Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1922-12-14
ADVANCING PRICES

1t continued, although under different conditions.
ADVANCING PRICES
Prices since the war period have been cratic
and unequal, SO that it has been difficult at times
to know just what was the actual trend. All of us,
however, have knowledge of the two great price fea-
lures of recent years; first, the abnormal advance
in all lines during the later war years, and which
for two years after the war closed, and
second, the sudden defation which followed. Dur
ing the deAation period various prices yielded az
the conditions affecting different industries made
themselves felt in varying degrees, and for a time
certain prices might go abnormally low while 9TH
ers remained stationary or even showed a tendency
to advance.
For some time there was no perceptible general
price change The prices Of certain items changed.
but changes in one direction were practically bal
anced by other changes in the opposite direction.
Now we are evidently in a new period of advanc-
ing prices, evidences Of which are to be found on
every hand.
Reports from the wholesale trade in drv goods,
lumber, paper, clothing, and many other commodi-
ties tell of increased demand and higher price ten
denotes. In some cases the prices which are actual
y quoted are very substantially higher than they
were a few months ago. In some lines orders will
not be accepted for future delivery except at the
prices which the market calls for at the time of de-
livery. Nor is the farmer omitted from this general
advance. Wheat, the commodity in which the
northwestern farmer is most deeply interested, is
20 cents higher today than it was a few weeks ago.
When one seeks a cause for this general up
ward tendency it is not easy to find one other than
that Of taking advantage of increased demand and
charging prices accordingly. Wages have not,been
lowered greatly since the war, but neither have
they advanced except slightly in a few industries.
Labor costs, therefore, are in general no higher
than they were a year ago. Raw material is no
scarcer now than it was then. The one cause of
higher prices appears to be the ability of those who
have the goods to get the higher prices. In fact,
trade circulars are quite frank in ~ascribing higher
|prces to better demand. There is no talk of
|greater cost of production. 1t appears to be a case
simply of getting when the getting is good.
From what quarter, does this increased demand
come? Certainly not from the agricultural districts
of the west, for the buying power of the west has
been seriously curtailed by the unfavorable prices of
most farm products. The demand comes from the
manufacturing sections Of the east, where, after what
may have been an extreme of depression, there has
come about a reaction in Corresponding measure
which has in some degree speeded up the wheels
of industry. The industrial population can consume
an immense quantity Of goods, and when that popu-
lation is employed at high wages, it has money to
spend for those goods. The habit of spending
freely was given a great impetus during the years
OF high prices, and it is a habit easily resumed.
But where does this lead? The industries CAN
not long exist by themselves. They constitute but
one part of our economic structure. The other part
lies in the production Of those things which are de.
rived from the soil, from the mines, forests and
farms:- The manufacturing industries can remain
active only if their products are consumed by the
entire population and not merely by one section Of
it. Increased activity in the manufacturing must
lead to some increased demand for the products 81
the farm, and consequently to somewhat higher
prices, But somewhere the prices Of manufactured
goods and of natural products must meet if indus.
try is to continue. : That meeting can be accom-.
plished only through increased farm professor lower.
ed prices for other commodities, or from a combina;
ton of both. Unless there is such a meeting the
present business activity which istnoted in the east
must be of short duration.
There can be no such thing except for a very
brief period, as one-sided prosperity in q nation. 1