The Daily Missoulian. [volume] (Missoula, Mont.) 1904-1961, 1918-02-03
Careless.
Wa.Steful
OrWhQt!?
Our Refusal to Carry Our
Packages Home Is Cost
ing Us Thousands a
Year.

An old adage says that figures do
not lie.
To all Of u.s. a nickel is ) cents: a
dollar. 100 cents: hundred dollars,
1000 nickels; seventy five thousand
dollars, IS times 1000 nickels. And so
on. They are things Of definite value
according to their purchasing power.
We are in war. From one end of the
country to the other the cry of thrift"
is being sounded as a national alarm.
applicable to states. counties. cities,
communities and individuals No one
escapes 1t.
Reaches Staggering Figure.
A nickel is small but It has a definite
value. the government warns us, and is
worth saving. When the amount be-
comes 500, its worth is augmented
two thousand fold. two thousand times
worth keeping. Multiply again by $50
figures, remember. do not lie--it
reaches an amount that Is beyond our
mental grasp.
Yet Missoula Is needlessly spending
approximately that much every year
on something that brings in no returns.
Our Pride at Work.
The national government comes to
us and asks us to buy Liberty bonds as
an NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. or $500, 900
worth We buy them and pat ourselves
on the back because we have demon
strated our patriotism to such a de-
gree. The Red Cross asks us for sup
port. We donate. this time, literally
and to worthy cause. We pride our
selves for our generosity. We give
$4,000 to tho Y. NJ. c. A and half that
amount to the Y. w. c. A.. all of which
y st49pe=AsNsp9ssy6ses and while some
Of us give grudgingly. we give just
the same, and then our patriotic pulse
rises few beats.
II 10 a Custom.
Our contribution to this needless
system we are sustaining reaches an
nually about SC for every man. woman
and child OF us. We give 1t out, a
nickel at a time--figures don't lie, you
know--day after day until when the
year closes. we find we have expended
about seventy-five thousand dollars on
something for which we have nothing
to show-not liberty bond. not a
thrift stamp. not even the satisfaction
we experience when we have opened
our purses to a humanitarian cause.
And why? Just because it is custom.
Rely on Telephone.
We have a telephone in our home so
We can be in constant touch with our
grocer. our butcher or our baker Half
n dozen times a dav we call up, even
though just around the corner. and ask
our grocer to send us n nickel's worth
Of this: dimes worth of that;
Quarters worth of something else.
Likewise we ring orr nickels away
when We summon the butcher to send
hs "A slice Of steak or roast; when We
call our baker to please deliver u
dozen rolls" or q, loaf of bread
Somebody Pays Bill.
We arc down town and our memory
is logged that We need "a new screw
driver. We 20 to the hardware store
and say. "Will you please send 1t TO
1854 s. avenue" two dozen blocks
or So away. The delivery charge on
that screw driver amounts to more
than the hardware merchants profit
Somebody pays the bill.
We go to our laundry a dozen times
week. But that does not matter.
our laundryman must maintain de-
livery wagon. or two. or three. just
because we are accustomed to the
practice of having our dirty linen called
for and brought back clean. And yet
we kick because the laundry proprietor
raises his prices to maintain the costly
system we demand
laxiness on Parade.
To tell the truth. rather than carry
a bundle we are imposing upon the
rest Of the community the necessity Of
maintaining a delivery system In every
store that is, paradoxically. not q
necessity at all. 1t may be laziness. it
may be pride, 1t may be something Diff
fcrent. But. whatever II is. 1t is some
thing that is proving to all Of us a
burden without which we could travel
better.
Seventy-fivc thousand dollars aunu-
ally spent on laziness--on pride--is
money thrown away. There are no
adequate returns and we have not been
helped individually. as community
OF as a nation.
Hundreds Of Millions.
But the Discrimination TO tote our
bundles from the store 10 our horIifs ii