Evening star., 1947-04-24
Chain 10 Reduce
Prices 1O% on
Canned Goods
First-Line Brands
Included; Other
Commodities Firm
NEWBURYPORT MAYOR cl1al-
lenges wait-and-see cities to join
price cutting plan. Page A-10

tMAYOR cnais
lenges wait-and-see cities to join
price, scouting plan. Page A-l0
"A 20 per cent reduction in the
price of most canned goods will
take effect very shortly" in Dis
trict Grocery Stores, Paul Ker-
man, president of the organiza-
ton, announced today.
He said the reduction would be
in well-known name brands and in
clude such staple commodities as
fruits, vegetables, juices, fish and
meat products.
A reduction in butter prices Of 5
cents q pound was announced
by Safeway Stores. This is In addi-
ton to a 1-cent-a-pound drop re-
ported last Monday.
A check of several stores in the
area disclosed a general rise of Q
cents dozen in the price Of eggs.
following rise in the wholesale
market.
Meat Prices Unchanged.
Except for Safeway, which re-
ported reduction in some cheaper
cuts, meat prices showed little
change.
In regard to the DGS price re-
ductions, Mr.. herman said:
I'VE are in full accord with Presi-
dent Truman'S efforts to reduce the
cost Of living and believe the policy
of 20 per cent reduction is the
most effective way to do this"
In general, Mr.. herman said,
canned goods are overpriced and
have been accumulating on grocers'
shelves.
when the public fails to buy In
sufficient quantity to keep our store
inventories low, then we know it
means only one thing-prices are
too high" Mr.. Herman said. The
cost of groceries, he added, should
fit the average wage earner's ability
to pay,
Expects Soap Prices to Drop.
Mr.. herman said his organization
had not yet been informed of any
decrease in the price of soap as an
nounced by. several soap manufac-
turing companies. But, he said, II
have been anticipating a decline in
soap prices"
The price of soap, he continued,
has been ''too high" for some time.
He pointed out the industry is a
highly competitive one and, since a
few companies had announced re-
ductions, itwwas. likely the others
would foIlRW stlit soon.
| 7, haY& no doubt that we can
annoupoe g. reduction in soap prices
| of abU1t 10 per cent in a few days"
Mr., Herman said.
Mr.. Herman, commenting on the
increased egg prices, said eggs were
E"continuing to hold up when they
should be coming down" This is
the time of year, he pointed out,
when eggs usually are bought for
storage purposes but this year "the
price is still too high for that"
| Safeway said a reduction on some
of the cheaper cuts of meat would
go into effect today but no gen.
eral reduction was in sight. One
of the largest reductions was lamb
neck with the bone in) which
dropped II cents to sell for 10 cents
a pound.
Reduction This Year Doubted.
1 Meanwhile, the Agriculture De-
partment reported that consumers
meat bills for the rest of the year
stand little chance of being mate
rally reduced.
The news was contained in de-
partment report on the livestock and
meat situation, which said:
Supplies this year probably will
not be large enough to cause meat
prices to decline materially unless
consumers incomes fall from cur
rent high levels"
While prices may not fall, con-
sumers at least are assured of even
larger supplies during the rest Of
this year than for the same period
| in 1946