The Republican journal., 1917-03-15
One Factor in the H. c. of l..

We used to go to the grocery stor
when we were youngsters and carr,
home the family's needs in a big papel
bag. The grocer man dipped rice out O.
big bin, weighed it and tied it up fol
US. We bought pound of cracker
from a big barrel behind the counter
corn meal was weighed from anothe
bin, tea and coffee were measured ou
from big tin canister or big lead
foll-covered cnest. Raisins, big, fat
| juicy ones, were weighed out from
wooden case, that looked mighty tempt.
| ing, same way with currants. and prunes
and dried apricots. Pickles came from :
big keg, molasses dripped from a savory.
smelling bogshead, vinegar from another
big keg.
Ali very unsanitary, and likely to get
germs into the food from a dirty shop, OF
from hands and scales and scoops used
many times in the run of the day. We
do these things better now. We buy
everything in a sanitary package, wrap
ped up in waXed paper and cardboard,
and bearing an attractive LABEL, showing
just what the package contains RICE
comes in pretty little cardboard pack
age holding pound. Tea comes put up
in little air-tlght packages. raisins in a
cardboard carton, pickles ir little glass
bottles, looking so tempting; even molas-
ses comes put up in frlction-top cans,
and vinegar in big quart bottles. All
these things are sanitary in the extreme,
and no hand touches the contents from
packer to consumer.
All very nice and consequently ex-
pensive. Who pays the cost of these
attractive packages? MIR. Consumer, of
course. DID you think that cardboard
and waxed paper, and printing, and the
extra labor of packing in these small
packages was thrown in era is? Hard
ly, especially in these days of high paper
cost. The prices per pound are decided
ly higher than we used TO pay in the old
days. Or, if the prices are about the
same, did you ever look on the package
and see how much you are getting, You
bought a pound of raislns, you supposed.
Did you look on the pretty gilt label?
1t says weight not less than Is ounces,
metz You thought you were buying
pound of macaroni in that package. The
label, in rather fine type, says, weight
IA IL ounces" Go on through dozen
or twenty different kinds of package
foods and see how many of those pack
ages contain full pound or halt-pound.
You will find them surprisingly few.
Didn't occur to you that you were pay
ing for the cost of the packing and labels
and cartons and waXed paper in this
way, do it? Well, you are. You didn't
for a minute suppose that the packers
and wholesalers were giving you those
Handsome, attractive, sanitary little
packages, without your making up for
it somewhere. did you? It's good deal
more work to pack Is pounds of raisins
in 25 paper cartons than it is to put them
all into wooden box and press them
down tight. Those Is paper cartons and
all the trimmings cost a good deal more
than the wooden box, besides requiring
an outside box or container. You pay
for the Inference.
These nice clearly, sanitary paper
packages are a great advance. You can
DE sure that no germs touch you be-
tween producer and consumer. They
are very attractive, food doesn't spoil SO
readily, there are lots of advantages
and you pay for the increased cost.
That is just another factor in the ii. Z.
of 1.-The Piscataquls Observer.