The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-08-16
WHAT DO I GET IN
 RETURN FOR MONEY?
By LAURA KINGSTON

One of the wickedest ways of making people forget to ask themselves. what am getting for my money?" was that whom l heard
 This ingenious gentleman had a fine restaurant. patronlzed by number of people who were anxious to now and again "do the correct thing In eat ing and drinking. His prices were enormous. If you asked a friend to uine there the friend felt at once that you placed a big value on him If vou dfdnt you wouldn't spend that mouev on him. And the cunning proprietor mt upon another way of securing patronage.
 He turned out gorgeous menu card wlich you were expected to take away With you. You showed that card to friends or stuck 1t up on your mantle shelr, and people who could not afford 10 dine so extravagantly turned green With envy. And the delicacies you had consumed? The dishes were called bv such names that none for the life of him could judge what they really were Boiled cabbage was disguised by ti- tle that made It appear as If 1t were some rare delicacy brought from the far ends of the earth
 And then the music discoursed by the orchestra as you swallowed the un- recognized dainties? It was "heav-
 
 tor of the orchestra and the proprietor led to some revelations with regard to that music.
 The conductor of the band declared that when he received tip" from the proprietor of the restaurant that the viands on particular day were noth- ing like the quality he had expected. he was to select the very gayest tunes he could flnd--something quick and tripping and stimulating. If customers grumbled. and some occasionally would, he blamed the music
 It was that that led to the rupture between them. The conductor beinr warned one evening that. for certain causes. the dinner would he particu- larly open to criticism. he and his band made the most frantic efforts to dis tract the diners attention from what they were eating. As far as num- Der of the guests were concerned the music was all in vain. By the tinre they got to the final courses the con ductor put on one Of the noisiest pieces In his repertoire In order 10 drown the grumbling of the guests at the wait CTS.
 But Ii was not success. Nothing ha declared. hnt a big drum---which he had not got In the orchestra-would have suficed No music. he was convinced. on the face of the earth would have persuaded people that the dinner was worth the money they were paying for it. Then the proprietor dismissed him on the spot
 There are many ways of persuadng people they are getting their moneys worth when they aren't. and it is only natural that keen make money-as- fast-as- you can and anyhow people should have given considerable atten- ton to them. Their tricks are innum- era ble.
 At the present time there Is a great battle going on. It Is battle that ia as old as buying and selling itself--the bat tie between the seller who sells at small profit to himself giving the ut most value he can afford to give at the price, and the seller who gives as lit- tie as possible and who sells for the utmost he can extort from deluded public. The former hopes he will do we'll relying upon the value of his production to bring him an increased patronage. The latter relies on his skill in deceving people as to his stocks real value. The former Is blessing to the public and the latter is anything but a blessing He would not exist if the public itself took pains to re- alize the real value of things. Accepting appearances for the actual thing Is one of the worst faults one can commit, and 1t Is one Of the easiest faults. too.