The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1919-11-25
Chapter VII

/ ~ Chapter VII
l am numbering this chapter seven
to correct mistake. | published two
number Nv and skipped vi to catch
up. If you look for chapter vi it is
numbered v.
l am about to tell you some
blanket news that may make some
body dissatisfied with what they
have been paying for blankets at the
stores, but there is no occasion to be
getting sore over prices these dyas.
No individual need expect to buy a
pair OF blankets at prices at all COM
parable to what the department of
supplies is buying them for, and no
| merchant need get mad at his luck
| II he cannot get in on the deal. Mr.
| Merchant has to go into the market
and take what he can get and pay
the price or some other fellow will
grab them. That fellow may be
your local merchants and if you buy
of him he cannot sell them for a
song after being held up himself in
the purchase. So warn you to be
composed and do not be annoyed at
your neighbors or your luck in shop
ping. If the department Of supplies
is buying blankets at bargain, re-
member it is buying with your money
for. the use of people whom you and
I are in duty bound to support or
to put into conditions where they
can support themselves.
What the State Is Paying
There are two or three blanket
questions that | have been watching
and | have received a report on one
Of. them. / am passing the infor-
nation on to you just as | received
lit from commissioner F. s. Lint Of
the department of supplies since
was there. / wanted him to let me
know how the deals turned out, and
here is what he says by letter on
November II:
we have ordered $50 perfect, full
sized, sterilized, five-pound, fancy
colored comforts from the Surgeon
Generals office of the United States
Army for the Idaho State Sanitarium
at Nampa, the price being $500
each. These comforts retail at So
to $12 each on the local market.
We have also issued purchase or
ders in favor of the office of the
Quartermaster General, Director of
Purchase and Storage, Surplus Prop
erty Division, Clothing and Equip
age branch, at Washington, D. c.,
for the following supply of blankets:
Northern Idaho Sanitarium, loca-
ted at Orofino, Idaho, 100 all wool
blankets, price $500.
Idaho State Sanitarium, located at
Nampa, Idaho, "a only new wool
blankets, price $500. 100 reclaimed
wool and cotton, price $3.50.
Idaho State Insane Asylum, loca-
ted at Blackfoot, Idaho, ESQ wool,
new blankets, price $500.
Idaho State Soldiers Home, loca-
ted at Boise, Idaho, SO new wool
blankets, price $500.
Idaho Industrial Training School,
located at st. Anthony, Idaho, 200
cotton and wool, new, price $500.
You will note from the above that
the prices on these blankets range
from $3.50 to $500 each. l just
phoned to the----, one Of the
largest stores in Boise, and asked
them the price of new, all wool
blankets similar to those which we
are purchasing and was informed
the prices ranged from $3.50 to
$4,000 each.
In the foregoing report, notice that
the department picked up some bar
gains that the boards of directors
would never have reached in the
ordinary mode of buying as prac-
ticed heretofore. j was much i'm
pressed when / found the state saw
ing about $500 on each thousand dol
lars worth of auto supplies bought,
but in this blanket deal they appear |
TO save about $4,000 on what would |
cost them about $4,000 buying To-
cally. When they buy $4,000 worth |
Of blankets for about $4,000, and
everybody satisfied, l am ready to
admit that their system of buying |
Is worthy of an extended trial. Es-
Decially is this true under present
conditions when so many dealers
lind it difficult to get the goods at
LII.
When people talk about all-wOol
goods, when they go into stores ana
examine goods and accept them as
Atwood or all something else, there
IS a huge joke back Of 1t all. In
he department Of supplies they have
ways of taking the J out Of joke.
There is a state chemist working
overtime to set mistakes right.
When salesman offers a sample of
goods and Commissioner Lint wants
% know what it is made of, he clips
,ff fragment and drops it into
,iol containing the particular chem
cal that will attack and dissolve the
named. When I was nosing
around the department last month,
he chemical happened to be work.
ng on a clipping from an Atwood
shirt laid down as a guaranteed
The chemical promptly dis
solved all the wool there was in it
md left the cotton parts lying in the
solution. The different tests on va