Evening Republican, Volume 17, Number 311, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 31 December 1913 — TRADE WAR LOWERED PRICES [ARTICLE]

TRADE WAR LOWERED PRICES

Residents of German Town Would All Be Well Satisfied If Rivalry * Should Be Kept Up. Readers of a local newspaper at Zerbpt, near Wittenberg, Germany, were' startled the other day to read the following announcement in the advertisement columns: “In consequence of business difficulties the dpck and watch makers of Zerbst have decided to add to their business the sale of margarine.” True enough a day or two later the shdps were selling margarine, and as lt,was labeled with prices that were certainly somewhat lower than the inhabitants of Zerbst had ever before experienced, and was no less certainly well up to the standard to which they were aocustomed, trade was soon very brisk. Most of the Inhabitants treated the matter as a Joke arranged for their

benet.t, put some of the grocers were not a little annoyed, and when they protested in due form, the township was rather surprised that the Joke did not come to an end. It is now explained that the sale is scarcely a joke, but a thrust on the part of the watchmakers at several dealers whom they accuse of unloyal competition. For some, time past two- or three dealers in margarine had** been giving away watches as bonuses for the sale of several pounds of their produce, and they had refused to discontinue this sale when politely requested to do so by the watchmakers. Then the jewelers decided to sell margarine without the watches,, and so doing managed to sell it cheaper than the original dealers.