New Britain herald., 1930-09-23
Price-Fiixing Measure Attacked At Retail Conference as Block
 To Reduction of Living Costs
Speaker Declares Un6xed Prices Fall More Readily
 Sales Tax Assailed as Impeachment to Chain Stores.

Boston, Sept. 2S P,-The evils of price-flxing were chief among the topics for discussion before the Bos- ton conference on retail distribution today, Addresses on proposed legis- lation affectinfi the retail trade, the mortality among stores and adver- Using from the view point of the consumer rounded out the second day of the conference.
 "A raise in the cost of living and restriction of the buying power of the public" was the prediction of Major Benjamin Namm, president of the Namm Store, Brooklyn, ". Y, in the event of the passage of the ce-fixing bill which comes before congress for a vote next December.
 Price fixing will undoubtedly in crease the cost of distribution" he said. "rhe essence of stock turnover is price reduction, swift, drastic low ering of the price of any article that does not sell. But there can be no price reduction under the proposed law except at the whim of the man. ufacturer.
 "The bill says that price fixing may be applied to any article of commerce.
 Fixed Prices Still High
 "Witness how commodity prices have declined during the past year. Witness also how few of the fixed prices on branded articles were low cred by the manufacturer when the cost of raw materials dropped. The manufacturer is apparently thinking in terms of eating his cake and hav- ing it too. He would like the retailer to maintain prices even during per- iods of fluctuations.
 Discussing some of the indirect ef fleets of price fixing, Major Namm listed as the first the fostering of monopolies." He continued with a discussion of price fixing as a curb to chain stores and it's moral effects on the buyer.
 Sales Tax Hampers Chains
 William Nelson Taft, editor of the Retail Ledger, branded sales tax legislation as ''an impediment to the chain store" by it's use of de- duction as practiced in the majority of states where it is now in force. The sales tax is born, MT. Taft said, of a desire by state legislatures "of some easy and comparatively pain less emthod for raisin additional money to take care of growing de- fcits in state treasuries."
 Legislatures and their tax ad- visers apparently overlook the fact that it is both troublesome and ex- pensive for the manufacturer or re- taller to operate in the capacity of a tax collector" he sid.
 Skilled Merchants Succeed
 The mortality among stores was the subject of an address by Ed mund R., McGarry. professor of marketing at the University of Buff falo. Calling attention to the fact that the mortality of grocery stores is almost three times that of drug stores," Professor McGarry said that the mortality rates appear highest in those trades in which the scale of operation is extremely small, in which no special skill is obviously needed, and in which there are no legal restrictions such as the require ments for registered pharmacists in the. drug business"
 He suggested as a deterrent to the high mortality rate the education of tn general public as to the hazards involved in the retail trade.
 Paul Cherington, director of re- search for J. Walter Thompson Co.,, New York, addressed the conference on the viewpoint of the consumer on advertising, and Alvin Dodd. as- sistant to the president of Sears, Roebuck & Company, spoke on the training of executive man power to carry on.