Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1918-08-29

uiaue from trees That |
crow on historic spots. but arr really
bogus. Strings Of beads are manufsc-
,ured by the mile aud sold to the pub.
lie as the work Of Indians. The same
is true OF moccaslns. toy canoes and
the like.
Al best the bulk Of these goods II |
rubbish. and our Ontgo for this pur-
pose might well be cut on entirely dur
Ing the war. To do this requires ab-
soiutely no sacrifice. The people en-. |
gagged In this business wilt 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 fisshiness appeals, rather than
utility and economy. A dealer in cheap
goods told me that he netted 2 5,OOO a
year from merchandise that was prac-
tically 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 h e immense amount OF money that
ls spent for unnecessary telephone
calls. Wherever you go the telephone
booths are occupied. and when you
"atch fragments Of the conversations
YOU usually find them unimp0rtant.
Reginald calls up his best girl to tell
Ter he still loves her, Maude calls Al
rernon to thank him for the chocolates.
No matter how trivial the occasion.
our first impulse Is to step into a tele-
phone booth.
II Ave million people would save one
tlve-cent call q day 1t would mean q
'otal Of over ninety million dollars a
"ear. Doubtless several times this sum
could be saved very easily by the gen
eral public on local and long-distance
calls. We are layishly extravagant In
he use OF the telephone. know OF
business houses that talk several times
q day between New York and Chicago,
mourning tolls on each occasion that
run from Ave to forty dollars or more
II there Is one thing that the Ameri'
ans haven't learned IL Is economy OF
talk-which In these days Of war need
might we'll mean millions of dollars III
Liberty Bonds. The telephone wires
are heavily overtayed, anyhow.
Then there Is the telegraph. We
have this habit. too. With a littl,
planning we could commonly use ,
%three-cent stamp instead Of a ten-wort
message. One large wholesale hous'
requires all Its travelling men to re
port daily by telegram, m expendi
ture that might be eliminated. Tn
telegraph tolls Of some OF the large In
dustrial and commercial establish
ments are 50 big that they e II
credible.
The night letter is. in a measure,
luxury, at least we could do ava
with the social phase OF 1t nm
much of the domestic. l hal
pen to know one business man. whit
on his frequent and long absence
from home, gets a night letter from b
wife every morning and sends n eat
night. Nor are these messages CO.
fined to fifty words, but often run Sc
eral times that length. Baby had II
collie; Freddy fell downstairs m
skinned his knee, Jeanette had h
hair washed.
i, happen to be acquainted also vii
. with a young man who revels In nlel
, letters to his fiancee. They are real le
!, tiers, too. beginning like this: Oar
ing Sue--I love you more than eve
, I couldn't sleep last night thinking
you. Do you love me still? :"
/ A certain business man, the head
2 a large concern. goes away at interva
I to rest for a week or two, but insis
= on having a night letter every NOR
Inc, nnrrating the substance Of Il
previous days business. These me
sages run into hundreds Of words eve
S day.
I would not belittlc the night lette
but In the present stress we need
curtail whatever part Of this expen
may be unnecessary, and loan I
> money to the government.
+. The Taxicab Mania.
n We Americans also have the Ia
e cab mania. There is a very large ella
j. of men and women who ride in en-
l. habitually. and let 80 immense sums
Is the aggregate. They take taxicabs
" 20 a few blocks. In a group Of twer
0, lending cities there are about four HI
,e drpd thousand Of these vehicles. and
each Of them absorbed ten dollars
a cry day In unnecessary fares the
le gregate would he over fourteen mill
If dollars n year. What would be
IF total for the whole United States?
Is n luxury to jump into a cab VIII
Is ever ones wants to nov about.
n these arc stern times and we need
n be more iron-minded. The boys
Is France do not ride In cabs, and
,e money we waste on this form Of lux
I'd might better go into gas masks
n. them.
ty We American men snturatc ourscl
tn with many kinds Of soft indulgence
rs IN the barber shops. These pla
sS - a. Att. ,t.., tatn1c no Styptl &c