The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1927-05-16
(RuIIetin Of the Centrosoyuzl

mination of the civil war has restor-
ed our agriculture and industry to
the pre-war level. However, although
our industry has been restored, the
prices of manufactured goods still
exceed by far the pre-war level. Our
state industry and the cooperatlves
are now confronted with the problem
of reducing prices and thereby on the
one hand increasing the buying capa
city of the toilers, and on the other,
avoiding the opening up again Of the
Scissors" representing the difference
in the price index between agricul-
tural and industrial products.
An agreement has been arrived at
| between the government, the state in
dustry and the cooperatives, which
resulted in the decision Of the Council
Of Labor and Defense Ca supreme gov
eminent organ Of the U. S. S. r. of
July 2, 1926. This decision calls foa
1870 reduction Of retail prices from
the indexes that prevailed on May 1,
1926, in certain industrial products,
by the LIST of August of the same
year.
The price reduction campaign
should not as yet be considered as
ended. On the contrary, to the ex-
tent that the task of reducing retail
prices still remains, as before, one of
the most important tasks of the econ
omic policy of the Soviet government,
we must draw the balance of the re-
suits obtained from the price reduc-
ton campaign, explain it, discover
the factors which retarded the reduc
ton of prices, draw up a prospective
plan for further reduction and point
out the best methods of actually
bringing about reduced prices.
Task of the Conference.
All the enumerated tasks were
brought up before the conference of
representatives from the internal
trade committees and the consumers
cooperatives convened by the trade
commissariat and the centrosoyuz.
A number of factors which retard-
ed the process of reducing retail
prices was revealed at this confer
ence.
Some of the factors are such as the
rise in the wholesale prices of GER
tain manufactured goods and increas-
ed expenditures on items which are
oeycnd the control of the trading or
CARNATIONS Increased freight tariffs,
higher rates of remit. 1t was also
found at the conference that "one Of
the causes preventing the reduction
of retail prices in many towns is the
system of surcharges put into prac-
tice by the trade commissariat" This
system is not flexible enough and
often does not permit the local trad
! ing committees to fix a lower level
of surcharges commensurate with the
1 possibilities of the market and the
ing organizations. The conference de-
voted good deal of attention to the
circumstances that our trading APP
raraius is still imperfect and massive,
it takes very long before commodities
reach the consumer and that the
overhead expenses cause the prices
to be very high. 1t was also pointed
out that the working methods of the
state trading apparatus and the CO.
operatives have not been sufficiently
rationalized, and that this causes
high overhead expenses, making the
reduction of prices within a short
period impossible.
1t was also pointed out that the too
simple commercial methods of APP
proach on the part of many coopera-
tives and state trading organizations
has also played not the least role in
bringing about the meagre results OBJ
tanned from the last price reduction
campaign. The aspiration to replace
the shortage of owned capital by an
accelerated rate of accumulation, led
to the absolutely impermissible utili-
cation of the favorable market con-
ditions for the extortion Of extraor-
binary high profits.
What The Conference Decided.
In pointing out all factors which
prevented the reduction Of prices, and
estimating them at their true value,
the conference acted on the prospects
Of further price reductions.
The conference recorded that the
emergency between industrial and
agricultural prices on the one hand
and between wholesale and retail
prices on the other, menaces the fur
Their preservation Of healthy relations
between the town and the country
side. From here it follows that the
reduction Of retail prices still re-
mains one of the principal problems
of our national economy, to the cor
rect ard quick solution Of which the
efforts ard energy Of the trading and
regulating organizations must be d.
rected
Insofar as reduction Of wholesale
prices Of manufactured goods is about