DAY BY DAY.

Waikato Times, Volume 87, Issue 13273, 31 August 1916, Page 4

DAY BY DAY.

The story is told by the Berlin Tageblatt as follows: —"The attempt by the Charlottenburg' authorities to relieve the popular ilistress by the <iisti'ibu-

Battle of the Stew Guns.

tion by means of perambulating 'war stew guns' (portable kitchens) of tasty meals of pork, peas, and potatoes at reduced rates has ended in an utter fiasco. Each of the smoking 'guns,' drawn through the streets by the big dogs, contained about iOO pints of cooked pork and peas. In an incredibly short time the adjacent streets were tilled with a crowd of about 5000 persons anxious to do themselves well on the good food, and the stew guns were literally stormed. The drivers and attendants were utterly powerless in the face of such a mob. and speedily fled. In a moment the moving kitchens became invisible beneath the thousands of shrieking men, women, and children, who swarmed all over them like so many ants, delving into the steaming contents with their bare hands, with pots, cups, and crockery and kitchen ware of all sorts. Hundreds of more or less feeble folk, old men and women and many children, were knocked down and trampled on by the more robust

of the storming party, and scores were seriously injured, their cries of distress and pain resounding on all sides. The battle of the stews was soon over, for within a quarter of an hour the only evidences of the lighting that remained were ilie broken parts of the stew guns, the bits of smashed crockery, the injured persons, and the miscellaneous shreds of clothing that littered the roadway. The (Iharlotte nbut'g magistracy now announces that the experiment will not be repeated, but it is a pity they did not adopt, such precautions as might have prevented these scandalous set ties instead of causing still further suffering to the people."'

In lines where there is a strenuous competition, a manufacturer >«r retailer will frequently cut his price to a point where there is no profit in an article for him in order to meet the figure of another concern. Competition seems to demand in the nature of things a certain amount of price-cutting. It is frequently discovered, however, that the individual who is rather uncertain in his cost accounting methods is more apt to cut his price to meet competition than the wellinformed person. One of the city's leading merchants when he is told that an article is being offered by a competitor at a price below his, asks the question. "What kind of man is he?" or "Who are they?" If he is informed that the price-cutting hou,se is small his rejoinder is, "So I thought. They will always he small." In the manufacturing line it is more difficult to get- accurate figures on costs, and considerable worrying is done in the trade when an article comes out priced below the usual figure. Very frequently the price cutter finds out to iiis loss that his calculations have been wrong. He has either mistaken die actual amount "of an item here or there, or he has forgotten to include some expense. Those who have come down to his figure in order to get business are losers along with him. When a manufacturer is sure of his figures, however, he is not bothered by the price-cutting around him. An instance given by one manufacturer shows just how he benefits by the operations of price-cutters. Tf ho hears of an extremely low-priced article being offered in the market he informs his customers of the fact. In one case he related, another manufacturer, one of his strongest competitors up to the time, was forced to retire from business after a disastrous season. A tremendous volume of orders had lieen taken by him upon a low-priced article, the price of which was afterward found not even to cover the cost. A lot of the business taken was sent to him by the manufacturer who refused to cut his price.

Cases , f Price Cutting.