Indiana daily times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1914-1922, 1921-06-15

said the retailers HE is operating on
the lowest margin of profit Of any bust
ness or industry in the country, and the
housewife or purchaser should not forget
the fact that prices already are down
The statements of the retailers were
not made through an optimistic atti-
tude toward business, they said, but
rather as plain, cold statements of facts
The burden of the high price era. while
it has been placed there does not rightly
belong on the shoulders Of the retailer
they claim. This, they say, Is because
the retailer is the one with whom the
purchaser comes in direct contact, and
necessarily. he gets the blame.
OTHER FELLOW HAS
NOT DONE HIS PART"
"The other fellow has not done his
part" say the retailers. eve are oper-
ating at the lowest possible margin, pay
ing high rents, forced to pay high
transportation rates, and are paying the
same scale of wages which We paid dur
ing the war period, which was the PEAK
Of high salaries.
IN spite of these other high expenses
the retailer has been dropping his prices
until they are 40-tO 30 per CEN
lower that they were three years ago.
IF there is any person who does no
believe that the retail prices of com
modities have not dropped extensively
let him go into one Of chain Of stores
and get the prices for one hundred
pounds Of sugar. e barrel of potatoes and
a barrel of flour, which were effective
one year ago." said Erie $. kinnear
Marion. head of a chain of stores in In
diana. Ohio and Michigan.
"Then when he gets those prices, lei
him walk about the store, and find out
how many different articles he can buy
today for the same amount of money
which he would have paid one year age
for three articles. That is the way tC
get a cancrete understanding of the fact
that retail prices are down."
While. with reductions of freight rates
fuel. salaries. rents, labor and other
prices. will eventually mean lower price
on retail merchandise, it will not mean
a larger margin of profit for the dealer,
they said. Their prices viii go down
accordingly. but the retailers emphasized
the fact that prices never will reach their
pre-war level. The whole thing, in a
nutshell. they declared, rests with the
manufacturer and the wholesaler. who
has not reduced the price Of his goods to
the retailer.
The merchants were optimistic about
trade conditions. The silk shirt era has
pasred. they said, and the people are
buying more conservatively. and more
economically now than ever before in his
tory. This is a good omen, they say,
for business conditions.
MCKEE OPTIMISTIC
or T-TE FUTURE.
Talks were made at the morning SEES
sion by Homer Mckee, president of
Homer Mckee, Inc, advertising service
R. c. Lowell, director of vocational edu-
cation in the Indianapolis schools, and
A. z. Letter, COnaersville merchant
america can't 90 broke, an era of good
business conditions viii follow the re-
adjustment period" said Mr.. Mckee.
The public is now in a show me- spirit
and from long reading of the nationally
advertised goods knows the various prod
ucts thoroughly. The public viii buy il
prices are right
''EetaiIers in Indiana and indianapolis
are far ahead of those in New York In
attempting to return TO right prices and