The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1911-04-01
TRADE Custom"

'Trade~custom' received body
blow in the New York supreme court
recently, and incidentally it was
brought to light that under existing
laws 1t is possible to enforce the hon
est labelling of textile goods A New
York merchant sold a bill of goods to
Baltimore clothing manufacturer, re
presenting the cloth to be all wool
although it contained a considerable
admixture of shoddy and cotton. The
manufacturer refused to accept the
cloth and the merchant brought suit
to make him pay for it, the latter con
tending that it was a trade custom
to sell as all wool cloth that was
composed in part of other and cheap
er materials. Justice Erlandger who
presided at the trial instructed the
jury to disregard the trade custom
and find for the defendant The JUS
tice of this ruling cannot be ques-
toned. 1t may be the custom to call
shoddy wool, but that does not make
1t wool, any more than putting a Yer
mont label on glucose makes it ma
pie syrup. When the purchaser asks
for pure wool he means wool and
nothing but wool and If he is given
mixture of some wool and a con-
siderable quantity of cheaper mater
ial and charged a wool price for it,
he is being defrauded. II is as inn
portant TO the pocketbook of the Ill
innate consumer that clothing mater
ial shall be true to the label as it
is to his health that foods and drugs
shall be."-Springfeld Union.
Trade" custom is mere euphem-
ism for many an out and out fraud
upon the buyer Senator Lodges my
thical ultimate consumer" whose
only reality is painful self-conscious
ness when he pays the bills.
One need not be a prophet or the
son of a prophet to suggest that the
day is near when the law will com
pei all dealers in all merchandise
possible of adulteration to guarantee
the genuineness of their goods and
TO represent their exact character by
truthful label under severe penalty.
This does not mean that nobody
shall be allowed to sell a suit of
clothes of mixed cotton and wool 1t
does not pean that the sales of any
other similar combinations at a pop.
ular price shall be prohibited 1t
simply means that the purchaser has
a right to know what he is getting
and that the law will back him up in
it.
The purchaser for instance, should
be able TO 80 into a clothing store
and be told that such suit Is part
cotton and part wool and sells for
so many dollars and that another
suit is all wool and sells for so many
more. Time and again the purchaser
will elect to take the part-cotton-part
wool suit, both because he cannot af.
ford to pay a higher price and be-
cause the uses to which he will put
it make the buying of a more expen.
siye suit extravaganza. But in any
case, he will know just what he has
bought, and he will be guaranteed in
his choice.
The same logic applies to shoes.
The purchaser has a right to know
the kind of leather they are made of
how much brown paper is put be-
tween the lifts And rubbers and
rubber boots. If the composition is
a mere duck with a thin veneer OF
diluted rubber, let the buyer know it
and pay the price, or, If it is a pure
rubber, the best the trade can afford
let him know that, also, and pay that
price.-St. Adams Messenger.