Mohave County miner and our mineral wealth., 1922-05-19
l |pABS0N, statist;cian panGcs
 ID on Business Condition s
THE TRUTH ABOUT
 RETAIL PRICES

THE TRUTH ABOUT
 RETAIL PRICES
 Roger w. Babson, explains the high cost of living.
 Wellesley Hills, May 14th.-Discus- sing the general trend of the business revival, Roger w. Babson, the statis- tician today pointed out one of the factors that is holding up prices and living costs.
 "Wherever I have been on my trip these past three months," said Mir. Babson, complaints have come from all sources of the high retail prices. Now, there is no gainsaying the fact that retail prices are out of line with wholesale prices. There has not been a reduction in retail prices to corres- pond with the reduction in wholesale prices. A part of this difference is perfectly natural as movements in re- tail prices must of necessity lag from six months to year behind changes in wholesale prices. But even allow ing for this natural lag, statistics in- dicate that the retailer has not yet made the readjustment which has been made by the wholesaler. This is an established fact and it is useless for retailers to claim otherwise. Whether retailers are to blame for not making this readjustment is, however, a de- batablc question. My investigations thus far lead me to believe the retail CT is not to blame, but is victim of certain economic changes which have taken place during the past few years.
 Tn the lumber regions of the south, which I visited recently standard hard pine at the mill increased during the war from 100 to 200 per cent, over pre-war levels. Today it is back to normal. The lumber industry, how ever, has had practically only one main factor to contend with, namely, the price it pays for labor. Three years ago when these mills were pay ing $3 to $4 day per man, now they are paying from $1 to $1.50 day and are getting much better men. By be- ing able to quickly cut their operating costs so drastically it has been a sim pie matter for them to reduce the price of their product. Moreover, their volume is such that they are perfect ly satisfied with a profit at g per thousand feet. '.
 "When this lumber reaches the city the retailer demands a profit of $10 per thousand simply for peddling it out. Of course from a economic point of view it seems absolutely unjust that the man who owns the forest, cuts the timber, makes and delivers to your city the lumber should get; only $2 thousand while the retailer in your town who simply takes it from the railroad yards to your house gets $10 pen thousand. Yes, this seems very unfair, yet examination shows that most mill owners have become wealthy while only few local dealers have ever made much money and the percentage of failures among lumber yards is abnormally great. In short, the retailer, under present economic conditions, really needs this apparent ly abnormal profit which he is get ting. The truth is that retailing has become so complicated that the retail CT is the victim of circumstances over which herhas little control. My thoughts" continued MT. Bab- son, Ego back to boyhood days in Gloucester, Massachusetts. There was butcher shop near my home where we used to buy our meat. I can see it now with the hams, and bacon hang ing upon the wall, big block in the center of the store behind which was a fat healthy butcher( the proprietor of the establishment, and the sole em- ployee. When my father wanted some beef he gave me the money and sent me to the market to get it. The butcher gave me the cut my father desired, wrapped it in a brown paper and took it home, paying cash for the same. The price of good beef in those days was twenty to thirty cents a pound. There, however, were no de- liveries and the butcher didn't spend anything on ice in the winter time for l remember the frost there used to be on those butcher store windows al- though the butcher was healthy and happy man.
 To-day the same store is used for a butcher shop but it is steam heated, land the proprietor buys nearly as
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