorneys that
we have a right to choose our Gus
TONER'S" said Mr.. Corby.
IYour own statement shows that you
stand in the light of a price Dictator"
said Chairman Ball of the subcom-
mittee, after some further discussion.
I'VE don't feel that way" replied the
witness
be consumed If the retail price were
Q cents instead of 10 cents?" asked
senator Capper.
Il do not think you could tell the
difference" answered Mr.. Corby.
1T appears to me that when you re-
fuse to supply a man who sells under
a certain figure you are fixing the
price" the chairman commented Il
couldn't consider it any other way
You put up the funniest style of argu-
IF you had been in the bread busi-
ness for thirty years you would get
another atmosphere, you would have
a different viewpoint from person
who is just making an investigation"
said Mr.. Corby.
SCC3 Dot OnC SVhCAuoHVns
There is but one conclusion to come
is that by refusing to sell to q dealer
who reduces the retail price the baker
fixes the retail price of his bread"
There cannot be any other conclu-
sion." added Senator Capper.
"All that we want to do is to see
that there is free competition and that
no one is fixing the price Of necessi-
ties" continued Mr.. Ball. You can fix
the wholesale price. but when it
comes to fixing the retail price don't
consider you have the right to do it."
The witness, who was on the stand
with Harry T. Peters, auditor of his
company. said the price at which
ssssa taas sns eee sopsa sy ss
asked If they had "some sort Of a
deal to establish q uniform price
I'VE have not" said Mr.. Corby.
The senator then asked If there had
except those of sugar and bread. to
which Mr., Corby replied he had made
no investigation. He said he had seen
many announcements in the papers of
reduced prices on clothing and other
necessities. but that such articles.
when they were run down, did not
have much to them.
Il recently bought a couple of suits
for my chauffeur" he added, land /
asked the salesman If it were best to
the reductions. The clerk said the
reductions were mostly on odds and
ends and not on the general stock of
goods.
1T has been stated in the papers
that I was prof1teer," said Mr. Corby
in the course of his testimony, but
1 would like to say that we could
sell the -four we now have on hand
for $93.495 more than we paid for it,
but We are giving the public the ben
eft of that difference"
price for your bread" said Senator
Capper.
I'VE are asking only a fair return
on our sales. the witness answered,
and il we were compelled to buy our
be necessary to iucfex0e the price of
bread still more" -
Discussing profits made by the Cor
by Baking Company during 1918, Mr.
Corby said 1t was impractical to re-
duce the cost Of bread by a smaller
amount than one-half q cent a loaf,
and that if his bread had been sold q
half cent cheaper during the year it
would have reduced his net profits
*171,0o0, leaving a profit Of but
10000 for the entire years business
r. o. Dawson n Witness.
r. o. Dawson. manager of the Piggy
Wfggly Stores, Inc. said that on May
his firm had opened twenty six
stores in Washington, and that he had
intended to sell Corby's bread at III
and IA cents a loaf on that day, instead
OF at the usual price of 8 and Is
cents.
"a representative Of the Corby Bak-
ing Company called on me the day
before we opened and asked IL it was
d fact that we intended to cut the re-
tail price of bread" continued Mr.
Dawson. Il don't know how he found
out our plans. I asked him what
would be the result If we did cut the
not get any bread.
That caught us rather short. and
there was nothing for US to do but
agree to sell at the higher price and
take the bread for our customers next
day.
'on May 1S I wrote to Corby and
said we expected to sell bread at 9
and II cents instead of 10 and IS
cents. and asked that he reply to me
by the messenger that delivered my
and told that Mr. Corby was out of
town and would not return until the
following Wednesday. ! never re-
ceived any answer to my letter. and
on Saturday. May %. we cut the re-
tail price. That afternoon Corby fall
ed to deliver bread to several OF our
stores. and on the next Monday theH
collected their bread boxes from u.s.
We are now buying bread from an
other baker
Expianation BY Mr.. COrby.
In his testimony preceding that Of
Mr.. Dawson. Mr.. Corby had made ref
erence to the letter indicating the
Pisgly wiggly stores intended to re-
duce the price of bread. and said 1t
was not answered because if he had
told the PiggIy Wiggly stores they
could or could not reduce the price. 1t
DT1Ce
fixing.
IF we had said it would make no
difference if the retail price were re-
duced, o. il we had said it would make
difference. it would have been max
ing an agreement" Mr.. Corby testified,
and we understood that was not per-
missible
Edward j. Yonkers. local manager
for the Sanitary Grocery Company,
said that they had never attempted to
sell Corby's bread at less than the
usual retail price. because they wished
TO push another brand of bread at a
lower figure.
ANY of our customers can get
that is just as good as Corby's 10
cent loaf" said Mr.. Yonkers. we
have been trying for eleven years to
EDUCATE our customers to the fact
that the highest price does not nee
essariIy mean the highest quality"
Holmes Bakery Profits.
Lewis Holmes, president of Holmes
& Sons Baking Company. which sells
most of its product direct to consum-
,.rs told the committee his firm had
made smaller profits during the war
and the period Immediately follow
ing the war than any other time in
It's history He submitted figures to
show that during the present year, on
3 business amounting to $z37.142. the
i,et porfits had been but $1.572. For