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Show SALT LAKE IN A TIGHT BOX Salt Lake, Aug. 18. -"Kvery man j for himself and the devil for un all" was the teme of a rousing meeting I of tho Salt Lake Retail Merchants" association, as-sociation, held last night in the Atlas At-las block. The meeting was well attended, at-tended, and the principal topics under discussion were the cost of living beyond be-yond one's means, the beat way to meet the weekly accounts, and self-protection self-protection against unscrupulous or backward customers. How to meet the demands of the customers and etlll keop above board developed Into a subject which Beem-ed Beem-ed to trouble most of the niniber, and yet one wlrli is apparently ua-solvablc. ua-solvablc. "This matter haa reached th stage where It Is 'every man for himself and the de?ll for us all, " declared W. J. Heckmann In a pointed point-ed epeech, "and I find that the only way to meet It la along the rule taught by tho old man In our boyhood days, and that is to be a good scrapper and fight wjn fighting become? necessary. neces-sary. Must Mako Prices Lower. 6 "The consumer Is demanding lower low-er prices," continued Mr. Heckmann, "and it is up to us to furnish them If wo can. We are barely living aa it Is. The cost of feed Is high, renta are higher than ever before, taxes are boosted each year, our license Is double something unheard of In any other otate In the country and on every hand we meet conditions tat are hard to face. When we go to the markets we find that the same price exists from one wagon to another. The best articles aro invariably bought before the merchant arrives; peddlers are at the markets all night long and, in a great many Instances, tho farmers arc met before they get to market. The commission men seem to fix ti o price on everything, and tho farmers back them up in it During tho week Just past potatoes dropped from $1.15 to 80 cents, and thore seema to be no reason for It at this time In the year, when the farmer Is leaving his potato eroiirid for the winter's supply "Let us keep the farmers and com-mission com-mission m:n sepn rated. Unless we do, ve will h?o to pay the price. The EolIInr price of everything Is flx"d, and f.e arc tbe encl.ers. Percnllv, I wmt to see the fit plnn followed Kerp ns In 'a-gT c!tles, where they hav rrn-i7,er?t' market and a retell mpil et V" miis" educate the people up o the coTid'tfn existing and we must get our moey for what we sell." Cost of Hili Living, That the troub'o 13 not so inuch tho cause of the price of food stuffs as it is th cost of living beyond one's means, was the contention of F. W. WiMon. "You men know that when you have a customer who cirns $100 a moot he is living at an average coft of J12" a month," declared Mr. Wilson. "If the average man can afford a five-room five-room cottage, he has a seven-room house. If you, yourselves, can afford a $200 register, you have a $500 one; and so It goes. It 19 not tho high cost of lhlnx as much as it Is the cost of high living." Buys Cheaper In Ogden. Taking up the discussion again, Mr. Heckmann declared that ho could buy food stuffs for a lesser price by sending send-ing to Ogden, and paying tho express-age, express-age, than he could by buying it from the local combines. On the question of the location of a public market. Mr. Heckmann voiced the sentiment of the mooting when he said that he was not particularly satisfied with either local lo-cal market, but believed that ono could bo arranged with the co-operation of all the retailors, working in conjunction with the city and with others Interested. He moved that, becnus? of tho better bet-ter location of the Continental market for all concerned, It be the sense of the meeting that the asnoelalon indorse in-dorse tho Continental, provided tho city would make It sanitary within the next year. Tho motion carried, with but one dissenting vote that of A E. Poulton. The old havmarket fclte and the street on Second South j between Third and Fourth South wore I also suggested. Transient Deadbeats. In view of the recent order of the commission men forcing the retailers to meet their accounts at the end of each week, the question of credit was one of more than absorbing interest. inter-est. "We have got to get our money or get out of business," declared President Presi-dent Weight "Wo nil have customers custom-ers who are deserving of credit and to whom we are glad to extend credit, while, on the other hand, we are all troubled with tho ieopl? who seem to make It a business of flitting from one town to another, leaving a string of debts behind tbeui. "At the present time we have 120.-000 120.-000 names of Salt Lake people In our rating directories and when a new-customer new-customer applies for credit the cro-cer cro-cer should apply o the office for n rating It Is also the duty of every merchant to notlfv the office when ho Is beaten out of his bills by a customer." cus-tomer." According to B. M. Olson, there will be 2 000 tradesmen in this city out of employment during the coming winter. win-ter. "TboKo men and thrMr families will have to live." snld Mr. Olson, "but we cannot afford to keep them. This Is a Korlous problem which faces the members of the association and wo must Insist on getting our money or cutting off the trade of thoe who cannot pay." |