The Raymer enterprise., 1918-08-22

OF Il is fraud stun. 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 psb-
lie a. the work of Indians. The same
y true Of moccasins, 10y canoes and
the IKE. Z
At best the bulk Of these goods b
rubbish, and our oufgo for this pur-
pose might well be cut OF entirely dur
Ing the war. To do this requires ab-
solutely no sacrifice. The ptop,e en-.
gagged In this business win simply have
to do what 30 many Of rs have already
done. adjust themselves to war.
Aside from souvenirs. we are wan
ton spenders for actual merchandise
that 10 inferior or worthless. There Is
a great class Of people to whom cheap
ness or hashiness appeals, rather than
utility and economy. A dealer In cheap
goods told me that he. netted $4,000
year from merchandise that was prac-
ucally worthless. He found It easy to
appeal to the spending instincts Of his
customers. 3t@4 1A@
70 Unnecessary Phone Calls.
D Not many of us ever stop to think
OF the immense amount OF money that
Is spent for unnecessary telephone
calls. Wherever you 90 the telephone
booths are occupied. and when you
catch fragments of the conversations
you usually find them unimportant.
Reginald calls up his best girl to tell
her he still loves her. Maude calls Al
gernon to thank him for the chocolates.
No matter how trivial the occasion,
our first impulse is to step into tele-
phone booth.
II five million people would save one
fve-cent call a day 1t would mean a
total Of over ninety million dollars n
year Doubtless several times this sum
could be saved very easily by the gen
eral public on local and long.dlstance
calls. We are lavishly extravagant In
the use Of the telephone. know Of
business houses that talk several times
day between New York and Chicago.
incurring tolls on each occasion that
run from five to forty dollars or more
II there Is one thing that the Ameri-
cans haven't learned II 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 a tcn-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
dustrial and commercial establish
ments are so big that they seem In.
credible. ~
The night letter Is. in a measure. a
luxury, at least we could do away
with the social phase Of It and
much Of the domestic. I hap.
pen to know one business man, who
on his frequent and long absences
from home. gets night letter from his
wife every morning and sends one eacl
night. Nor are these messages con
fined 10 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. e
happen to be acquainted also viii
with a young man who revels In might
letters to his nancee. They are real let
ters, too, beginning like this: "Darl
Ing Sne-1 love you more than ever
| couldn't sleep last night thinking Of
you. Do you love me still? .a.."
A certain business man, the head OF
large concern. goes away at intervals
to rest for week or two, but insists
on having q night letter every morn
Ing, narrating the substance Of the
previous days business. These mes
sages run into hundreds Of words every
day. rI r.,-.,1ta .s.fi 4
would not belittle the night letter
but In the present stress We need t.
curtall whatever part Of this expense
may be, unnecessary. and loan the
money to the government. a5sW
a The TaxIeab Mania.
We Americans also have the taxi
cab mania. There is very large cinss
Of men and women who ride In cabs
habitually, and let 90 immense sums In
the aggregate. They take taxicabs to
60 a few blocks. In group Of twenty
leading cities there are about four hun.
dred thousand Of these vehicles. and II
each of them absorbed ten dollars ev.
cry day In unnecessary fnres the ag-
gregate would be over fourteen million
dollars q year. What would be the
total for the whole United Statesi II
Is a luxury to jump into cab when
ever ones wants to move about, but
these are stern times and we need to
be more iron-minded. The boys 10
France do not ride In cabs, and the
money we waste on this form Of luxury
might better 90 into gas masks fol-
them. JFf H dlH
We American men saturate ourselves
with many kinds OF soft indulgences-
l.. A. a~.A ~Aa.,a m, .s.~. D. aos