Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1921-02-01
NATHAN MILLER HOST
At ANNUAL DINNER
Head of Large Business House
Entertains at Enjoy
able Banquet.

Nathan Miller, head of Miller Brothers,
Ninth and King streets, gave dinner last
evening in I.ambros cafe to his sales force,
| representatives in the business and in
banking and newspaper business Of the
| city. Featuring the Wilmington business
, world, these dinners are annual affairs and
are an indication of the friendly relatives
between business and the people who
make and stimulate business. With Mr..
Miller rs host, the affair was arranged as
a prelude to the February reduction sale
ut the Miller Brothers store Ninth and
King streets.
George Carter. acting MS toast m astcr,
called upon MIR. Miller for an address
After explaining that tho sale would start
this week, Mr. Millor said that in his
opinion the prices would be less than they
would be later on. He also stated TINT at
the conclusion Of the war Miller Brothers
succeeded in disposing of all high price
stock and the articles to he disposed of
now would be nj present cost and in
some instances below cost "Thc prices,
he continued, will never reach the low
level of 1914 This is the time to buy.
The shrcwd business man has taken his
loss and the customer gains thereby We
arc now on the eve of the greatest pros
pcrlty that the country has eyer known
When the present Period of rcadiustmont
IS over ii is safe y say that there viii he
an advance IN most every llnc of mcrchan-
disc "Ono Of the greatest WAYS % bring
prosperity Is to advertise, eaii Mr. Mil
lor and even when the p ~cS7 work
IS on tho decline, il hchootc' us listlc
the hardest for tho moncv 4 , nio have
to spend There Is no surcr Ny:.. getting
il than hv advertising in the daily pross
Resides the cooperation Of the press we
also need the aid ol the manufactures and
the banker
COOPERATION nrTwTEN EMPLOYER Avn
EMrLoYE
J. Writ Willis general manager Of the
New Castle Leather Co spoke on in
dustrv. its future and the cooperation
betwccn employer aud cnployr 1t was
n critical aualysis Of the conditions rc-
lating to tho business of today, with
glance into tic future Py aaaociating
with mon of affairs. MIR Willis said. he
was able IN learn that good times were
coming Ills advice was - stop talking
hard times and 10 hustle for business
lam going to speak to YOU rs tanner,
Mr.. Willis said, w ilmngton, you know,
is noted for it's manufacture Of glazed
kid There arc At tho present time about
thirteen plants turnng out this product;
most of them arc very large, ard ~ least
two Of them arc well known through
ont the world for the quality Of their out
put
Leather If hy-product In or
country the meat animals arc heeveR
sheep ard hogs, tho hides from the larger
cattle 90 into bclllng sole leather, har-
ncss and other products of a similar nature
Sheep skins bcrg soft and strctchy arr
not suitable for shoes, although they are
used IN the manufacture Of slippers, but
sheep SIX In IS very largely used ~ the manu-
facturc Of books { ali skins make m ideal
shoe, especially for mcn, hut tho women 3
shoes are made almost exclusively from
goatskins
Prior to 1914 the average lInporta-
ton of raw goatskins into the United
States was about sc. 900 600 skins per
wear and represented % pcr cent Of
the raw stock tanned in mcrican es-
tahlishmcnts Philadelphia, amdcn and
Wilmington arc the principal centres for
this Industry
"Of all the 5000 o00 goatskirs brought
INTO thus country, fully 40 per cent OF
them come from India, with about % per
cert from Chiaa II former years the
cost Of TINS raw material at points OF
origin were comparatively light that IS /
speakr in round RUNNERS, q good class |
Of goatsklus could hc bought - about s
pcr dozen. with a ma uiaCtunLg cost |
here of $3.50 . s3 per dozen shortly /
liter the outbreak Of the war, prices ct |
gnatsklrs Ike every other commod- /
itv began to rise with incredible swift |
ness ,lati the carll part Of 1919, when the /
Price rose In sara ees,s IL as high SIS 500 +
Der dozen. Til featuring cost IN /
creased to bctw,c - and 81. This manu- |
featuring cost Is made up Of about 30 per
cent lator. p per cent material and 25 /
per cent overhead charges OF course +
these high prIccs Of raw stock meant a /
higher cost for the finished leather, and I
ultimately a much higher cost for shoes |
As late rs 1915 the top grade OF glazed |
sd was sellI' z as low as 35 cents per foot. I
{ Considcr, Il you viii, this figure, in com |
parison with the top price paid for raw |
stock. which Ii many cases approached /
81 per foot In addition 70 this unusually |
high cost we have To consider the large I
percentage Of waste and tie additional |
cost of manufacture and merchandising /
Discuss, x tIa de cor ditloi MI Willis /
said: w c have always had high priced /
priced fur iuue, ard if a customer demal d
some particular grade or kind Of furniture
| feel sure that you VIII find a way to |
satisfy her dcmaI dz II is true IL the
,arne way with shoes Tie trouble duni |
easy times was thar lalge ruEnber Of /
people were demaI dir q hugh priced shoes
and it is quite natural thot the shoe manu-
facturer would do bis best to supply the
demand, row that the price Of raw stock /
s comir g down, we naturally expect that
shoes Will come down too, and SO they
viii But re car hardly expect that they
will reach the low level Of former times |
for, as / have ner tor ed before, the price
Of raw stock al primary points has in
creaeed from four to sin times heavylosses
1n their inven tories there are still larg c
quantities that represent heavy costs and
mean high cost shoes | be-
ieye that for the ext two or three years
&c viii be satisfied 70 pay from S8 to Sl2
-or high grade shoe Competition for
domestic ard foreign markets is as keen
n our industry as in any other and no
dare to charge n nickel more
pcr pair thar his livals The CO. sllrner