Norwich bulletin., 1917-11-02

isr't the way in which big business does things Dealers in all sorts of supplies are much more apt to favor an individual customer than they are tn favor the far-ofr, remote and in- tangible government. Indeed, it is a fact which has been historically self evident for hundreds of years that dealers and contractors have always been more apt to "gouge" the gov ernment than anybody else.
 Of course, the government buys in wholesale quantities and at wholesale rates. It demands and receives all the discounts which such a buyer is entitled to-. This amounts to a. good deal But, whatever it amounts to, it is nothing which city consumers can 1iot have for themselves, if they will only combine and co-operate in the like purchase of like supplies at like rates and with like discounts
 Of course, no single city buyer can expect to get q pint of beans and a single roast of beef and an eighth bag same rate which the same things cost 1E large quantity.
 But the prices which ruled in the buying of supplies for PIP soldiers which would rule in the buying of supplies for, say, PIP city families, if they would combine their purchases, buy in equal quantities and buy with
 
 Against the admitted savino which the government makes by wholesale purchases must be set off the fact that the government is more exacting in it's conditions and more rigid in CTS usually are. It demands and sees tc it that 1t gets, first quality stuff when it buys first quality. For which very reason, much that can be work ed off" on the regular trade cannot be dumped on the government This tends to stiffen the prices charged it. somewhat, just as it's purchase in large quantities tends to relax them. somewhat.
 This isn't intended to convey any claim that the government is more Eernfckety and critical in it's pur- chases than the average private GUS toner. Lord knows it couldn't be!
 But the private customer usually bases his or her fault-finding on some personal whfm or prejudice or habit, while government bases it's reuuire- ments on the demonstrated nutritfye values and the actual food content of offered supplies.
 ft does not buy veoetables or p,eats or cereals in bottles or cans or fancy cartons, with all sorts of high sound- ing in nomes or them-and heaven only U decayed material inside, ~cunninsly and treated 1f1d favored to resemble fancy goods.
 1t buys in bulk, whereby it not only sees what it is geetine. but also saves the cost of fancy packages and the sometimes inordinate profits which are charged on them
 
 Quite the largest saving which aev- ernnent makes, however, is not in first cost of supplies, but in the care fn1 utilization Of every last scrap of edible material and the elimination of all waste.
 We have an heard the saving that. a French housewife would feed a biz family well on the waste from an ordinary American family's daily dir,- ner table.
 It Is a scandalous fact that the 'ay- craze American kitchen does regularly waste fully half if not more of the food which it might utilize. This whether French housewives would de better or not. the government will not allow. There must be no waste, For instance, a cut or beef is not broiled if est shows that more than twice it's ood content can be saved by roast ng or boiling When the meat is all if. the bones are not thrown away.
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