St. Tammany farmer., 1907-07-20


principled competitors and thus lower
sIl business standards; whether They
appreciate that they must contributs
toward defraying the cost OF extra
detective service for the customs Of
fee. made imperative by smugglers,
In short. can they call any goods
bargains" when the cost is oficiaI /
bribery and corruption, a cost SO great |
that it cannot be measured in dollars
and cents?
The output or any Industry carried |
on under conditions that make for
degradation and misery and under
mine physical health or moral charac-
ter are costly to the community. how
ever cheap the product may be wheH
put upon the market. Sound physical
health, morality, energy, high stand
ard of civic character, aesthetic or
artistic taste, are what enrich and en-
noble community. Industry alone
cannot do it, else would some of our
mining towns or stone-quarryfng vii
lagos or lumber districts be typical Of
our highest civilization. The fact is
that if miners, stone quarters or luIu
bermen are kept at work from early
dawn until evening ON such a pittance
that their homes are mere novels, II
they have no places of recreation save
the saloon and the gambling den, 1T
is not likely that they VIII be inspired
| by noble thoughts or be moved to psr-
/ form heroic deeds. Walt Whitman
summed it all up: A great city is
chat which has the greatest men and
women; if it be few ragged huts
it is still the greatest city in the
world"
It will be asked how can we distin-
guish between tainted and wholesome
bargains? Many women, realizing the
evils that underlie the bargain sys-
TEN, have satisfied their conscienees
by refusing to purchase goods that
are sold below the market price. They
delude themselves into believing that
if they pay high price for their par
chases they are supplying their wants
according Ito high ethical standard.
The fallacy of this line of action is
most apparent Some Of the most
costly garments have been wrought
out of the most tragic elements tn
life; some OF the very cheapest have
been made from start to finish under
the very best possible conditions.
High priced handmade lace made at
the cost of the eyesight Of some
IA xryf1Y, nY1 Id "A fta3YlF-
ed bargain to be spurned by all self
respecting women, while cheap Not
tfngham lace, machine-made in ifsndel
J factories, under the most wholesome
conditions, could, if viewed in the
proper light, be worn with pride by z
duchess.
The purchaser must demand Q
J guaranty that the article offered foI
sale has been made under proper
conditions. We do not buy real es
! tate without searching the titles We
do not buy cutlery without locking
for the name of the manufactures as
pledge that the steel is well tenn
| pered. When we buy china We looh
for the mark to guide us in selectlna
: the ware. Let us take the same means
of ascertaining whether the garments
we buy are made in bright, wellTve1a'
tilated sanitary factories or IN larls
dirty, disease infected novels. Thers
are considerable number Of manu-.
facturers of women's white underwear
using the label of the National Con
sumers, league, a label that Is onls
given to those manufacturers who haY'
all their work done on their oyfn l'feza'
ises and given after the factories nav
: been inspected and the executive com
3 mittee of the league is convinced tina
: the conditions are perfectly satasfac
; tory.