New Britain herald., 1924-10-07
AN UNEARNED SLAP AT THE HARDWARE TRADE

THE HARDWARE TRADE
 Among the businesses scored b the federal trade commission in 1t latest report was that of the hard ware trade, especially retailers vh, are charged with opposing thei competitors. including sales by man ufacturers direct to consumers an, so-called irregular dealers.
 II would take one of the renowned Philadelphia lawyers to determin, where that Is an illegitimate en deavor. Why should retail hard ware dealers, or dealers in any othe. commodity, assist competitors?
 Groups of hardware dealers ar, charged with holding meetings a which prices are supposed to hayt been discussed. Why should men 1T any particular business meet solely to discuss the weather or baseball games? What else would they be more likely to discuss than prices the business outlook and matters pertaining to their calling?
 The federal agricultural depart ment stimulates the formation ot farmers organizations and sends them literature by the ton, the object of which is to show them how to obtain better prices for their product, and how to raise the uuali- ty of farm produce that command highest prices.
 Hardware men are not in business for their health or for recreation, any more than farmers are soil tillers for such reasons. There is no law against either class meeting to discuss the state of the trade, prices, credits or how to make both ends meet
 Hardware dealers attempt to pre- vent manufacturers from selling di- rect to consumers, as some are said to have been threatening to do or some in fact have done Such an attempt is perfectly legitimate. It is not saying that the attempt Is or Shas been successful The commits sion's report apparently does not make the charge that success has attended such efforts, According to the commission, tn? mere attempt by tradesmen to protect their inter- ests if they can seems to be obnoxi- ous-to the commission.
 Then comes the charge that deal CTS of various household utensils charge more to buyers on the install ment plan than they charge for cash! We do not think the commis- sion has gone crazy, but here is evil dence that some other commission needs 10 investigate it.
 Who in his senses would expect to buy goods on the iastalment plan as cheaply as when paying cash: Only in the case of few articles and under special circumstances is that possible. Tn some cases of instalment sales the public is told that an arti- cle costs go much for cash and so much "on time;" and the public is left to takes its choice.
 What is wrong in such a system? Tn most cases, while the dealer is waiting a year or more for his money he has to pay the manu'ac- turer or the jobber. He has to pay out of his capital or by borrowing from bank; in the first case he loses the use of the money and it's earning power meanwhile, and in tn latter case he has to pay interest
 The commission says that install ment prices "sometimcs' are 25 or 30 per cent higher than cash prices and in "one case" over 50 per cent We have ne;er heard of such eases, but do not doubt that very occa- siosa)lv an interruptions daal"r' meeting with dumbbell, might pick his pockets in this manner, just like occasionally a seller of real estate confronted with a foolish and over anxious customer, will set a price twice as high as the property sought is worth. But such cases are eNcep- tions and the august trade commis- sion goes far afield to indict honest men for the doubtful practices "sometimes found' or located Tn one case" throughout a broad eA- panse of 5000 miles, when it admits ,bs instalment increases are most freouently" only to 10 per cent bishsr-an entirely legitimate figure The Herald does not defend deal CTS because they are dealers or the hardware trade because ss~ Britain