Student Car Owners Pay 2 Cent Increase; Square Gasoline Dealers Favor Price Rise

Gasoline dealers in the Harvard Square area expressed warm approval of the new law boosting prices by almost two cents. However, some added that they thought the law was unfair to the general public.

K. F. Lacoss, manager of the Massachusetts and Harvard Ave. station, said "This law is fine for us and the wholesale dealers, but I feel sorry for the public." Lacoss has raised his prices from 25.9 cents per gallon to 27.8 for regular gasoline.

All of the dealers agreed that the new law would prove to be favorable to the small stations where volume of business was low. Gardner N. Wonnburg, owner of the Crimson Garage, said that he had not made any money on his gasoline sales for the last two years.

The law requires that the retail price stay 5.9 cents over the wholesale price. The minimum is designed to stop the price wars which have caused 48 percent of the failures of the retail stations in the state. The action will affect Middlesex, Suffolk Norfolk, and Essex counties.

Mrs. S. M. McCartney, owner of the McCartney Station on Brattle St., said, "My customers became so disgusted with the changing of the prices that I just decided to keep my price five cents over wholesale."