The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-08-12
BY MAUD NATHAN.

fcopyright. 1906. by Joseph B. Bowles)
 Mrs Frederick Nathan is one or the best examples in the United States of the busy woman of leisure. Her time is given for the most part to practical charities. As president Of the Consumers League of New York city she has been able to achieve far reaching results, the benefits of which go to the poorly paid classes of work CTS. Mrs. Nathan is a graceful wri- ter and interesting lecturer on sub jects relating to reform by women. She was one of the original vice-pres dents of the Woman's Municipal League, director of the Congress of Liberal Religions. of the Southern Li- brarv fund and Of the Jewish Council ef Women)
 woman is very much like tse word cocktail to the average man. It tickies the palate: 1t awakens pleasant an- ticipations. The woman who Is offered a bargain and the man who is offered a cocktail both hope to get something at the expense of some one else. They may be getting something they do not for them: but the temptation to avail themselves of the opportunity in el- ther case. Is hard to resist
 The habitual bargain seeker is as ant to come to grief as Inc habitusl tippler Just as the too frequent cocktail impairs the digestive sysem so the abnormal appetite for the bar gain weakens the moral constitution, There is glamour that impairs the vision. so that the defects of the bar gain cannot be estimated and renders the bargainshunter obfivious of the old maxim, penny wise and pound fool ish" Who does not know the shopper who refuses to buy renaissance center pieces at the counter for s2.T5. but who. seeing the same articles at bar gain table the following week sur rounded by crowd of eager buyers. rushes to secure one at s2-S3g
 She feels a triumphant thrill at having clutched and retained the very one that her nefghbor was endeavor- ing to secure. She giows with pride whtn she flnds that there are no more of that design; the one she Erasped in such a frenzy cannot be duplicated She admires her own perspicacity: 1t was well worth giving up quarter of an hour in order to feel that to the victor belongs the spells, Who has not met the woman who shows with pride the bargain she has oh- tained at q reduction of twelve cents. but who, in order to obtain it, was jostAed and pushed about at a bargain GduUlUE 1Of luily Hdtf all AOhtf anu then. finding 1t too late to reach home in time for luncheon, has gone to a restaurant and expended thrise the amount saved? This type of woman however, probably derives more than her naeney's worth of pleasure from the mere idea of procuring bargain. And the recreation is harmless enough # the bargain be not a tainted" one.
 srhnrn nanA sha ro antinathv to the word bargain in itself; some bargains are wise. There need be no denuncfa- ton of all bargains. Some from the ethical point of view no woman should countenance; but any thoughtful per- son must ceneede that there are many that are legitimate. Tn this class we may place CD articles that are sold cheap because they have been manu- faotured in nladern factories with the assistance of the most modern inven tions and therefore at low cost; f2) those seld cheap because manufaetur- CTS have obtained material under peculiarly advantageous conditions in very large quantities; (3) those where the manufacturer or merchant Is over stoeked (4 those which are no longer fashionable or novel; (5l those sold at low price as method of advertisement Any shopper. however. conscientious. could take advantage of an opportunity to obtain a bargain that would fall in one of the above classes.
 Tn the category of 'illegitimate'' bargains come CD articles sold cheap because given out. to be made under the contract system of work--a sys- tenn which reduces the profits of the workers to almost nothing in order to place money In the pockets of con- tractors and subcontractors: (2) arti- cles sold at a low prdiee because made in sweatshops. where amid unwhole- some surroundings the workers are compelled to toll fourten and sixteen hours day fpoor folk who must pay the rent of sthe workrooms, pay for the lighting and heating of them, for the machinery and tools and for the delivery of goods: t3) articles sold cheap because children under legal age have been employed. or the factory laws in other ways have not received a fair living wage for their work or have been in some other way imposed upon for selfish and avaricious pur- poses.
 Dangers turk in many so-called bay gains. such as cheap wall paper that awudaa arsAffc.- rhean n NIt1fahfn fh [