The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1918-08-02
SUPPORTING GOVERNMENT.

~ SUPPORTING GOVERNMENT.
4 Good citizens can support the gov
eminent In more ways than one.
Numerous. innovations are being intro.
duced into the business life Of Amer
lea. All of the rules and regulations
promulgated by the various depart
rients and boards working under the
government are the result of deliber-
ate study and have an important bear
ing on the war program. The recent
instructions to retail merchants to
limit deliveries to one day, to elm
mate special deliveries ard to stop
the wastefnl practice of taking back
goods that have been out q the store
for more than three days sre intended
to conserve manpower and prevent
waste.
Columbia merchants with charac-
teristic patriotism and obedience to
authority have endorsed these regula-
lions and will comply with them. But
It 10 the duty Of their customers to
assist them by not asking that they
violate these regulations. The local
merchants have gone about the adop-
ton of this innovation in systematic
way and there should be 40 confusion
shout 1t. Sufficient publicity has
been given to the plan to inform all
customers. In few days all will
adjust themselves to the new condi-
tions and there will be no further
question of its value, to the consumers
% well as to the dealers.
This is but one Of the many ways
ia which the war is benefitting Amer
tca.t We have been an extravagant
people and leisure loving. 1t has not
been our pleasure to conform to sys-
temxtic rules and regulations. 1t was
10 much easier to wait until the last
minute to order something for lunch
or for. dinner and then expect it to
be delivered post haste regardless of
the inconvenience or cost to the deal
or. II one wouldn't fill the order an
other would. SO why worry? 1t was so
much easier to have several articles
sent to ones home where selection
could be made with the family circle
to pass its judgment than to spend
few more minutes at the store. Then
ii 1t, didn't suit our convenience we
cOiild keep all of the articles for a
week or more, preventing their sale to
other customers and, perhaps, soil
Ing or spelling them so that the mer-
chant would lose on them il he didn't
price them high enough at first 70
take care OF such possible damage. 1t
IL to eliminate such useless waste of
material and time that these regula-
lions have been issued by the COM
mercial economies board.
America has nothing to waste now.
Every thread and every crumb must
be saved The demand for man
power 10 80 great that minutes have
taken on the value of hours. System
Ii the greatest economizer. The war
is making us economical, therefore,
it ID making US systematic.
Columbia merchants are to be COM
mendea for their prompt response to
this call Of the government. They
thould be supported by the public, so
that there will be no complaining or
confusion in obeying the instructions.
IN the end all Of us will profit. We
will learn to look ahead Ia supplying
our needs and to save where hereto
fore We have wasted.
I As one of the doughboys On the fir
ing line is said to have expressed him
self after hot fight with the boches
"This il q hell of war, but it is the
best one we've got" So let's make
the most of every situation that
arises and come out of the war with IA
better citizenship and more prac-
teal nation.