OVERALLS AND THE H. C. L.

Birmingham's organization of an "Overall Club," whose members agree to wear only blue denims, is a sensational but, we fear, ineffective method of trying to break the high cost of living. The old economic law of supply and demand is not yet dead and buried, and if there is a universal increased demand for an article its price is sure to rise. At the first notice of the Overall Club's formation, indeed, Birmingham dealers boosted the price of overalls from $2 to $6 a pair.

Real living costs can be reduced in but two ways, either through increasing production or through decreasing consumption. For consumers merely to divert their demand to new channels can have no effect on prices in general. So long as the public continues to spend all it makes, prices will stay up. Economizing through wearing overalls may slightly reduce the price of other clothes, but if the amount so saved is spent on other goods,--food, automobiles or diamond rings--the prices of those articles is bound to rise in response to the increased demand. Only through greater production and general saving instead of spending can real living costs be lowered.