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TME LEADFR TRIBUNE. PORT V ALLEY, G* APN'l 1C *920
WHY GLOTHING PRICES ARE HIGHER
Being a Tabulation of a Few Prices Comparisons For Raw Material and Production
Before the War and Now.
By CHARLES E. WRY
(In the National Clothier.)
So much has been said and printed about profiteering and there has
been so much gross misrepresentation with it all, that in many instances
the public has come actually to believe that all the price advance in
commodities has simply been that much extra profit added by the re¬
tailer.
It is with the purpose of showing the rank injustice of such thought
that this article has been prepared.
People seem not to have considered the fact that for more than four
years every ounce of energy of the great producing nations of the world
had been devoted to producing only engines of war, and that millions
of men had been turned from the art of production to the art of de¬
struction, and that during that time the surplus stocks of the world
had been completely exhausted. This applies not only to clothing but
to every commodity.
With peace came unprecedented demand for merchandise of every
kind. This demand, combined with exhausted stocks, the shorter hours
of labor that came into effect during the War, and the consequent low¬
ering of production, has made it absolutely impossible to keep up with
the demand, and this applies to every line.
Under-production is the one great cause for increased prices. Labor
has demanded and received heavy advances in wages. No one in the
clothing trade regrets this wage advance, but nevertheless it has been
one, but only one, of the factors contributing to higher prices. No one de¬
nies that garment workers were woefully underpaid before the War,
but today the garment trade ranks third in the country in average wage
paid, being exceeded only by steel workers and the automobile trade.
So under-production, shorter working hours, increased wages all a
long the line, increased cost of every operation in every line, are the
causes for the higher prices. In clothing you will hear some blame the
wool men, others blame the mill men, others the clothing manufactur¬
ers or the garment workers, and still others the retailers. The facts
are, none of them are to blame. The prices are simply the natural con¬
sequences of the world upheaval and the increased costs that have
come as a result.
However, it was not the intention to go into a lengthy dissertation on
the “whys”’ and “wherefores” in this article but rather to record some
of the actual comparisons of costs that have had their influence in the
final prices the consumer pays for the merchandise.
We will first take up clothing, giving some comparative figures in
each of the processes through which a suit of clothes passes from the
raw wool to the finished product, starting with
The Wool Grower.
Wo list below comparative figures showing cost advances that have
taken place in the production of wool; and which show that the wool
grower, of necessity, must receive a high price for his product to meet
increased cost of production. Wool Growers stock in trade, his tlock. In
First let us consider the
days gone by the wool grower paid $6 to $8 per head for good breeding
ewes—today he pays $'20. Today he pays the Sheep Herder $150 a
month, against a pre-war price of $60, and they have just signed old up
with the Sheep Shearers at a price of 17 cents per head, against the
price of 7 cents. Wool twine used in tying fleeces which formerly cost
6 cents per pound is today 10 cents per pound. The wool bags Used in
shipping wool formerly 20 cents are today 75 cents.
From these comparisons you will see the wool grower has to advance
his price. today,
Another factor affecting wool prices is the fact that every¬
one demands only the finest grades of merchandise, made from fine
wools which shrink 70 per cent instead of merchandise made from the
medium grade wools which shrink only about 45 congratulated per cent. himself
The Western Wool Grower a few years ago
when he received 15 cents per pound for his wool; today he is establish¬
ing a price of 60 cents and is probably no better off than before, yet this
contributes to the higher cost.
Now let us consider the next step in the process: In 1915 it cost 7
cents per pound to get fine wool combed and 5 1-2 cents per pound for
medium. Today’s price is 21 cents for combing fine wool and 17 cents
for medium. Two hundred and forty-eight Spinning worsted yarn of
fine wool, previously 80 cents, is 90 cents today; medium that was for¬
merly 20 cents, is now 60 cents.
In 1915, 248 worsted yarn (and 248 worsted yarn is used to a large
extent in your fine men’s wear worsted and serges) sold at $1.00 per
pound; today this yarn is $4.50 per pound. In fact every process such
as washing, spooling, weaving and finishing, you can figure at about the
ratio of 3 to 1 over pre-war prices.
Before the war labor in the woolen mills, mostly foreigners, was woe¬
fully underpaid; today this wage as compared with 1915 shows an in¬
crease of from 200 to 230 per cent. Before the war the fifty-four hour
week prevailed; today forty-eight hours is the basis week in the wool¬
en industry.
Blue dye used in men’s wear that before the war cost 40 cents per
pound is today $2.50 per pound.
One prominent mill man pointed out to me that his coal bills were
running exactly three times the amount per month that they formerly
were.
In order to keep up the production of a mill with shorter hours in
effect more machinery is required, and this is an item affecting costs,
for all classes of machinery, like everything else, have advanced. For
instance, the carding machine which formerly cost $800 now costs $2
600. The spinning machine which formerly cost $800 now costs $2880.
Thus we see the mill man has his reason for advancing the prices, and
naturally has contributed his share to the higher cost.
[ADVERTISEMENT!
Let us now pass along to the Clothing Manufacturer. He, too, has had
his troubles and these have been of a nature that h«s still further in¬
creased the cost of clothing. Let us start with the fabric. We .will not
make an exhaustive comparison of textile prices but will confine our¬
selves to a few numbers of serges that wiil reflect the general trend of
prices for fabrics, for instance:
Washington Mills Serge
Fall Fall Fall
1915 1919 1920
Washington Mills Serge No. 9613 1-2 . . $1.20 $2.75 $4.35
Washington Mills Serge No.9714-8 . . . 1.42 1-2 15 5.27 1-2
Fulton Serge No. 3197 1.50 20 5.50
Ayer Mill No. 1814-44 1.45 3.30 5.50
Then there are the other materials and supplies that enter into a suit.
We quote below a list of items used as tr'innning, with comparative pri¬
ces, which was recently printed in a booklet published by the Men’s Ap¬
parel Club of Illinois. We have verified these prices and they are cor¬
rect.
Pet.
Material 1915 1919 of Inc.
Alpaca ......... $0.-35 $0.85 M3
Sleeve Lining . . . 18 .7 5 317
Canvas ......... 16 .80 400
Holland......... 15 .oo 333
VV' igan ......... 08. .24 200
Silesia .......... 08 .34 325
Pant Pocketing . . ii .48 336
Sateen .......... 18 .65 261
Haircloth ....... 18 1-2 .49 165
Sleeve Silk Lining o 3.50 204
Silk Body Lining . 12 1-2 3.75 144
Cotton Back Satin 45 1.65 267
Tapes .......... . . 2.10 5.00 138
Spool Spool
Sewing Silk . . 6.33 17.23 174
Lb. Bale Lb. Buie
Wadding . . 6.50 20.00 208
This takes care of the material end of me manufacturers’ business,
but there is still another factor that s ■ d perhaps an even greater
effect upon prices and that is the labor cost. There has been an in¬
crease of more than 185 per cent in labor costs in the men’s garment
trade since the period before the war, and besides (and affecting the
production end) is the‘fact that where fifty-four hours was the basis
week previous to the war forty-four hours is now the standard week
throughout the men’s wear garment trade.
Other overhead expenses have kept pace with these mounting costs
and the sum total of it all is reflected in the final prices the retailer
has to pay.
The retailer cannot help himself—he has to pay the prices asked_
and only adds the necessary margin to cover his cost of doing business
and a very small percentage for a net profit.
So we repeat again: The high prices a. not the result of profiteer¬
ing by any one in the trade. The Department of Justice, after a thor¬
ough investigation, has made the -tat t: 1 that the" are convinced
right that fully prices. 95-per cent of the merchants are selling'merchandise at
After all, clothing is today one ot the cheapest commodities the
public has to buy. There actually has been a lower percentage of ad¬
vance in clothing prices than in almost any other commodity you can
name.
The following comparisons illustrating this fact were sent to the
writer by one of the leading clothing manufacturers.
He pointed out that the farm who ha - ; corn to sell can get a suit
for less corn today than he could in 1914. Then he hail to sell fifty
bushels of corn to get the money to pay for a $25.00 suit of clothes
now his fifty bushels of corn will obtain for him a $60 suit and leave
him $10 over.
The same application can be made to other crops. It took thirty
three .. , bushels , , of , wheat , . to . , buy a $2o _ suit in 1914; November
ifl took only twenty-eight bushels on 1 1919
hundred pounds of cotton buy to buy a $60 suit. It required two
to a $25 suit in 1913 and at present prices
it takes only one hundred and fifty pound to buy a $60 suit Nirmtv
than eight that pounds to buy of butter $60 would suit today. buy a One $25 hundred suit in 1914; it takes ’no more
a and sixty-one pounds
of wool would get a suit of $25 clothes for the sheep raiser and now
one hundred and eighteen and a half-pound:- will bu • a 360 suit
The bricklayer in 1913 had to work fifty-five and a half hours to earn
money for a $25 suit of clothes. Now. with the opportunities for steady
work and overtime, he can earn a $60 suit of clothes with iess effort
It took* black-smith in 1913 seventy hours to earn a $25 suit of clothes
and he can earn a $60 suit now with about equal ease. An unskilled
laborer in the building trades had to work a hundred hours five years
ago to get a $25 suit of clothes. Now he can eat ? 860 one by working
about ninety-five hours. The hod-carrier, the machinist, the plumber
the sheet metal worker, the roller in the steel mills, are in th- game g-n’
eral class. Their hourly rates of work .done wou : d make it possible
for them to put forth no more effort to earn a suit of clothes whereas
in these days they have steadier work and plenty of pav for’overtime
Incomes of the greater part of the population of the country show
quite generally that there is either less effort required to get t loth in
or at least no more effort than before the ‘ s v
war.