Imperial Valley press., 1937-09-24

| tne ClOLnlng 1lelQ. since laSL sep
tember retail price tags have been
marked up 10 per cent on the
average. Spring merchandise first
showed the effects of shoppers re-
siStance. Sales have been gradually
slowing down since then. 1t is in
teresting to note that a mems
clothing chain has just announced
it's Fall price of $1985. Last Spring
this concern marked its line UP
from $18.75 to $21. To move their
goods this Summer, the price had
to be cut to $3.50. These various
retail price advances have pushed
the volume of retail sales below
a year ago for the first time in
twenty-eight months.
Trade Below 1886
There are other illustrations of
consumer resistance. Prices on 1888
automobile models are to be higher
and dealers have their fingers
crossed. Under pressure of a 16
per cent increase in costs, building
has now dropped below the level
of the preceding year for the first
time since May, 1884. Fuel oil is
another product which feels the
effects of higher prices. Automatic
stoker sales are catching up with
oil burner sales. In some Eastern
cities higher prices have put fuel
oil on a SD ton equivalent to
stove coal which is still $3.50 a
ton.
Higher labor costs are big
factor in these advanced prices.
Moderate and justified wage in
creases are a tonic to industry. But
too sharp or unjustified advances
ultimately do the worker more
harm than good. Those businesses
that gave the largest wage boosts
were the ones which were forced
to make the biggest price mark
ups. Their business is now slowing
down. OF course, some Short-Sighted
manufacturers are using higher op-
Grating costs as an alibi to lift
prices. But the innocent suffer with
the guilty. Workers who are being
put on part time are now seeing
that wage booms are not all day
are cracked UP to be.
Price-Fixing UnsOund
Consumers are wondering if these
higher prices have any connection
with "price-fixing". The new Tyd-
ings-Miller Act opens the gates to
national price-fixing. 1t permits
manufacturers to fix minimum
prices for trade-marked articles
where the same is allowed by state
law. ice-fixing is bound to lead
to all kinds or abuses. The con-
sumner will be held up by this act
Efficient distributors will be PEN
allied. But the law may prove a
boomerang to retailers and manu-
faoturerS. Those merchants who
hold price umbrella over their
branded merchandise may see their
trade flocking TO the cut-price pri-
vate brands.
With consumers daily becoming
more price conscious, the balance
between these producing and SELL
ing costs must shift over the next
few years. Manufacturers must alb
sorb higher costs through larger
volume, while merchants must get
the mass production spirit of in
creaSing sales output per man-hour.
But there will be revolutionary de-
velopmentS in the distribution field.
Consumer bidding, consumer re-
search, consumer clubs and con-
sumer cooparatives are but a few
of the changes which will give the
worker more goods for every dollar
of his income.
The subject of retail prices is
the hottest issue of the hour. We
hear a lot about putting more
money into the workers pay en-
velope. What I want to see is the
pay envelope putting more goods
into the workers market basket.
Capitalism is the soundest econo-
mic system that the world has
yet devised and mass production
is the greatest development since
capitalism was born. But the ef-
fects of mass production are being
nullified by selfish manufacturers,
workers, and retailers who refuse
to let its benefits be passed along
to the consumer. The long-term
future of capitalism lies in our
ability to hitch up mass consump-
tioO beside mass r,rOductinn