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Show H PROFIT GRABBING. m An Illinois coal operator, recently testifying before a B Missouri commission, said that his company had been B able to get as much as $6.00 a ton on some of their coal M that cost them only $2.00. He defended the price, on the M ground that "they could get it." He argued that other M people charge all they can get, and that no lawyer would do a piece of work for $5.00 if he could get $10 for it. M This may be true, yet capitalists should realize that if m their industries are to remain on a secure foundation, B they must charge only reasonable prices. The express m companies a few years ago tried out this idea of charg- M ing all they could get. They were quite defiant, and some V of the companies made very big money. m The big profits created popular antagonism. This re- B suited in the establishment of the parcel post. Some of M , the companies went out of business, while others with m weeping and gnashing of teeth accepted lower rates. If m they had charged reasonable rates in the first place, it B is not likely that the government would have ever both- B ered to compete with them. B A fair price is not determined by finding out what the B people will pay for necessaries when driven by the press- B re of monopoly or by other exigencies. It is to be based B on the cost of production, plus a reasonable interest on B capital and compensation for the brains and energy of B ' the producer. Few people would say that a price of $6.00 B Is fair return on a cost of $2.00. B Corporations may be able to run on that basis for a B time. They arouse the hostility of the public. When they B , want favors or encounter labor troubles they will get lit- B o tie popular sympathy. It is wiser policy in the long run fl to sell for a reasonable compensation. HIM n |
