The Ward County independent. [volume] (Minot, Ward County, N.D.) 1902-1965, 1921-03-17


public, he became to a grea mt
the goat, SO to speak.
Now where there is great ! ii of
smoke, there must be some fire, and
do not say that there was no social
ed protiteering done by some retailers.
But know that the public has been
given very much distorted idea of
the extent Of this by the press of the
country, The impression that the
average customer must have, from the
propaganda which has been spread
broadcast throughout the country,
must be that the retailers are fairly
swamped with the extra profits they
have extracted from the people the
last three or four years.
On every hand, a short time ago,
you heard or read about the Protiteer-
ing Retailer. 1t is hardly necessary
to remind you of the columns of news
paper space which many newspapers
extended to the Department of JUS
tice anti-profteering crusade. ] Won
der how many of the consuming pub
lie know what were the actual results
of these investigations. As matter
Of fact these Investigations were in
most instances big farce. The de-
partment sent into stores as investi-
gators, inexperienced men. who had
no conception Of merchandising, and
its problems, but men whose direct in
terest was in finding something wrong.
This resulted in the grossest kind Of
injustice to certain firms. But such
methods could not have undermined
the public confidence in retail mer-
chants generally, had it not been for
the emphasis placed on such local
cases by newspapers throughout the
country. And what were the final re-
suits of these Investigations carried
out in this unfair attitude. Out of
great number of Investigations, there
were only very few convictions.
Just a few words in regard to the
enormous profits taken by merchants
during the period Of imitation. We all
know it is easy to make money on
rising market, and it is fact. that
the war kept a great many retailers
alive that would have passed out Of
existence, if it had not come. But
those fellows are going to be done for
now anyway, so the results are the.
same, only they are little longer
coming. But what about the average
retailer? If You will remember,
prices did not jump suddenly, like the
bottom fell out on some commodities
recently 1t was a steady increase,
and without doubt. if merchant was
loaded on some particular item he
might have been able to get large
psoft on that particular commodity.
But the average merchant does. not
carry, any considerable amount Of any
particular line, and especially on a
market such as was experienced dur
ing the war; We all knew it was a
dangerous market and one could never
tell when it would break, and it was
only good merchandising policy not to
be loaded on any item. The result
was that by the time merchant was.
ready to buy he paid an increased
price, and only realized his ordinary
profit, at the much higher price to
the consumer AS a matter of fact,
at the peak prices, most merchants
found it very difficult to mark legit-
innate profit on his merchandise, as it
would make the price so high the con-
suming public could not pay it.
You will remember all the contro-
versy regarding the proper way to
merchandise during the period of ris-
ing prices. You heard a great deal
about Following the Market, and Av
eraging Costs, etc., and this was un-
doubtedly the proper way to merchan-
disc from business standpoint.
But during this period if you did
those things you were a profiteer, and
now, that the party is over, if you
didn't do it, you were a poor mer-
chant. In addition to the high cost of
merchandise, the expense Of doing
business increased by leaps and
bounds, and if you think retailing dur
ing this period was one sweet song,
you have another guess coming.
Another phase Of the situation l
want to dwell on for little time. is
she part the consumer played that
helped to increase the price Of COM
modities.
In connection with the abnormal de-
mand for merchandise created by the
war machine we had consuming pub
lie, that turned the tables on us. Or
dinary merchandise such as we were
accustomed to sell in quantities, re-
mained on our shelves, and people
wanted only the very best Of every
thing. It was no longer question of
price, but question Of certain
grade of merchandise at any price.
There was consumer demand such as
we have never seen before. ! am not
going to mention the Silk Shirt craze,
ETC., as that is all history now, but it
was such demands as these that fed
the fire that created high prices. The
public wanted nothing but the best,
and price was secondary considera-
ton. Do you wonder prices, became
high? How could they be otherwise?
You might argue that those would be
wonderful times for the retailer, and
we will admit it was easy to do busi-
ness, but we knew we were skating
on thin ice.
You all know what happened. III
admit it was some party while it
lasted, but what wallop we got when
it was all over.
This is wondeful country, and we
are wonderful people, but we have
to admit we do choose too much to
extremes. We either want all the
goods in the world, or we do not want
any 1t Ill.