The Elk Mountain pilot., 1918-08-22

bogus. Strings of beads are manufac.
tured by the mile and sold to the pub
lie as the work of Indians. The same
is true Of moccaslns, 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 off entirely dur
ing the war. To do this requires alb
solutely no sacrifice. The people en-
gagged In this business will simply have
to 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
Il 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 $25,OOO
year from merchandise that was prac-
tically worthless. He found it 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 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 n tele-
phone booth.
II five million people would save one
hve-cent call day 1t would mean
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 lavishly extravagunt in
the use of the telephone. / know of
business houses that talk several times
II day between New York and Chicago.
incurring 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
tnlk-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
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
dustrial and commercial establish
ments are so big that they seem In
credible.
The night letter is, in u 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. VIII"
on his frequent and long absences
from home. gets 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.
happen to he acquainted also with
with young man who revels In night
letters to his fiancee. They are real let
ters. too, beginning like this: "Dnrl-
Ing Sue-I love you more than ever.
couldn't sleep last night thinking OF
you. Do you love me still? :"
A certain business man. the head Of
a large concern goes away at intervals
TO rest for a week or two. but insists
on having a night letter every morn
ing. narrating the substance OF the
previous days business. These mes
sages run into hundreds OF words every
day.
would not belittle the night letter:
curtail whatever part of this expense
may he unnecessary. and loan the
money to the government.
The Taxieab Mania.
We Americans also have the taxi
cab mania. There Is II very large class
of men and women who ride in cabs
ipabitually. and let go imHIense sums in
the aggregate. They take taNicabs to
go few blocks. In IL group Of twenty
leading cities there are about four hun
dred thousand of these vehicles. and IL
each of them absorbed ten dollars ey
cry day in unnecessary fares the ag-
gregnte would be over fourteen million
dollars year. What would he the
total for the whole United States? 1t
is luxury to jump into n cab when
ever ones wants to move about but
these are stern times and we need to
be more iron-minded. The boys in
France do not ride in cabs. and the
money we waste on this form of luxury
might better go into gas masks for
them.
We American men saturnte ourselves
with many kinds of soft indugences-
as In the barber shops. These places
in the high class hotels. as well as the