The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1918-11-01
MOTHER AND HOUSEKEEPER
DISCUSSES CASH AND CARRY

on me-" to Mrs Tregos remarks
upon the hardships that cash and
carry is imposing upon alread over
burdened mothers. We have heard
and read much this year about the
welfare of mothers and babies and
it is high time that somebody set
about doing something to relieve the
pressure of mothers obligations in
stead of adding more burdens. /
agree with Mrs. Trego that unless
some arrangement can be made be-
fore winter, there will be actual suf-
fering among women, children and
elderly people thru being compelled
to 60 down town in severe weather to
personally pay their money over the
counter before they can get any
thing to eat.
1t is not the cash part that worries
us; any reasonable cash on delivery
plan would meet with few or no OBJ
jections. Nor is it altogether the
carrying of our parcels home. Hav-
ing gone thru the ordeal of getting
three or four tots and ourselves
ready to go and dragging them in
home again, the mere task of carry
ing parcels sinks into comparative
insignitiance.
| have three youngsters to get
ready and take with me every time
I go down town. Do the best | can,
nothing happens to delay me, | can
if I make every minute count and
not get ready, go and come, put away
wraps etc and get to work again in
less than two hours. Now to take
two hours out of busy day wash
day for Nuisance, amounts to do
nestle calamity decidedly averse to
any phase of conservation. There
must be at least hundred women
in this one town who spend as much
time every day going to market not
to mention those who can go with
less sacrifice. Here then are 200
working hours filed to overfowing
with household duties, most of them
directly concerned with conserving
food and clothing, spent in doing the
work that one person could do in
eight hours or less. I also wish to
submit the idea that any saving of
food effected by the plan is in danger
of being offset by the temptation to
carry home read prepared or quickly
prepared foods to get quick and
easy meal after tiresome trip.
l shall not discuss at this time the
merits of either the cash or the credit
system, nor the questions of whether
cash and carry has really increased
the visible supply of food and
whether we were promised reduc-
ton in prices that we did not get.
Many of us would be quite willing
to pay a trifle extra sometimes, if
it were necessary, to have our sup
plies brought to us G. o. D. or any
other way that shift the burden from
the babies and the infirm.
Two solutions have Gomez to my
notice. One is the establishment of
small stores in the residence sections.
we have such little store in our
neighborhood and it certainly is a
blessing to be able to 60 in old shoes,
breakfast cap and apron, buy enough
to tide the family over till can get
time to go down town and be home
again in five minutes OF course
such little stores handle only the
commonest of necessities, but the
proprietors might take orders for
any reasonable articles and bring
them out to be called for later in the
day.
The other plan is for some woman
who has car to do the shopping for
the entire neighborhood. She calls
every morning for the orders and the
money, goes to market, brings home
and delivers the articles on a per-
centage basis.
1t is annoying Of course that the
babies, bless their inocent trouble
smeness, have to interfere with the
satisfactory operation of such per-
fectly lovely plan. But then cash
and carry isn't the first thing babies
ever interfered with. Well just have
to recognize the fact that they are
here in the majority of normal homes
in Blackfoot as elsewhere and we
must do the best we can for them.
1t will not be doing our best for little
tots of three and four years to have
to trudge down town thru the snow
SO that their mothers can go to per-
sonally buy groceries and meat.
What are we going to do about it?
l.RS. M. e. SOTH.