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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.