The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1912-06-06
EVENING CHIT
BIZ RUTH CAMERON.

There is a certain condition of mod
ern business against which 1 wish the
women of this country would in some
way protest, and that is the influx of
articles, which, though good enough 20
al w appearance, are so cheap
~ made that they are almose entirely
useless for practical purposes.
For instance, 1 tried five matches the
other day before I found one which
would accomplish the for which
matches are presumably made. The
first two broke, the third had no phos-
%phorous, and from the fourth and fifth
the PHOSPHORUS snapped off, in the
last instance alighting on my hand and
burning itself out there, a happening
which did not improve y opinion of
cheap matches.
Again 1 am constantly finding blotters
that do not make any .'retense of blot
ting, at least not in the desirable sense
OF he word-they certainly blot things
i'll the other sense. Sometimes the re-
verse side is deliberately decorated, but
the blotter side is absolutely useless.
And when l am ready to blot a letter
it is not a picture card that 1 want,
but a blotter.
How often we find envelopes which
have no intention whatever of being
stuck together. The glue upon them
Is so scarce or of such inferior quality
that it is impossible to make the en-
velope actually envelop anything with
out an auxiliary in the shape of some
more glue or a dab of sealing wax.
And surely you have noticed how
much more easily the pencils of the
present day break than those which we
used to buy ten or twenty years ago.
Why, 1 have often zen a lead pencil
break SO. many times during a single
attempt to sharpen it tina half the
pencil was consumed that way. Very
good business for the manufacturer
hIf not CO Onn6 for fhak ,T-A--L
underdog, the consumer These are a
few examples Of the cheap. well ap-
pear1ng, but practically futile articles.
with which the market are SO flooded
nowadays. Doubtless you can add
many other examples from your own
experience.
When the manufacturer of a century
ago produced the OGDEN nutmeg. the
joke went around the world, and Con-
necticut received a nickname that will
probably last her for life. Today we
have many articles that are inst a :
much "jokers,' as far as utility is con- |
cerned, as the nutmeg, but We don't |
any states Cor them-theyl
are too
Now to me this is on, of the most |
pernicious manifestations of the high
cost of living. To paw thirty ner cent |
more than you did ten years ago for
a substantial and desirable article is
bad enough. But to pay that for the
shoddily made that is worth next 10
nothing is really far worse.
What can women dc about all this
you ask? Well, they simple use the
only weapon left to the they
can refuse to consume. They can de-
the shoddy article to the retail
shopkeeper, so that he, in his turn.
Will denounce 1t to the wholesaler. and
who knows but that in the course Of
time manufacturers might get the idea
shoddy goods are not wanted
They can buy the substantial article
If it does cost a little more. Be-
me. 1t will not be more expensive
In the end.
~Shoddiness and Cheapness-not inex-
pe~nsiveness. mind you, but the chean-
ness which is most costly in the end
are the curses of the age. Let us pro-
lest against them in every way we can
think of.