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Show J THE CITIZEN business would be handled by the packer in a way satisfactory to the J public. The planf it is clear, is novel and no one can tell whether it can be made to operate, for naturally it will be tested as quickly as pos- sible in the supreme court of the United States to determline its com i stitutionality. The measure would also deprive the packers of the control of refrigerator cars, stock yards, branch houses and other facilities that have been em- ployed to extend the packing monopolys control of foodstuffs. Provisions are included to encourage the establishment municipal nouses and warehouses, slaughter markets. fjr And what do the packers say to this? They sneer at it and say that government control would simply add to the high cost of living because government control is notoriously more expensive than private control. They point to the federal operation of the railways and wires to prove; their point. rP HE advisory board of the Brother- - hood of Locomotive Engineers, in a letter to the President, calls attention to the 50 per cent depreciation in the purchasing price of the dollar. A dollar is not only a medium of exchange, but a measure of value as well. Measured by commodities it is worth only 50 per cent of what it was dollar in 1912. We have the iifty-cen- t which we so much dreaded back in the days of the free silver issue. The remedy suggested by some is that Congress shall continue high taxes on those that can afford to pay, thus making further issues of bonds unnecessary. It is maintained that in this way inflation will be stopped and with it the depreciation of the dollar. Another suggested remedy for high cost is cooperative stores. The United States is years behind Europe in this method of dealing. It is said that every third householder in Great Britain is a member of society. In Russia 50,000 such societies are operating. In the United States there are less than 3,000 cooperative organizations. ve CLOTHES GAY, COSTLY There is but one bright spot in the high prices of clothing situation; and some persons might not consider that so bright. It is that with the cost of food mounting daily and coal likely to be more valuable than diamonds next winter, it really wont matter to the masses if, the suit a man could get for $25 last May will tax him $50 in May, 1920. Because the majority will probably starve or freeze to death and be far beyond the need of clothes next spring. But for those who survive the the problem of getting any new rags, glad or sad or bad, will be. a big one. Just why the country has fallen suddenly into a state of inability to produce as much as people need is a puzzle no one explains very com- pletely, but Chairman Simons of the New York Style Show made a stab at it while his fellow members of the American Designers Association, along with some brothers from Canada, discussed possible plans for reducing labor on custom made clothes. at least 25 per cent less Theres ' labor in the clothing trade now than before the war, said Mr. Simons. And there, is no new labor coming in. The unions wont allow apprentices, so the young cant learn the trade, and then theres a great emigration of Italians going back home, and 60 per cent of the labor in mens garments is Italian. Many of our people left the clothing factories at the beginning of the war to go into more lucrative employments, and they dont want to return, and neither do the demobilized soldiers who once made clothes want to go backing to making clothes. Prices Keep Shooting Up. That is one reason for the way prices of coats and pants and so on are shooting up, and another reason is the change from piece work to pay by the week. This means decreased efficiency, because if. the worker knows so much is waiting for him Saturday night in his envelope he isnt going to hustle himself. A third reaosn is the high cost of materials. Manufacturers of materials suffer, of course, from the same difficulties that hamper the men who make up cloth into garments the great lack of people to man their factories. El wood S. McNabb, president of the association, and J. C. McDonald, a Bosled ton dealer and the opposing sides of the discussion over the necessity of simpler styles for men. Mr. McNabb held that by eliminating every seam not absolutely indispensable and doing away with braid binding for pockets and all such work on mens suits could be lessened appreciably. Mr. McDonald held that there were flappers among men as among women, and that the number who yearned for the type of clothing called jazz was larger than most persons dreamed. He said the reaction from the sadness of the war was bound to lead many men to look for a certain amount of blithness and gayety in their habiliments, and that the manufacturer who affected unadorned severity in the pants and coats and so forth that he turned out would be forced to admit himself a poor psychologist. But the sense of the meeting was that men are not slaves of style, like women, and it seems likely that braid bindings and such frivolities will go. . . , vice-preside- nt do-dad- s, Linings Will Be Gay. By way of making up for this linings will probably be gay, and the futuristic youth, who wants to sport around in a coat with a linging of pudple flowers on an orange background will not have far to seek. The manufacturers are perfectly willing to give the public any gayety that doesnt mean stitches. And even at the cost of extra stitches they will probably send out some coats with waistlines, so that the young man who acquired a good figure over there will be able after doffing uniform to exhibit its lines to the world. In deference to the military figure the old sloping 15 shoulder is going out and the square shoulder will be amply provided for in the clothes now to be turned out. can guess, according to Simons, what the demand for mens clothes is going to be. Sales are good now, for the returning sol- diers are all hastening forth the min- ute they doff their khaki to get a new suit. But will they ever buy another? That is what is worrying the clothing men. With life growing harder day by day and the Bolshevik! and all sorts of things in the offing, may it not be that' the suits they are buying now will have to do most of the world war veterans the rest of their lives? Womens Wear Ditto. The style show at the Martinique isnt considering womens wear, but the leaders there said the same conditions govern both, and if mens clothing costs 100 per cent, more next spring this will doubtless be true of duds. In fact, Mr. Simons said that many makers were refusing to show fall styles in womens dresses, &c., because they want to wait for the higher prices which they say are sure to come soon. But women cant without clothes and apparently many have plenty of money to spend on them, for orders are pouring in faster than the manufacturers can fill them, and the volume cf business, reckoned in money, is tremendous. Most of the makers warn buyers that the prices quoted now are subject to advance any time. The shortage in woollen goods is more acute than that in silks even, and astute buyers are roping in all the coats and suits that they possibly can. But according to Executive Di-Nobo- rector David W. Mosessohn of the As-Chairm- an sociated Press Industries of America, silk is going sky high too. Likewise shoes which now cost $12 are like to go to $20 before many months such is the cheerful predic-civilia- n tion of John Slater of 415 Fifth ave- nue, chairman of the committee on resolutions of the New York State Re- tail Shoe Dealers Association. Shoe men give various reasons shortage of hides, foreign demand for Ameri The Santa Fe system, whose head s succeeded McAdoo as railroad istrator, is contemplating replacing wood ties on its main lines with steel, The proposed tie is hollow, pressed steel weighing 125 pounds and costs placed in the roadbed about $3.15. Wooden ties cost $2.15 before treat-d- o ment which adds some to price, Railroads have for a number of years been successfully experimenting in use of steel ties. This only illustrates the need of a general awakening of western interests to a concerted campaign of education to promote lumber industry in every conceivable manner as it is one of the wests great lndu-trieadmin-women- s. 1 llllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll I 1 1 I King Coal will talk for itself next winter, we have no argument to make now. ( Western Fuel Company I I C. H. FISCHER, Manager E Phones: Was. 2667-266- 8 135 South Main St. Tllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllimillllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllr. |