Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1921-10-19
WHY PRICES STAY HIGH
BY Frederic !. rraskin


Washington, Oct. 1s---"why," de-
mands an editor out In the corn belt,
does the retailer charge from 80 10
80 cents a pound for pork chops VII, =
hogs cost him only 8 or cents7"
lie is one Of chorus singing dlf-
ferent words 10 the same tune A man
down in Oklahoma wants 10 know
why he cannot toto enough hides
across the street on his back 10 buy q
pair Of shoes. A man in Georgia
wants 10 know why cotton enough 20
make tent won't buy an undershirt.
And a farmer in Maryland asks Why
apples. such as he fed 20 his hogs be-
cause II would not pay to haul thom
TO market. sell for cents each on
the fruit stands.
All Of these questions have been
asked many times. They have alsJ
been loudly answered with tho asser-
tIon that retail prices are too high,
which is Of course merely begging
the question. Sometimes II is added
that the retailer is a profiteer. which
ls generally not true and certainly
sheds no light on the situation.
When the editors query was laid
before certain marketing experts In
the Government service, Il was learn
ed that the question is a good deal
more complicated than those who
blame the retailer and let Il go at
that, ever imagined. The Depart
ment Of Agriculture is making a
study OF the retail prices Of farm pfod-
ucts IN all Of the principal Americag
les. 1t is going TO find out just
why these prices are so inordinately
/ high and why the farmer gets such q
small share of the large price that
the consumer pays. The Government
men do not care to be quoted, nor Il
make any extensive comment, until
/ q investigation has been completed
But in. the meantime they throw out
few hints.
In the first place. they say, don't be
too quick to bfame the retailer. Re
tail prices, probably are too high. but
they are not as much too high as you
/ think. The retailer has been facing
dull market for long time now
/ His great need is to turn over his
stock. II is extremely probable that
1 he would reduce prices If he could
affor, TO do so. in order 10 stimulate
trade. In many cases, of course, he
h Gone so. The papers are full OF
bargain sale advertisements Yet the
a rage Of retail prices remains high
Cost Of Retailing High.
This, say the experts. is partly be-
cause the cost Of retailing as a bust
ness operation, Is high. out Of the 81
cents that you pay for pork chops, the
retailer must pay, not only the price
Of the pork at wholesale, but also the
rent Of his store, the cost Of the ice
on which he kept the pork, the wages
Of the man who cut it and sold II 70
you. the paper in which IL was
wrapped, and the upkeep Of the We
hicls in which It was delivered.
The experts do not seem to know
exactly what percentage of the cost
e. those pork chops is represented by
each Of these elements in its transfer
That is probably one Of the things
/ their investigation win reveal. But
they think that the price paid for the
cost Of getting Il from wholesaler 70
consumer. And all of these factors
in the operation have risen in cost
Rent, wages, ice, paper. gasoline
no one needs to be told that all oi
these things are from 10 to 100 pei
cent higher then they were in 1913.
| Remember. too. that with NAM
persons out Of work and money tight
the retailer is doing smaller thar
normal business. But he still pays tn
same rent and he probably has q
maintain about the same staff. His re
duction in expenses, in a word, is no
in proportion 10 his reduction in bust
ness. That means that the cost'of max
ing each sale is higher than IL woul'
be II he were doing a big business.
the butcher only sold one pound o
pork chops in a day. he would hav