Show WHO IS TO BLAME one of the most disquieting after maths ot of tile the war is the effort of various groups and classes to pass the buck of 0 high prices we are being deafened with an ever mounting chorus of placing the blamo blame on the other fellow everyone Is developing I 1 nto into a splendid little blamer one week it takes the form of calling the other fellow a profiteer and the next week the swear word is extravagance what vcr ever shape this occupation assumes it Is s most let us ua be honerest hon eest tor for a change the truth is that pretty nearly everyone Is to blame there will a be no wholesome recovery until that fact is recognized oi or at least until there is a general mending 0 of ways glittering generalities get up nowhere to be specific it sa Is well recognized in the woolen trade that art an important i reason eason tor for high retail prices is s the tact fact that fane quality woolens leiis have become relatively more popular hut but is this because the consumer demands them or because the manufacturer and retailer have forced the more expensive goods upon him in their own selfish interest the answer is both let et us begin however with the consumer great numbers of people have been een obsessed with tile the idea that they must have the best of everything we have lave been suffering from an overdose of t self expression from too much ego from aiom a wave ot of self sat satisfaction is faction that has in it more of the superficial and external than of 0 the intrinsic and worthwhile worth while nor Is this wave of abnormal and unwholesome extravagance confined any means solely to the so called working classes extravagance ostentation and love of the grandiose are marked among many successful business men and those ot of fairly moderate means and their families there is many a suburb in our metropolitan areas where nearly every house Is a bad imitation of a palace sense ot of proportion seems to have deserted largo sections of 0 the population whether rich or poor youthful slips of girls so go a quarter of 0 a mile to buy a spool of thread in fit motor cars his as large as locomotives and as luxuriously appointed as an emperors coach college lege and school boys of brawny physique undeveloped intellect and lazily spent days save a few minutes of their not particularly valuable time by riding round town in monster motors with a rapacious appetite tor for gasoline men lien who ii have ave made a killing in war or other contracts without sense of art or beauty build grotesque country estates tates blots upon an innocent landscape it is the sense ot of fitness ot of proportion u which is shocked by such eapen wre lure of our precious apparently dwindling yet essential supply of labor and materials of 0 steel lumber cot ion glass rubber petroleum and the like comfortable and even beautiful homes are boons to humanity quick comfortable transportation by means ot of the internal combustion engine has added hugely to the national wealth but there Is a limit to the wholesome and socially Boc lally desirable use ot of all good things the automobile may be far ar as yet from brorn saturation point perhaps that point will never come possibly millions ot of additional cars can lie be used to the advantage ot of the country but the motor car can be abused and wasted like sugar clothing millinery beet beef steaks or any other desirable necessity our prosperity has led us into an age of 0 the grotesque ot of take fake granduer gran ducr duer ot of mere appointments size pretension grandiosity and pomposity it Is too reminiscent of 0 imperial but decadent rome in its latter days so mad Is our rush after mere size and appearance in the material things ot of life that we forget whether they most usefully serve our ends we employ means all out of proportion to the ends too expensive too wasteful of basic products there Is this much consolation however it if people continue to ibave have as much money to spend as now the expensive articles will soon lose their social distinction they convey dis unction because they are scarce A palatial place at the seashore has no more intrinsic happiness iu in it than a humble cottage except tor for the fact that it confers prestige because of its rarity but it palaces become common coalmon comat the effect will be different diffene at it if silks and are worn by enough people a lot of people take to overalls the laboring man mail has been lam jam basted and to 0 o some extent properly so lor for his extravagance but he has some excuse in many cases he never had any chance before the really tire tiresome soine pei sons are those who complain th that at they paid thirty dollars for their last pair of shoes or a small fortune tor for their last suit of clothes these are usually the same persons who could go wholly without new shoes and clothes tor for years to come it tibey they cared to because of an ample stock of 0 old garments that are still wearable it is true that all prices have gone up the cheaper grades as well as the higher but the people who complain of thirty dollar shoes are of course not complaining really ot of high prices in a general sence but of 0 the price of 0 the he best qualities A babe in arms could understand the economics of a situation in which everyone wants the best qualities and is prepared to pay tor for them though only about one out ot of a thousand persons really needs the best quality to be happy and successful in in life As long as people are unwilling to practice self berfal in the mere quality ot of their clothing talk about high prices profiteers and the like is gabble j I 1 the manufacturer au an r retailer are tar far from blameless until more retailers are able to overcome their supercilious er attitude toward the would be buyer ot of a useful but low priced article artile ardle le the radical will still have ments private property and private profits are permitted because they furnish motives which drive men on to production and accomplishment in the last analysis no business is really private we are all closely tied together for that the manufacturer the employer the manager represent the whole people and their tenure should depend upon their ability to organize effectively the nations productive resources to begrudge them large rewards for success would get us nowhere except perhaps to poverty and starvation but they must be successful in their great undertaking and in fit a sense their profits are only a measure ot of that success certainly success in organizing the nations productive resources does docs not mean the amassing amaB sinK of vast profits through the sale of llly silly useless or harmful objects the business man must render useful service and it he does so no sensible peron will begrudge him large rewards but large profits in themselves are not nat necessarily a test of ser 11 er vice because a manufacturer iv wastes tes materials in producing a wholly un necessary article and makes big profits in so doing is no tor for regarding him as successful only a false standard of values cau regard him as an important part ot of the scheme of things A retail store may be mob mobbed bed by would be purchasers but it if it ft sells sella articles for which the deop people ae have no real need manufactured from let us say a basic food product the shortage of which threatens the social stability ot of the world then what but a decad ent standard of morals can regard that merchant as successful but it Is just as false and superficial to argue against all profits we are flooded with speeches and statements regarding the big profits of large corporations and the implied wickedness thereof it is fashionable nowadays tor for any individual or organization desiring art an improvement in its lot to becloud the issue by raising ral a hue and cry over the large profits of a few companies it Is widely liera bera iaea iaea PS aai an ou outrage trae that a certain company made more than thirty per cent on its common stock last year dut but that is not what counts or has a meaning the real question is whether this company put the bulk of its profits into increasing production or has used its financial strength to monopolize the market and keep prices at a high level artificially it if profits are put back into the busi ess the supply of oe goods is added to and that is the only way to lower prices what we need is to get un these phrases such as profits profiteering dividends and the like and discover whether our manufacturers retailers and other producers and distributors distri buters are really engaged in pro in the most efficient manner or not the goods and service which the world needs in this emergency that Is the real question saturday post |