COST OF LIVING.

Press, Volume LVI, Issue 16841, 22 May 1920, Page 9

COST OF LIVING.

REDUCTION BROUGHT ABOUT,

(By Cable—Press Association— Copyright) (Australian and N.Z* Czb.e Ass^c«aiio NEW YORK, Mny 20. American manufacturers, realising the seriousness of retail , ming," are njw expressing tueir nil mg- j ness to co-operate with tho bankers to j reduce the cost of living by from lo to j 25 per cent. They anticipate that the pre-war standard will never return, and that the cost of living will be from half i to three-quarters more than ? | newspapers to-day are crammed tu.l or advertisements shouting reductions varying from 20 to 75 per cent, m clothing, etc. WAVE OP ECONOMY FEARED. (United Service.) (Received May 21 «t, 735 p.m.) LONDON. Mny 20. London's post-war period of ex- ' travagant luxury-buying and enormous profits shows sigis of ending. I' l ® verge of the busiest season finds \v est End business men anx:ous to_ unload heavy stocks, fearing tho possibilities or an economy craze, and a consequent slump in buying. The increasing ft ar- j ness of money contributes to the d>wn-| ward pressure. Managers_ of holes,! restaurants, and shops indicate that; high spending will soon be confined to the new rich. Modistes declare that women in the highest, so?ial positions, are cutting down their dress expenditure by two-thirds. OVERALL CLUBS POPULAR. BOYCOTTING HIGH PRICES. (FROM orn OWN COItP.TCSPONDEVT.) SAN FRANCISCO, April 20. Disgusted at the exorbitant prices demanded by tailors for suits for boys and men, Americans in Southern States have successfully initiated a novel movement to purchasing ready-mado or measured suit 3 until the profiteers unbend and return to some sort' of sensible scale of charges for suitings. It was in the city of Tampa that the innovation originated, and it is now known all over the United States as the I "Tampa Idea,'' by which the male of the species has resorted to tho wearing of overalls as a means of fighting the high cost of clothing. The "Idea" has spread to many cities throughout tho South, where business and professional men, as well as workers, are now going; about in blue overalls. Even some of j tho Western colleges sport the blue | overalls, tho inadequately-paid profes-j sors not objecting to don the cheaper I class of overalls. i Newspapers in Alabama have been! appealed to by the retailers, but the! big newspaper publishers of such cities as Birmingham in Alabama have flatly denied the request of an influential committee of these retail clothiers who had asked that news of the "Overall" movement should bo suppressed on tho ground that it tvas damaging the retnil clothing business. Instead of censoring . the news, the American papers have taken a special delight in widely disI scminating every particle of informa- ■ tion on the subject. The publishers informed the clothiers' committee that their papers would continue to report the overall .movement, which they considered legitimate news. "DON THE DENIM." "Don the Denim" is the slogan of; the 4 'Apron and Overall" clubs which have rapidly become the rage in some of the large Eastern American cities also, as the male population- is equally fleeced by unconscionable tailors on the Atlantic seabtard. In Columbus, South Carolina, every member of the student body at the University of South Caro-, lina has determined to wear overalls until "clothing reaches a reasonable t figure." The Glee Club of the 'Varsity has started on a concert tour, and has I already appeared on the platform clad lin the familiar overalls, tho cotton "uniform" tending to further spread i the movement. ' ; Not to bo beaten in cities where the movement was still spreading, the price! of overalls , incidentally jumped From j two dollars to six dollars a pair, but! fortunately for the people they had wisely foreseen this raise in prices, and accordingly stocked themselves with the .j cotton garments. j i Canada is similarly endeavouring to . fight the high pripes_ of clothing, but i action came in this instance from tho . clothiers themselves. When the re-" i turned soldiers of Winnipeg beenmo un-1 i duly aroused by the profiteering of! landlords, a Montreal firm assisted in I appeasing the wrath of the veterans by j ; opening a big store on' Portage avenue ■ in Winnipeg, and thev offered good I , suits or overcoats at 20 dollars. Thero ! , was a tremendous rush to the place of business, and five hundred suits were sold tho first day, and the crowd around the place reached almost tho proportions of a real riot. The second dnv a local department store reduced all its blue serge suits from 50 dollars to 30 dollars. The cut was said to be tho result of the Montreal firm' 3 action. Jealous local dealers wished to persuade the people that the price-cutters were speculators who "got stuck" with ■ cloth and were unloading at .a loss,'but tho sellers declared they were making i a profit of 95 cents on each suit or i • overcoat. Potatoes having been hoarded in j Western Canada and neighbouring . j American States, _ the housewives of .! opnttle have decided to boycott the > tubers, which had reached the unheard- . of price of 200 dollars a ton.