Perth Amboy evening news., 1921-07-25

there among the dealers who feel that circum-
stances warrant its return and where pressure
is being applied. The majority of druggists, how
ever, so far as the sentiment can be measured,
insist that there is no profit in a 10-cent soda
or a 15-cent sundae.
The public is naturally asking why this is 30.
A couple of summers ago when the cost OF an
leo cream soda with no 1ourishes shot up to
II cents or even % cents, the reason for the
increase was laid by fountain proprietors to
high cost of sugar. Sugar was certainly sky
rocketing when It reached four times its normal
ton.
Sugar Costs Normal Again.
But now, sugar is back to nearly where 1t
was in the days when ice cream, soda sold for
detect any move on the part Of most fountain
owners to return to even 10-cent DRINKS.
Druggists admit they made a mistake in
attributing the rise in soda prices primarily to
the high cost of sugar. They now say that other
factors contributed equally to the rise. How
ever. milk is back to almost pre-war prices:
which presumably increased the cost of ice
cream. why doesn't the finished product follow
the trend of prices on raw materials?
To this drugeists-except the few who have
lowered fountain prices say that still otner
r proas.' n Tnsy &c eon sSasios shs9 labor Ia a'l I'll s sSsns the shs
line, from the handling OF ice anGsthe making
of ice cream. to the dispensing of drinks at the
or even lo-cent soda days. Some large con-
Germs have cut down the number OF employees
rather than lower the wages of founain clerks.
cAty AAuCoA AbiOp IAN &&A
be had, they say, at lower pay.
The druggist goes on to mention the high
s EXPRESS sosr raaeS nr Inc of fra, to syr Ul aa and nutsa and .nd
the cost af ice cream. Icescream, supposedly
the barometer of fountain prices. has dropped
to varying extents in different parts of the
country. A QUESTIONABLE sent out by THE Bull
letin of armac brought in S42 answers
showing ice cream costs in forty,six states: 4
noticeable drop in price is in certain sections
of New England, where bulk cream tumbled
from $3.50 a gallon in 1920 to $1.25 in 1921.
Other scattered sections report reductions of
ten to twenty-five cents under a year ago
hgures."
The range Of prices on ice cream was shown
to be astonishinely varied. running from 80
cents to $3.50 a gallon on bulk cream and, from
1.25 to $40 a gallon on bricks.
Taking everything into consideration, the
owner maintains that the cost of foun-
lain drinks has not dropped appreciably. He
syrup in a soda costs $.0204; ice, 10000: car
water. $.0016: and ice cream, $.03-I
.otal, $.0526. To this the expert adds overhead
and salaries which he figures come to not less
han five cents.
The cost Of a sundae he estimates at four cents
Tor ice cream and three cents for fruit, and
extra touches, such as cherries or nuts
IRE added, three more cents, to which again he
ldds a nickel for the intangible overhead. From
lis stimates he claims that IL cents Is the
ogical price for a soda now, and 20 cents Tor
sundae.
The final argument from the dealers side is
hat customers have become more particular
han in the good old days to which they 80
'eelingly refer. Che man who plunked down a
lickel and got a glass casually washed, sloppily
illed to overlooking and slammed down on a
ticky counter with flies tapping up the spilled
felt that he had q nickePs worth. Today
lie would not feel that this sort OF service was
worth Is cents or even a nickel. Soda fountains
AVE had to raise their standards OF cleanliness
nd service. And they could not go back to
yhere health departments keep an eye on SAM
alton in eating places. Fountain owners claim
nat cleanliness and attractiveness of the foun-
ain are big items in the important overhead,
The customer is rather at a disadvantage in
he price argument in cities where there have
een such arguments. He cannot quote rates
ma costs SO glibly as the business man. The
urden Of his refrain Is that with sugar and
milk and eggs so much cheaper ana most other
hings a little cheaper, fountain drinks certainly
,ught to average a little less than war prices.
Penny Pinching!
One druggists answer to TINS Is q comment
AIRY on psychology. He says the pubic wouldn't
AXE any account OF a two or three-cent drop in
,rice; that the public doesn't like to bother with
,rices complicated by pennies. A few years ago
mis- would have been accepted as an axiom BY
most people, but today 1t is believed that many
The buying public. willingly or not, has got
,sed to pennies. Purchase OF a soda or two
odas already demands brain exercise on the
OF the. buyer to add ten per cent. to the
price Of the drink. And with the tendency
o economy on the increase, buyers are again
BEGINNING to consider the penny. Certainly the
OF fountain operators that removal
4 the tax would increase business are not based
ntirely on the American publics dlstaste lor
pennies. It lie as much the cost Of the
rticle which arouses protest.
Druggists are hoping and expecting that the
ak will be removed before the end OF the year.
DR.. Mellon has advocated a repeal of the soft
thinks tax, and several bills have provided for
his. The cost Of collecting SO small a tax has
high and druggists and buyers have from
he first protested that it taxes as luxuries drinks
which people buy as part OF a lunch. IN
The soft drink tax is hanging in the balance.
{ may continue. In the meantime fountain
,wners OF one city at least--Marion, Ind,-II
PENNIES TOR the present by absorbing the luxury
ak and charging Is cents for a soda, the tax
Included. This 10 one moderate step toward old
rices. g