The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1921-02-14
BY THEODORE fl. PRICE.
editor Commerce and Ffnance.D
ing CorpOratiOn1


the country, and how business men view
the outlook What l was told by these
Y merchants is evidence that they now be-
Aieye the worst is behind them instead
bf before them, and that their experience
mas not been as bad as many were pre-
dieting eight months ago.
The heads Of leading stores in perhaps
half the states of the union made clear
to me that they had written off their
losses, They confirmed the federal re-
serve trade figures which have been
published IN these articles by showing
that their sales have been much larger
than is generally realized, and many of
them told me that their stocks have been
reduced to a thoroughly liquid condition,
and that they are. now entering the
wholesale markets and buying. though
conservatively, to. fill their present needs,
These men are, of course. the mer-
chandising leaders of the country, and
not all small retailers have had their
courage and foresight to mark goods
down to prices which move them into
consumption. Some of them, therefore,
. are still in difficulties but the example
set the laggards is becoming more pow
erfu every day and the increasing ac-
ltivity of the wholesale and raw material
markets is sufficient evidence that re-
tail merchandising, the crucial point OF
distribution. has been to great ex-
tent readiusted to a healthy condition
PRIZES AXE hNIrED
Jesse l. Straus of r. H. Macq CO.
chatted with me about conditions in New
York. 4
I'VE have stuck the knife deep into
prices''t he said .'and twisted it, anu
we have been rewarded with the largest
business in both dollars and volume tnat
we have ever known. In stores in winch
this has been done stocks must have been
reduced to thoroughly healthy condl-
ton and in our own case the percentage
of merchandise on shelves more
than year old is the lowest of which we
have a record.
I'm buying at wholesale | think we
should all proceed cautiously some ithes
of merchandise have perhaps reached
bottom: in fact, some have reboundeu
slightly, but there are many factors
entering into price determination that II
is venturesome and dangerous to try 10
say anything of value for more imam
a week two ahead.
Toledo is a city of special interest pc
cause of the large numbers reported
thrown out of work by factory smut
downs Yet Alfred B. Koch of LaSaile
& Koch told me that his sales for Jan
uary were 10 per cent greater in dollars
than in 1920, and for the first six days
of February. they were 20 per cent great
err The difference between trade this
wear and last he says, is that he IS now
selling many items to many people IN
stead of a few expensive items to a few
people and he is certain that the amount
OF goods turned over during 1921 will be
so per cent greater than in 1920
"There are two kinds of retail mer-
chants" Mr. Koch SAYS, "the man who
quits when threatened by loss and
postpones taking it, and the man VINO
when there is less retail business to pc
had finds out what the public wants ana
gives it to them at the price they want
FOR
i sacrificing profits, for the sake of keeping
an organization. No merchant can 90
this who has not liquidated his expensive
stocks, putting satan behind hipl instead
of in front of him. and gaining GEAR
vision of heaven instead of view OF
hell. Humiliation had to come and it
must remain. else we shall lose all we
have sacrificed Our business can be
maintained only by more rapid turn
over by working the dollar harder by
contenting ourselves with smaller profits
and getting goods to the consumers at
the lowest possible cost"
IMPROVE DAILY
Salmon P. Halle of Halle Bros. CO..
Cleveland president of the association
was optimistic in every speech he made
II am continually asked when business
will be normal" he said. 1.-The answer is,
When we begin to think and act nor
mally' Ask yourself what is normal
and make your comparisons accordingly
If YOU think of normal in terms of last
year, then I am afraid that within our
lifetime business will never be normal
But if you will set some place between
the low of 1912 and 1918 and the high of
1919, and make plans accordingly, you
will very soon find things looking nor
NAL and improving daily
Speaking of conditions on the Pacific
coast, George G. Pratt of the Bon
Marche. Seattle, told me that on one typ
ical day recently the number of unit
transactions in his store was Is per cent
greater than last year although the total
of sales measured in dollars was per
cent less Notably in Los Angeles, he
stated and in most of the other cities
on the coast, retail trade is running
ahead of last year, even in dollars
though Seattle is an exception because
Of the decline in shipbuilding and in
trade to Russia and Alaska, and because
the depreciation of the Canadian dollar
keeps Canadin buyers way from the
city s. stores.
..'Stocks are we'll liauidated.' he said,
"and I believe in the country stores also.
Business may be hard to carry on profit
ably for a few months yet, but the con-
ditions which restrict it are temporary
in character. Some of them, as the de-
cline in Canadian exchange. will grad
ually be corrected and losses in purchas>
ing power such as the stoppage Of ship
the growth of the city in other direc-
tons"
l break my usual custom of surveying
all the important news of the week to
give space to these facts because they
possess more Significance than any cur
rent events which l. have observed. sum-
ming up what l learned at the conven-
ton, 1t showed clearly that retailers are
writing off their losses, reducing their
prices, selling their goods and restock-
ing their shelves 1t showed the path
!, of safety to all merchants who have not
done these things. 1t explains, the steady
4 revival of industry and makes it's con-
tinuance, if slow. more certain 1t gives
a great impetus to the spread Of con-
fdence and sentiment has far more to do
with values than any of us realize De-
spite the caution with which many said
sthey were moving noted that one of the
most loudly applauded utterances was
the statement of speaker that as sure
~ as the fall of 1919 was the time for
cautAn. SO surely is the spring of 1921,
while 1esression is at it's bottom the
time for courage.
COTTON MILLS BUSY
With the distributing trade in such a
promising condition it is not SURPRISING
that the significant itemsN in the news
are encouraging. A leader in the New
York dry goods market told me that
liquidation of stocks in second hands had
gene far during the past fortnight viii
liam NJ Wood, president of the American