The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1933-12-11
HIGHER CLOTHES
COST FAILS TO
PRODUCE PROFIT
National Retailers Group
Cites Better Wages
Among Factors.

By Times Special
CHICAGO, Dec. 11.-Probably the
first authentic explanation of the
price increase in apparel is to be
found in price study just made by
the National Association of Retail
Clothiers and Furnishers.
The study is designed to answer
the public's question: why has
the price of certain items of apparel
advanced so sharply"
1t points out. among other things,
that increased prices no longer
represent increased profits, as they
have in the past, but actually are
the earmarks of social and eco
nomic advancement.
The abolition of child labor, rails
ing of the minimum wage scale,
reduction of hours of adult labor
these, it is pointed out, are what
the public pays for in that margin
of increase over 1882 prices.
The National Association Of Re
tail Clothiers and FurniShers, which
represents mems apparel stores in
all sections of the country, has re-
leased only the first part of its
study-a section dealing with mems
shirts.
Items in Higher Cost
In making it's investigation it has
started with the first step in manu-
facture-the processing of cotton. In
its effort to aid farm conditions, the
federal government charges the
professor approximately $40 per bale
for cotton, or about AZ cents per
pound.
Then the cotton goes to the spin
ner. In great number of the
spinning mills, child labor previous
ly was used and under the code has
been eliminated Higher wages have
been paid to adult workers and in
addition to this the hours per week
allowed for production have been
cut down from possibly 100 to 80.
This means that the plant overhead
must be spread over the production
of eighty hours instead of 100 with
consequent increase in cost of ap-
proximately SO 1-3 per cent.
Almost an identical situation exists
in the weaving mills where child
labor also was previously employed,
where wages have been increased,
where hours of labor have been cut
down and production reduced. All
this has brought about another
33 1-3 per cent cost increase.
But cloth must be finished before
it can be made into shirts. Adhesive
or Stiffening properties and various
chemical ingredients must be intro
duced, after which the cloth is
treated with certain mechanical
processes. The f1nishers are now
working under a code which calls
for minimum wages ard maximum
hours. 1t is estimated that this
has increased the cost of finishing
cloth anywhere from Il to l cent
per yard.
Wage Raise Cited
In certain factories, the report
shows, the average earnings of
workers were about 221a cents an
hour, whereas under the code the
minimum wage is 321a cents an
hour. Here also hours have
been limited from 81 to 40, with
overhead remaining the same. This
has brought an increased cost of
about Is per cent.
Shirts must have buttons, thread,
collar Innings; they must be wrapped
and packed in boxes. Each one of
these individual industries has its
own code with reduced hours of
labor and increased wages. All along
the line there are increased costs.
BY the time the shirt reaches the
retailer he finds that the garment
which he was able to sell to the
public for 81 in 1892 costs him more
than that at wholesale today.
The retailer, under the retail code,
the study shows, has improved
working conditions and assumed in
creased costs. He is entitled to an
increased profit, but in many in
stances has maintained the same
margin in the hope Of increasing
public blVing power.