The Chronicle-star combined with the Moss Point advertiser., 1947-04-11
We Told You So

People who run about shaking their fin
gers in other peoples faces and saying W.
told you So are not likely to be very popular
But we are going to risk this unpopular rol,
this week for the sake of getting over wha
seems to US an important idea; and that is
that American business is going to price
itself right into the middle of a depression i
the present unnecessary, irresponsible profit
grabbing is not checked, and if the soaring
price trend is not reversed in line with Pres
ident Truman's timely plea voiced during the
past week.
Here is the box score" on the matter
statistics in black and white based on au
thoritative United States government rec
ords, as reported this week by the Associated
Press:
Between August, 1893, and June. is4s,
the cost of living rose 80 per cent. But that
was only a 80 per cen. rise in six years and
eight months. In the next eight months
between June, 1916. and February, ls47--
living costs jumped another 20 per cent.
or So percent above August 1899.
Why the terrific jump between June.
1916, and February, ls47? Because in that
time OPA all but died and almost all price
controls went out the window"
Business men wanted 1t that way. So
did a lot of congressman. Business men :.
said this: Take controls off. Well produce
goods. Well compete with one another for
customers. Well have to cut prices to get
customers.
But 1t didn't happen. Businesses lacked
up their prices and they've kept them there
-. Last Saturday President Truman asked
business men not to go whole hog for prof
it's He said that If they didn't stop being
hungry for profits, this will happen: Peo-
pie will stop buying which will mean that
people will have to cut down on the amount
of goods 1t produces. In turn that will mean
men thrown out of jobs. Then we'll have
the recession"
That is the present situation in a nutshell.
We know of many instances amongst our fell
low businessmen who profess not to believe
it, one such instance we shall refer to directly.
But there are many others, some of them
among the titans of industry, who realize
that America is indeed faced today with a
crisis of profits which overnight might blow
up and become a crisis of unemployment and
declining business. Among these companies
are Ford, Plymouth and international Har-
vester, who nave voluntarily cut prices in
an effort to start a general movement in bust
ness to reverse the soaring inflationary trend.
We mentioned one business man who does
not believe this and we shall relate a recent
conversation with him, because it represents
what we consider a shortsighted point of view.
This man, who happens to be a relative. was
a partner in a small supply business which
was all but wiped out during the last depres-
sion. His savings, plans, and years of work
went down the drain. He was younger then,
and had the whole future ahead of him. He
rocked along during the 1905 and then came
the war, and he hit the jackpot because he
was in a business with a high priority rating.
For a number of years the business had a
sales volume beyond his widest expectations.
His net profit in 1914 was as great as his total
sales had been years earlier.
But the good times seem TO nave done some
thing to his memory. He apparently has for
gotten the rocky years of the depression.
when he had real troubles. He does not real
1Ze that he is ID years Older now and Will not
have The same fight" left in him if he has to
face il again. He has a great deal of his money
tied up IN a huge inventory because he is
playing the futures" expecting and hoping
that prices will go on rising. We pointed out
to him that purchasing power in the country
is a known figure. rather rapidly being de-
pleted as savings are spent, and that the high
ar nricac 90 the less purchaSino pOWPr is left
to keep the volume moving. We told him that
the 1922 recession was caused by exactly the
same conditions which exist today, and that
when the price structure finally broke be-
cause people quit buying, thousands of bust
ness men just like him who had made some
money in the first war were completely wip-
ed out by having TO slash prices to sell their
inuentnries 1T all He dnesn,t helieNe II He