COST OF LIVING.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1383, 8 March 1912, Page 2

COST OF LIVING.

A WOMAN'S CAMPAIGN FOR LOW PRICES.

American women have at last assumed tho character of belligerents in the war against the high cost of living. The war liillioiio (writes Ihe Now York correspondent of the "Daily Mail"), has been waged wholly by the men. There was apparently no opportunity tor feminine co-operation in tho great assaults against the big corporations; the task of "unscrambling an egg," as Mr. .1. I*. Morgan describes tile op-ration of dissoh i ing a trust, makes no appeal to the imagination of American housewives; anil m the campaign against tho inordinate tariff they have consistently refused to interest themselves. But 'hey have recently discerned an enemy whom they deem it their peculiar prerogative to quell. This enemy is the middleman, whose names as butcher, provision dealer, and baker are legion, lie is denounced by statesmen and political ccomniists as a more formidable opponent of cheaper prices than oven the trust and tho tariff. He has achieved his power for evil through the apathy of bcusewives, and it: is of especial interest, to note how they are now mobilising lor warfare against him after organising a movement which 1 may best describe as a national scout service in the battlefield of prices. . A Meat Boycott—the First Stage. The lot of the American middleman in his character as shopkeeper has hitherto been a happy one. his raveno is appetite for high profits has never been curbed by co-operative societies on a grand scale as in Great Britain, and his lady customers . have invariably shown a most amiable tolerance towards his flattering habit of charging them according to his own, exaggerated estimate of their means. "Send me—let me sec—say, two 'chickens for broiling, and be sure to pick out nice ones; and you'll not overcharge, will you:-" is, iii the words of .Mr. David Graham Phillips, the typical manner in which American ladies order their dinners. "I'm in a hurry; but all your customers tell mo. you're honest. 1 feel safe with you. So do your best," tho orders proceeds. And the result—"double' prices lor poor stull'." For a long time the allegations of feminine treachery against tho well-being of the home, reiterated by n'ewspaper writers, preachers, and reformers, did not stir the American woman. She continued in undisturbed apathy and carelessness until tho exactions of her shopkeepers developed into a source of acute personal inconvenience. Then she waxed indignant, and bethought herself of the menus of defence. She improvised a meat boycott. For a week or more the curious .spectacle was witnessed of housewives in a sudden mood of belligerency preparing dishes of eggs, fish, and vegetables for their families. The butchers promptly lowered their larill's; carnivorous food was immediately resumed; and—prices were raised again! Tho boycott had proved abortive. lis lesson, however, endured, and housewives fanned their combative instincts and fortified their resolution with cards addressed to the ultimate consumer, which farseeing producers, as an aid to their enlightenment, smuggled into bags of potatoes, boxes of fruit, and other packages for household consumption. "I reeched tenpence (or some other small amount) for these apples (or potatoes, as the case might be); how much did you pay for them?'' was the pertinent lorm of inquirv printed on these cards. The answer' startled the housewives into a deeper appreciation of the fact that their tradespeoples were charging them six, seven, and even tenfold the prices originally netted by the producer. War Against Underwcighing. The impulses to militant action by the housewives were now reinforced by a .Government campaign against dishonest shopkeepers. It transpired that shopkeepers, through long immunity from prosecution, .had become•nddicJ'Cil to the vice of underwcighing as' well as overcharging. Amazing disclosures were made of tho extent in which dishonesty ,was rampant among all sorts and conditions of tradespeople. .■;. In the light of these revelations, tho housewives rapidly began their mobilisation. Iu many towns Housewives' Protective Associations and Consumer s Equitv Leagues were organised with the object of assisting in the enforcement of the pure food laws. Chemical laboratories were rented and classes of housewives 'were soon at work analysing the multitudinous foodstuffs displayed in shopkeepers' windows. Tho result of these analyses, to express it mildly, was alarming.' Simultaneously with their publication groups of women, actuated by. a common, impulse, began improvising a, feminine scout service for the discuvery and tabulation of holiest and dishonest retailers. Their efforts took the form of cooperative buying circles and marketing clubs, which arc now multiplying with astonishing rapidity throughout the country, and are objects of daily increasing aversion to the retailers. Success of the Marketino Clubs. Each of these clubs meets once a week at the house of. one or other of its members. A price-scout or buyer is elected. The lady thus chosen collects front her fellow members their lists of household requirements, and, armed with the necessary sinews of war, proceeds to execute her commissions as cheaply as possible. How sweeping are the economies (hat may be effected in this way is illustrated in a comparative table of prices published by the buyer for a Brooklyn marketing club as follows:— Retail Market grocer's price, club price. Lei luce, a head sd. ' lid. Radishes, a bunch 2-J-cl. & 3d. jd. Celerv, a bunch !id. 2!d. Best eggs, a dozen Is, 7d. it Is. Bd. Is. (ljd. Best butter Is. 7d. ls.il. Potatoes, a bushel 9s. 7<l. ss. Apples, a bushel .. as. ! -s. • Tomatoes, a quart ad. Id. ' Cauliflower, each .'. (id. to 71d. IJd. The tactics employed by these lndy buyers are necessarily in the nature at guerilla warfare. Pitched 'battles, so'fivr, have occurred only in Indiaiiopolis. Under the generalship of the Mayor, Mr. Lew Shank, the housewives have indicted a decisive, defeat upon the retailers. They established an olfensive and defensive alliance between .the "ultimate consumer" and Ihe producer for the elimination of the middleman. The experiment, carried out in a market-place improvised by the Mayor, resuited in a temporary reduction of prices, to the mutual satisfaction of farmer and housewife, of 50 per cent, The women are now executing a strategic movement designed to perpetuate this reduction and lu bring the shopkeepers into a state of permanent submission. Through their Housewives' Protective Association they divided the entire town into buying districts. TV the retailers a circular ullimatiim Was addressed informing them of the number of families belonging to the association in each district. The ultimatum calls for bids for the supply of all household necessaries for these families for a period of six months. The lowest bids in each district will bo accepted and binding contracts for their satisfactory performance entered into between the association and the shopkeepers. The campaign thus successfully inaugurated in Indiaiiopolis is being imitated by the housewives in numerous other (owns. At Lvim, Massachusetts, the Mayor has issiied'a manifesto declaring that the middlemen are robbing both producer, and consumer. He calls upon the citizens to check the arbitrary prices fixed by tho retailers through the medium of municipal trading in the necessities of life. In response to this appeal a municipal [nuchas, ing agent has been appointed. Bis duties arc t;°buv household supplies "direct from the producers and lo soil them to the consumer ;it as close an approximation to cost as possible." Altogether the women may well lie proud of their achievements in Ihe brief period since thev entered the economic battlefield as belligerents. Their operations are daily becoming more comprehensive, and there is every reason to believe that in the near future their triumphs will be even more striking than in the past. W. !■'. BULLOCK.