FALL IN PRICES.

Taranaki Daily News, 12 June 1920, Page 5

FALL IN PRICES.

; RECENT NEWS FROM AMERICA. ' BANKS AND PUBLIC COMBINE. Quite a flutter has been caused in local commercial dovecots by the cable messages from America and Eng- ' land as to the slump in prices. One effect of the published messages is a sudden cessation of buying orders, local | warehousemen and retailers having concluded that the reign of high prices is at , an end, and that thty must "stand from ; under" if they would save themselves serious losses. Whether they are right in so acting only time can determine, but there may be another aspect to the . matter. For example, one importing firm sought to elucidate the position by cabling to New York for information . as to the actual position. Their interpretation of the reply received is that the retailers in America, who havu been making enormous profits, are now being forced to reduce their prices on account of consumers, who had reached tho limit of their endurance, making a more or less organised stand and refusing to pay the high rates. The deplorable transportation facilities existing at the present time in America, mainly due to labor troubles and the shortage of coal (which in turn led to congestion in the factories and warehouses), was considered to be an important factor in bringing about a temporary reduction in prices. Another factor was the action of the banks in reducing loans and overdrafts. Such conditions had so far {continued the cable , message) only reflected on the retailers. The manufacturers' prices had remained unchanged, and they insisted that the position would not "affect their quotations, as their production was sold for six months ahead; also that labor's demands were forcing under-production. The probability of a short cotton crop would also tend to keep up prices, and although, at the moment, t*u marfcet for certain weights of grey goods was somewhat easier, ofa account of over-specula-t:on, colored goods wore remaining firm. An extract from a letter just received by the local agents of a big Now York e.vporting firm reads as follows: "The independent attitude of labor is decidedly reflected in the attitude taken bp the ' manufacturers with their buyers, and the condition to-day is that in placing many orders we must personally wait on the manufacturer and beg him to aecept our order at his terms, i can see no help but for higher prices and greater difficulty in securing goods. " °lt is claimed that the next big strike will be staged in the Fall River section, where Labor is now making a demand for a 50 per cent, increase in wages. This will affect the entire textile trade, and is causing much uneasiness among the up-town crowd; that they have been making enormous profits there i* no doubt, but they want these -profits to continue, and as long as demand keeps up there seems to be every reason to believe that the higher wages paid labor will simply be added on to the cost of material, with a little more for good measure. There is considerable talk in ' the papers about reducing purchases, but , you .see very little of this, and the consumer seems to be buying just as ' heavily as ever." ' 1