The Birmingham age-herald., 1921-11-07
PRICES STILL OUT
 OF JOINT, STATES
 NEW YORK BANKER
Pre-War Relations Between Wholesale and Retail Prices Have Been Disturbed
 and May Not Return

Business conditions of the present and pre-war times are compared by Charles Cason. director of public re- lstion of the Chemical National bank of New York, who spent Saturday in Birmingham, and who declared that disturbance in the price system is to blame for the present economic em- barrassment.
 The dislocated condition of the price system has been one of the most outstanding economic embarrass- ments of this yearS% stated Mir. Ca son. Those relations between differ ent elements in the price system which were considered normal" in rre-war days. have been seriously disturbed during the advance and recession of prices which have oc- cured during the last five years. Commodity prices at wholesale have been affected in unequal degrees. Pre-war relations between wholesale and retail prices have been disturbed. The striking advance and precipitate decline in the general price level the cost of living and the wages of labor, Confusion and uncertainty have been the result In all those re- lations between men. which rest upon price basis; that Is. in all those ac- tivities of buying and selling which constitute the life of business
 Pre-Vyar RasIa
 'It should be made clear that the attainment of condition of equilib- rum does not necessarily involve a return to the exact relations which prevailed before the war. It Is im- probable that such will be the case. But in the absence of better stand ard of "normality" the pre-war basis may be used in determining the ex- tent of the disturbanee in the price system
 The inequalities which have de- veloped between commodity groups are obvious. At one extreme stand farm products, only IS per cent above the 1913 level. while house furnish ings sold in August at 1s0 per cent above those prevailing in 1913. Seat tered unevenly between these ex- tremes are the other groups. Clearly buying and selling relations between the groups of producers represented above have been seriously disar- ranged.
 Tt Is encouraging to know, how ever, that during the past three months farm products, as a whole. have advanced approximately per cent, and house furnishings during this period have declined approxi- mately 20 per cent. But what I am ,f-1 have been out of joint and are still out of joint. Some things are below the 1918 level while others are above. Prices must find level. I don't know how near the pre-war level the new level will or should be, but cer- tainly there must be a level. Take hides. for instance. 1t Is a matter of common knowledge that cattle peo- pie can hardly get enough for a hide to pay man to take it off and yet a shoe at retail today Is almost out of reach.
 Farm Products
 Tt Is noteworthy that of the six commodities that have been selling during the war at less than their pre-war prices. four of them-hldes, products. It IS encouraging, how ever, to know that cotton has sud denly jumped to almost double its figure of two months ago.
 Tt Is fact of common knowledge that gaping inequalities exist in the present price situation. that relations between different groups of produce CTS have been thrown out of joint be- cause of these price Irregularities. It is this disturbance of old relations rather than the rise or fall of the general price level which has such a sinister effect on business prosperity. and it is for this reason that the res toration of equilibrium is so greatly to be desired at present.
 Tt Is significant that most of the price changes of the last few months have been in the direction of sta- bility The decline in food and cloth tug prices has been definitely checked while continued declines are being registered in the groups, such as house furnishings and fuel and light ing. which have heretofore been most successful in resisting the pressure of tumbling prices"