The New York herald., 1921-01-23
PRICE PAIRING BEGUN
BY LARGER HOTELS.
Pennsylvania Announces Re-
ductiOn Of Is Per Cent. on
223 Dishes.
MOVE OPPOSED BY SOME
Conspiracy to Keep Poultry
Prices Up Barred by Mrs.
Welzmiller.

The campaign of price slashing hit
the city hotels yesterday. with the an
nouncement by L. M Statler. owner of
the Hotel Pennsylvania. of an average
reduction of Is per cent, in the price of
223 items on the bill of fare in the
hotels restaurants. Virtually every
dish, with the exception of beef has
been reduced from 5 to 25 cents an or
der Pastries and deserts were included
in the reduction because of the great
drop in the price of sugar.
While Mr.. Statler let it be known that
the reduction was a direct result OF the
decrease in market costs OF food. the
management of other hotels and res
taurants said the drop has not been
sufficient to warrant cutting of bill Of
fare prices. These men assert their
overhead has increased so greatly in the
last few years that the cost of food IN
the wholesale market will have to drop
great deal more before it will be re-
Elected on their price cards.
How can we reduce prices?" August
Jansen, president of the Society of Res
tauranteurs, asked. Takes have gone
up. Our rents have gone up. Every
head is Just double what it was before
the war We have been enabled to pre-
vent further increases only by forming
ourselves into a cooperative body and
buying our stuff in the open market as
a body. Three months ago the society
organized a committee of purveyers,
representing sixty restaurants, who
since have been purchasing all our food
stuffs. AS result OF this there has
been a saving of 5, 10. 10 or 20 per
cent. which we in every instance have
let the public benefit by"
Poultry Conspiracy Seen.
Mrs. Louis Read Welzmiller, Deputy
Commissioner of Markets, called on
Joab II. Banton. Acting District Attor-
ney, and made complaint that certain
poultry dealers of this city have entered
into a conspiracy to create an artificial
poultry shortage. Mrs Welzmiller said
these dealers have had carload after
carload of poultry held up in the New
Jersey freight yards. The railroads have
been charging the dealers for demurrage,
she said and they have been paying it
rather than let the poultry come into the
city and thereby cause glut on the
market, with a consequent reduction in
price.
MI. bdnlOn l1llue an lIlFt-llEdllOI anu
discovered than twenty freight ears,
loaded with live poultry were on sid
ing in one New Jersey railroad yard. As
a result of this discovery he comr,uni-
Gated with Ben Matthews. Assistant
Jnited States Attorney, who in turn noti-
fled the Department of Justice Mr..
Banton said the State and Federal au-
thorties would make thorough inves-
tigation of the allegations of Mrs. Welz-
miller. The State. he said, can proceed
under section $50, subdivision 6. of the
Penal Code. The Federal authorities
were called in because Mr.. Banton feared
the case was out of his jurisdiction since
the poultry is being held up in New
Jersey.
Among the restaurant managers who
contended food prices have not dropped
enough to allow for a cut in food costs
was Patrick Kyne of Reisenweber's, Inc.
Eighth avenue and Fiftyeighth street
Mr.. Kyne said poultry and beef are much
higher at the present time than year
ago. There has been a reduction in
vegetables. particularly potatoes. he
said, but this has been due to the mild
winter so far. IF we get a cold snap,
he added, "these will jump in price
again" What reductions there have
been in market costs have only been
enough to enable Mr.. Kyne to reestab-
lish a table d'hote dinner in the restau-
rant