Toledo union journal. [volume] (Toledo, Ohio) 1942-current, 1947-03-07
What's
New?
By
Edwdrd Duck

SlluS lllCCb IOOoJ Oob 90 LllS
elite of society swarm about
the smorgasbord table for a
Sunday afternoon feed, each
determined to miss none of
the dainty tidbits which de-
light the appetite, so do an
ever eager multitude of mer-
chants, haWkers, and usurerS
outdo each other in their will
ingness to pluck the green
back from your purse.
They compete with each
other in a manner of speak
ing, but not really. Vultures
compete, if you care to con-
slider it competing, when pick
ing the bones of the dead, but
like the American business
men, they make sure they
pick 'em clean" They don't
outbid each other, and they
don't miss any corpses. Our
tradesmen, like the vulture
or jackal, get the most out of
their victim, and they don't
fight over him while he gets
away.
You see, there's no such
thing as getting away" A
person can get away from the
doctor, but he lands in the
morgue. We can get away
from the grocer, no doubt, by
starving to death, but it's
more fun living, even if you
have to work your head off
to keep doing it.
NECESSITIES
There are certain things you
cannot do without. These are
vurgarly referred to as "the
necessities of life" and most
of the nobility would prefer
not to discuss such a sordid
topic, but being of the mob
ility," we shall:
Food, cigarettes, gasoline,
clothing, and homes are i'm
portant items in the life of
the wage Garner. If there
were such a thing as genuine
competition among manufac-
turers, wholesalers, retailers
and real estaters, our prob
lem would not be so perplex-
ing. Instead of competition we
find collaboration. When the
price of milk is raised anoth-
er penny per quart or when
gasoline goes up, it doesn't
just happen here and there,
but everyone raises his price
simultaneously, or within a
few days of the others.
That, ladies and gentlemen,
is the new price, and you'll
find the shopkeeper across the
street charging the very same
identical price. What to do?
Pay the price or do without.
You now pay a dollar for a
haircut, eighteen cents for a
quart of milk, seventy-some-
thing for butter, five dollars
for a two-dollar shirt, and
Lord-only-knows how much
for anything falling into the
gyp category known as "serv-
ices"
A friend of mine ran out
of gas enroute to Fremont
from Port Clinton. For a can
of gasoline delivered to his
automobile the station attend
ant charged the small fee of
eight dollars. The customer
should have demanded a kiss
in the bargain, or something,
or are service" prices that
high now in Fremont? The
chap was lover the barrel"
stranded on a little-traveled
road on a cold night, so he
was MIXED for as much as he
could stand.
ONE WAY RIDE
Many an automobile re-
pairman, jewelry or radio
takes the public for
a one-way ride. When you
pay the bill you find that this.
that, and the other thing was
and a bill of particu-
lars is submitted that makes
you wonder how the car or
the watch or the radio man
aged to work at all, what with
the many ailments it is sup
posed to have had. Lo and be-
hold, you're in trouble again
two weeks later and you dis
cover the guy never put new
rings in at all, or that all the
radio needed was a couple of
new tubes, that the trouble
was located in two minutes
and fixed in ten. What price
piracy!
The trouble is, ladies and
gentlemen, that we are not
accorded the privilege of bar
gaining" with the business
who arbitrarily raise their
prices when they feel there is
more money to be drained
from our pocketbooks, but be.
fore we can get any more
dough from our employer we
must argue for months at a
time, finally either threaten
ing to strike or actually strik-
ing.