THE HIGH COST OF LIVING.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 19999, 15 July 1920, Page 10

THE HIGH COST OF LIVING.

POSITION !M AMERICA. WILD Ann RICK LESS ■SPENDfN.G, , According to ths best opinion of ineicinvats who aro in a position to rmi, judgment, on the. economy movement, tiie overalls wave may be discarded, as a temporary uinc-day hysteria (writes hose Feld, in the “ New' York innes ■). __ But iiiey recognise the moaning behind. The people at large, they «!| agree. have' waked up to idle nnportn.ncc of the cessation of reckless spending and the introduction of nn er-i. of thrill. The iNuduhmi of extravagant spending lias reached the f r *dest point- ol its arc. they say. end I is now swinging back to its other exI tremc. • RECKLESS SPENDING blamed, | ''‘y 1 ’ t ‘«c- Inst feK years.” said a : well-known .mcrchanl, *‘ this countrv 1 1 has gone through an era. ol ' reckless | spending that, is perhaps without parallel in the history of the countrv, Everybody bought—things they needed and things they didn’t need. The word thrift was unknown to the man and woman who canto into a store for purenases. _ They rarely left without buying. riir.ro was no such thing as not being aide to iifi'crd anything they had chosen. Everybody could apparentlv affonl anything lie or she wanted. ‘ Tne inflation of wages, the prosperity of Ihe country as a whole.' the lac* of unemployment, all of these Lungs wefe contributing causes in the spendthrift mania.. The average man had more money than 1m ever had before The thought of saving rarelv entered hu mind. He h !K J, done without a good many things that lip had wained m :ien he; .lacKcd t-h& monGv f o ■p&v for tnein, and, like, a child wn’o suddenly finds itself in the possession cl unexpected- riches,. .he began spending recklessly and foolishly. He talked ot tne high prices of clothe?, of manuj picture, of labour and did not know j tl ,', at Jig in -no small measure controlled ; £U • happened when he and b{» j V] e - l: ’ eEan Wing at. the rate time 1 QK. r btores of every kind 'were filled ■; w-ivii poopio who were willing and anm- | '-ms to be separated from their money. ; Lnuead of a. woman’s buying dug suit ) ? v koines a, season, she bought three, I ! nstoß « of one hat. she bought three • i J natc ; ll j V f oue P a "’ of shoes, she I houg.ij, tmve. ’I lie tripling of sales is a conservative, figure." They pro . . haul' acio multiplier] a good manv | more times. . * ' i lbs lan- of supply and demand ; caught the peopie going nnr] coming. 1 !,‘ 10 deimiad for labour was larger than 1 Lie supply, the demand for m«rchanj disc was larger than the supply In iT, r uiduec his men 'to star with ! ‘.’l n1 anfl order ip attract new'opera- | lives, the manufacturer- perforce had ; to raise his rages. Tins increase natur- ; fJ ;'. v '™‘ s n ddcd to the cost of the ar- : Hole he sold. • The result, of such an ; increase, in the cost of the individual ; article is • usually a decrease, in the size ! 0 ‘ orders. During the war period and I tbw period immediately following it. did | not work,in that, mariner. the de- ■ 'uands for merchandise in the stores' grew louder and louder, and instead of making smaller his orders the merchant increased them. The. matter of price was of no consequence to him. The important thing was to get his goods, to Keep the of bis business going. and to lin’d his customer by giving him wlmt he, wanted, IKE UNENDING CIRCLE OF COST. ' ' T'he price, of labour increased, the : cost of manufacture, increased, the cost Ito the merchant increased, and the I cost _lO the consumer increased, With i tip increase of prices in every article ; pi merchandise cams the corresponding . ir.croa.sa_ in wages. Ths two were inI extrieabiv* bound up ire. each other, | And- the more people earned.the larger i demands they made upon th© merchant ; for goods:. _ Everybody ■ indulged in a | wild orgy pf spending. ; " This, circle of increase, of cost, beI poning with the consumer! working : back through Hie merchant, the raaaufacturer. the labourer. The more people, wanted goods, the more it cost themthe- loss of it there was, the more is. was worth. Beginning with labour, prices mounted higher and higher, until it, seemed that w© would ■ never see the top. | •'/ And then gradually came the awak- ; Ginng. ■ The woman who came to the | store for her third • suit of clothes i began to complain. She insisted that, j she had bought Her first for a very | much .smaller sum of money, The ‘ merchant agreed with her that she had. If he was a patient .individual, he explained to her that it was the lack of material which made the difference hi price from, oue month .to’another. The woman half-heartedly agreed with him, but, still complaining, bad the suit sent home to her, and then worj ned over it. i ■ THEN-DECREASE OF SALES. - i “It began manifesting itself, a few . montns ago in a decrease of. sales in : all clothing ■ departments; Women 1 did not buy aa much at a time as they i used to. ■ Instead of sending tilings boms in wholesale quantities they began sending tilings borne only after they bad carefully considered the -cost and the.wear of the material. The,sales of extravagant, articles decreased considerably. People began regaining riieir, normal eyesight and perspective. There'.is no sterner judge of one’s self than one’s conscience. AVlum that bsgins'diecking up one’s actions, tho right-about-face follow? soon after. Especially whoa one’s pocket book is the .sufferer, “Just as originally the prices kept mounting higher and higher owing to the large demand for the. finished products and the low supply of labour, tho prices now wiii gradually come down because of the small demand, for clothes and the largo supply of labour. The merchant will cease ordering in the quantities ho sought during the past few roars; tho manufacturer will cease trying to fill orders in the amounts lie has been trying to reach, and labour will naturally have to com© down in cost, owing to the fact that its services will not be as greatly in demand. THE FAULT OF LABOUR. “ Id my opinion the labouring clashes arc not only to blame for the inflation of prices by charging what they do for labour, but far the wild and rockless spending in which (hey hav© indulged. r i iic man in (be office has not bought in great quantities, the doctor and the lawyer have not bought recklessly; it is the newly rich picayune manufacturer and the newly rich labouring class that have increased the demand for material If the increase wore.sane, ws should have come to some satisfactory conclusion a long time ago; but tho increase in buying lias not been sane. It has been wild and uncontrolled. As long as that is true, (fie price's will stay where they are. The man in the labouring class may be able to afford to buy clothes, but' nobody else wilL” .