Webster City freeman. [volume] (Webster City, Hamilton County, Iowa) 1884-1946, 1921-07-18

Thinks Merchants are Blam-
ed Unjushy.-Giv Their
Side of the Price Ques-
ton.
MANY OF THEM FAIL
Profits are not SO Large as
Many Uniformed n People
i! Think.

II. III. ,Doutricl, Of Harrisburg, Pa.
has taken up his pen in defense of the
retail merchant The retail merchant
has his troubles and Mr.. DOutricl
seems we'll qualified to speak Of then
and to defend the merchant against
unjust criticism INDUCED in by meI
and women who. do not know whereof
they speak. What Mr.. d. says is Of
interest to everybody in Webster City
and Hamilton county who wants tt
give all classes -fafr hearing and q
fair chance While the farmer Is hav
ing his troubles, there are others, Mr.
Doutrich insists.
Twelve years ago he bought run
down store in the city Of Harrisburg
a town of about $1,000 people, and in
this store, with 26 feet frontage, he
now does business Of $1,25O,OOO per
annum. In an article IN a recent issue
of Golfers Mr.. Doutrich says:
Nothing is so valuable as facts.
Facts are not a substitute for thought,
but they are a basis upon which we
can begin thinking. The wholesale
price of suit of clothes for which
YOU nay $50 in our store is about $34.
Out of the SIG difference between
. wholesale and retail price, the Store
that sells you the suit has to pay for
the expenses of its own business. A
survey of 200 stores shows this ex-
pense to be 27H per cent of the total
business done. In our own store we
have cut this to 22% per cent. Split
the difference and You have 70 per
cent, or $3.50, to cover this expense.
That leaves $3.50 as the net profit on
the sale of the suit. 80
The Retailer.
Now put yourself in the retailers
place. He buys fifty Of those $40
suits. In. a perfect world his total
receipts from the sale Of those suits
would be $500. This sounds like IA
good deal of money. But he never
receives this money. 1t shrinks. First,
there will be markcd-dOwn sale at
the end of the season so that some
OF the suits will not have to be car
ried over to next season. No matter
how expert his buyers, or his own
Judgment, some of the retailers stock
will not sell at the original price; and
some customers after purchasing will
exercise the human privilege Of chang
Ing their minds and bringing the goods
back. Again, prices the retailer pays
the manufacturer will be cut behind
him; and on the next lot Of suits he
will pay only $50 instead Of $34. Down
will come the $50 suits in stock to
$45, in order to keep step
All this is statistical-and 1t is the
last bit of statistics that am going
to inflict upon you in an article that
il personal, not a mere mass OF fig
uEeS. DuL SOu SilVuiu ASAhSSA shsse
even the real bona fide profiteer-the
man who is frankly out for the money.
and out for nothing but the money
finds that his $500 profit" on such
q transaction as we have considered
shrinks down, in the course of very
little time, to something altogether un-
like $500 .a
The quickest retOrt you can make
is that, while wholesale prices have
been dropping all along the line, re-
tail, prices have been holding up
Pick up your newspaper and sean the
business page. Read the financial
newspapers. You will see this retOrt
Banker, manufacturer, financial ed
itOr, business WHITEHALL Of them with
one accord seem to hit out at the re-
taller without expecting reply. The
retailer is at present something of Il
punching bag In the business world.
His business, apparently, is to take
punishment and keep his mouth shut.
l,As matter of fact-tlivOrcfng the
matter once and for all from the
realms of pure imagination-the or
binary small retailer is the last man.
al,ag the sales route which merchan-
disc travels between the producer and
consumer. to be reached by falling
prices. The mouth of a river. farthest
from the source, is last to he touched
By, the flowing water. More than
most people think the man who sells
to you is still paying high prices to the
man from whom he buys. The wool
in, the suit you buy today probably
went into that suit when wool was at
IT'S peak. That particular wool, is
still carrying with it the highest price
At which wool has sold in the last two
years.
There have been. Of course. rednc-
tions in the cost Of labor. amounting
in some places. to as ninth rs ~ ISef'
cent. But if the yarn spinner cuts his