New-York tribune., 1922-01-01

*Nhfdules, urged owners and managers
- Try Tor greater profits When half
Of fhe year had gone and a large net
income seemed assured, expense items
were lmprovidontly handled Wages.
salaries advertising, repairing, re-
pieniShlng expenses Of all kinds. were
incrca ed with an open-handed liberal
lty never known in normal times and
not IN accord with an economic admin
lstration. You sec, it semed clear that
large part OF it was coming out Of
what would otherwise 20 to taxes Ali
c'asses suffered alike because it was an
lndlvldual matter. Emotional forces
haa waGod and Won the war, and for
awhile thcy were still being used in
place Of calm deliberate Judgment so
necessary in making and executing
business plans. II is hard to imagine
condition that would be any more
demoraizlng to human beings
The war demand ended and the SOL
dlers and workers in war materials
were released. In the carly part OF
1918 many business men and ocono.
mists everywhere expected the period
OF rising prices to end. The public,
as group, also expected the change,
but no man thought he was overpaid
OF believed he could stand reduction
or perhaps some class OF individuals.
was TO blame; he certainly was not.
a nov power in which we American
brslness men We're not experienced in
tcrvened for q time 1t was the power
Of tae nation S credit. we'll organized
and directed b. the Federal Reserve
Bank. This great institution had done
wonderful work during the war. 1t was
now called upoN to save US from bus
ness disaster. Its policy delayed read
iustmcnt for a year. But as soon as
1t saw the extent to which a rcdscount
rate far below The market rate for
money encouraged undue speculation in
commodities and more imitation, it in
creased the discount rate. Banks col
lectod loans and falling prices and de-
,laticn began in earnest.
For several years, under tso reign Of
rising prices. the retailers had been
under shap citicsm. Customes, when
they wrote to papers and officials about
the high cost of living, more frequently
mentioned the ret0ilcr, not because the
retailer is chiefly at fault, but be-
cause he is the only one IN tho limo
between production and consumption
that tho average customer knows. The
retailer has always delivered the goods.
collected the money and adjusted the
complaint.
Let me cite one necessity, for ox-
ample: Tie price Of shoes was and
is sore subject Consumers were
angry. Both the government and man
uiactureNs blamed the retailer alone.
G. the cattle raiser, the cattle dealer
the railroad. the packer, then the hide
dealer, tho tanner, the railroad aga,u.
the manufacturer, the rcNsp paper, the
railroad and the retailer (and he, too
rsed the neWspapcr) all paid molc for
wages, moro for raw mateials, moe for
taxes and insurance. and ncarly every
one Of them used the bankers, who fur
nshed more money per pair Of shoes
at higher rate OF interest.
1t is unnecessary to follow through
the steel and brass from the mine, ard
tho linen thread from the field and the
silk from the worm, that went into
that pair of shoes. 1t is plain that
many investors, many managers, and
literally thousands of workers brought
forth that pair OF shoes. All were de-
manding and getting moro for their
services. Most Of their cost was for
human labor that am sorry to say,
in these hectic years got less efficient
rs il received rorc pay. Set, when
,Ac public complained and the govern
ment took the matter in hand. the
manufacturers committee that went to
Washington, and the authorities there,
seemed to think the retailer was the
only one to blame. The costly propa-
eanda should have sough. for ali the
fact available and taught the whole