The Elbert County tribune., 1918-08-23

| Of 1t Is fraud stuff. Wooden articles
| are reputed to be made from trees that
| grow on historic spots. but are really
bogus. Strings of beads are manufac-
tured by the mile and sold to the pub
is true Of moccasins. toy canoes and
the like,
At best the bulk of these goods is
rubbish, and our outgo for this pur-
pose might well be cut OF entirely dur
ing the war. To do this requires alb
solutely no sacrifice. The people en-
gagged In this business Will simply have
10 do what so many of us have already
done. adjust themselves to war.
Aside from souvenirs, we are wan
ton spenders for actual merchandise
that is inferior or worthless. There is
a great class of people to whom cheap
ness or fiashiness appeals, rather than
utility and economy. A dealer in cheap
goods told me that he netted $4,000 a
year from merchandise that was prac-
tlcally worthless. He found 1t easy to
appeal to the spending instincts of his
customers.
Unnecessary Phone Calls.
Not many of us ever stop to think
OF the immense amount of money that
Is spent for unnecessary telephone
calls. Wherever you go the telephone
booths are occupied, and when you
catch fragments of the conversations
you usually find them. unimportan..
Reginald calls up his best girl TO tell
her lie still loves her, Maude calls Al
gernon to thank him for the chocolates.
No matter how trivial the occasiop..
our first impulse Is TO step into tele-
phone booth.
II five million people would save one
five-cent call day 1t would mean a
total of over ninety million dollars
year. Doubtless several times this sum
could be saved very easily by the gen
eral public on local and long-distance
calls. We are lnvishly extravagant in
the use of the telephone. l know of
business houses that talk several times
"A day between New York and Chicago,
mourning tolls on each occasion that
run from five to forty dollars or more.
If there is one thing that the Ameri-
cans haven't learned 1t is economy of
talk-which In these days of war need
might well mean millions of dollars In
Liberty Bonds. The telephone wires
are heavily overtaxed, anyhow.
Then there Is the telegraph. We
have this habit. too. With little
planning we could commonly use a
three-cent stamp instead of II ten-word
message. One large wholesale house
requires all its travelling men to re
port daily by telegram. an expendi
ture that might be eliminated. The
telegraph tolls of some OF the large in
dustrinl and commercial establish
ments are so big that they seem in
credible.
The night letter is. in measure.
luxury, at least we could do away
with the social phase of 1t and
much OF the domestic hap
pen TO know one business man, who
on his frequent and long absences
from home, gets a night letter from his
wife every morning and sends one each
night. Nor are these messages con-
fined to fifty words. but often run sew
eral times that length. Baby had the
collie; Freddy fell downstairs and
skinned his knee. Jeanette had her
hair washed.
h"ppeh 10 De acqua'nteu Also WIN
win young man VINO re'eis IN night
'e''ers u MS nancee' Inc! are real iet-
ters. 100 beginning IKE 'his: Dari-
ing sue love you more tnah ever.
couioh steep last hight thinking OF
you. 10 you io'e me sui!
A certain business man. the head OF
large concern, goes away at intervals
to rest for a week or two. but insists
on having n night letter every morn
Ing, narrating the substance Of the
previous days business. These mes
SugeS run into hundreds OF words every