The Greeley tribune., 1907-04-04
HOW THEY CAN HELP
Women Might Aid Business
Morals Materially

moral thief Is not legal thief
In the eyes of the law, and by that
token many man is at home when
his rightful place is in Jail. But
the question is: Shall we, as a
public, help this sort of man along?
And this question brings Itself home
with peculiar force to women, who
are the buying power of our country.
A man, by Gtnt of thought and work,
invents an article of food, of wear
ing apparel, or for domestic use.
He carries out his conception: he
gets 1t ready for the market: he
recognizes the requirements of the
law OF the land and patents his
article; he invests large sums of
money in letting the people know
about 1t, and he makes success.
That Is, thousands buy the result OF
the thought of his brain, the invest
ment of his money, and his honest,
Legitimate methods. Along comes
man who has no brain wherewith
to conceive except to trade upon the
other mans success, and "Uneeda
Biscuit" becomes 'Uwanta Bis
cuit"; Jap-r-Iac' becomes "Jac-a-
lac"; "Cottolene" becomes "Cotto.
leo"; Pears Soap' becomes
Peers Soap,'' and so on. All
these limitations are purely and pal.
pably intended to mislead the pub
lie, to confuse the buyer. Now this
imitator does not need to invent {;
he has no call to invest capital; he
goes on the wave Of popular support
created by the man who legitimately
launched the result of his honest
thought. Such parasite not only
lives on the brain and capital of an
other, but he also distinctly hopes to
get an undeserved livelihood by play
ing upon the credulity Of the public.
He is coward, as is proved by the
fact that he initiates. His article
is never as good as that which he
initiates. for the same moral twist
that plays upon name will play
upon the qaulity Of the article. As
a matter of fact, he has no need to
think of the quality of his article,
for he relies for his sales on his mis-
leading label; hence, quality, to him
Is of slight Importance. and therein
lies the fraud against the consuming
public.
The bid for patronage upon which
he usually catches the eye of the
thrifty woman is his untruthful as.
surance that this article "is just az
good as others" and-here comes il
/ his strong point-'It is cheaper II
, price" And thus thousands o
W. woa.en are fooled; trapped into sup
) ooward-a man whom decent -tusr
ness men shun-and getting cheape
article at a cheaper price. A WON
an sometimes fails to realize tina,
she has it in her power to raise thu
, standard of American business hon
esty by a refusal to patronize sucf
limitations. For just In proportion
as she makes it easier or harder fol
these moral thieves to succeed, st
5 does she make the business of honest
+ dealings eaiser or harder for. hel
3 husband or son: Business will be
' honest Just so far as the public de-
3 mand it shall be. The two or three
cents saved by woman in her sup
/ port of an initiative article repre-
] sent the costliest investment she can
make toward the lowering Of those
7 business ideals with which her son
must sooner or later battle when he
goes out into the commercial world.
1t is she who, by her patronage,
builds up or tears down honest busi-
ness ideals. Ladies' Home journal.