Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1922-01-10
Trailing the Retail Profteer.

Some editors doubt If the retail
profiteer really exists; others think
he is not nearly so bad as painted.
and still others believe if ne does ex-
ist and is apprehended there is moth
ing that can be done about 1t, but all
are agreed that the Attorney General
is rendering a service to the public
and to the conscientious retailer in
his effort to clear up the mystery of
he margin between wholesale and
retail prices.
1T is to be hoped" says the Rich
mond Times Dispatch (democratic)
that in this undertaking Attorney
General Daugherty is not making
mere gesture, as did his predecessor
in similar undertaking." and the
Newark News independently admits
"a ray Of hope. Mr. Palmer was buck
ing the combined effects Of a war
shortage and an unexampled buying
capacity among our people. Things
are quite different now. Especially as
the retail market does not seem to
have fully liquidated in some lines
and as the industrial depression has
not been overcome. the conditions ia
vor price reduction unless upheld by
combination"
AS to these combinations of retail
ers. which the Boston Transcript Gin
dependent republican, characterizes
as men who sell schemes to defeat
the laws of the country by forming
associations in which distortion is
disguised as competition" the Brook
Ign Eagle independent democratic)
believes that
Every housewife in America is in
terested In the news that with a free
hand granted by the principle of the
in To Il
wood combination case, Attorney Gen
eral Daugherty is going after the re-
tail profiteers In foods. clothes and
fuel. The grocers' associations, the
butchers associations are not so COM
pactly organized or SO energetically
system, but their principle Is precise
ly the same. Keeping prices up is
what mutual benefit means to them"
The individual retailer, in the
opinion of the papers that go into
this phase of the problem. is the least
Of all to blame for the prices he
aid independently believes that "con-
sumers are partly to blame for the
high cost of living" since credit and
cost of service are the principal
items in high retail prices" and 1.-The
next item of Importance is the over
head. It naturally follows that if
maintained in an average residential
neighborhood the public has to pay
for service that it could get cheaper
and better from one store" The
Arizona Republican Independently
scionable" leveled by the Attorney
General against retail prices on
what the Louisville Courier-Journal
(democratic) calls "the big four"
when prices are discussed-"food.
fuel. shoes and clothing"-is found
ed on a superficial view" That
all lines is not to be doubted" but
the Republican does not think 1t has
been general" The Boston Post
Independent democratic) finds zone
flaw in the Daugherty process, and
that is that the comparison is to be
between the production costs of the
commodities and the prices the pub
lie knows-that Is, the prices in the
retail stores and markets I'm
less we are told what the retailer
pays, the vast in between the pub
lie may be very unfair in its judg-
leans Times-Picayune independent
democratic) thinks that while the re-
taller, who, because he comes in
contact with the consumer becomes
the natural victim of profiteering
charges will nevertheless profit by
will give him the chance to set him.
self right with his own customers
and his own community"
'The public does not stop to think"
the Ell Paso Times (democratic) says.
in extenuation Of the retail dealer.
shat prices Of production underwent
tremendous changes within a few
years. # the. baker could cut his
wages, overhead and 50 on, in an
equal ratio with the -four reduction,
he would have no difficulty in making
sharp reduction In bread prices"
Louis Post-ptspatch independently
observes that heavy price cuts in the
retail field have already been made,
"enough to Indicate what reductions
can be made without the sacrifice Of
auctions have not been made there
is ground for the suspicion Of agree
ment through the open price list or