The Chattanooga news. [volume] (Chattanooga, Tenn.) 1891-1939, 1919-12-30
W 0 M E N MUST
COME TO RESCUE
Gen. Palmer Appeals to Them
to, Help in Fight Against
= H. c. Of l.
CUT DOWN LUxURlEs


(Atty.-GeGn. Palmer has written
the following message to the women
of America, expressly for the Inter-
national News Service, to ask their
cooperation during the coming year
in the fight against the high cost of
living.) M4
(BY ATTY.-GEN. A. MITCHELL
PALMER.)
Washington, Dec. 30.-Q. NJ So
To the women of America:
Nearly every time big campaign.
such as the one inaugurated by the
department of justice to reduce the
cost of living, is started, we turn to
the American woman and put a big
share of the burden on her shoulders.
During the war woman proved her
self capable of extreme sacrifice,
loyalty and patriotism, and now man
feels more than ever that he can de-
pend on her.
So, quite naturally in this national
emergency the women of the land
must come to the rescue.
Why has the cost of living jumped
out of all reason? Production costs
are being boosted every day by the
insistent demands for higher wages
and shorter hours. Higher wages add
materially to the cost of production
and fewer hours of work lessen the
amount of production without in any
way decreasing demands. An in
creased demand and a decreased pro-
duction mean higher prices sure as
night follows day.
| Statistics show that nine-tenths of
| the buying of necessities in this coun-
| try Is done by women, so that the
| matter of decreasing the demand is
largely in their hands. 1t is espe-
cially important to cut down on lux
uries, for if merchants become con-
vinced that the American woman is
determined to help cure the present
economic evil by sensible, judicious
buying, they will turn their attention
to demanding sensible and serviceable
merchandise from the manufacturer
to supply the sensible, intelligent con-
| sumer.
| This matter OF buying Is very
curious one. We are all, it seems
! impressed more with the price tag
than anything else about the article
we wish to purchase. Merchants all
over the country have brought home
to me the really absurd way in which
We as a nation, buy. We see some
thing we like, and if it is only Sc
when we thought it would be $40, we
imagine that it is not good and dc
not buy it.
The following tale was brought tC
me the other day. A merchant In
New York had a quantity of tor
coats for sale at $35, and he could
not sell them. AS the season passed
he became worried and confided tt
a friend that he was going to lose g
lot of money because he could not ge
rid of his stock. The friend appals
emily being among other things G
psychologist, suggested marking the
coats at $55. His argument was tha
the buying public had adopted tht
frame of mind that reasonably priced
articles were cheap in quality. II
make long and sad story short, til,
coats were all sold within a week a
the advanced price. So it would seen
that some actual knowledge on tn,
subject of value received would ait
us IL great uedl III our everyday nd
tional shopping.
AS l see the situation, women cal
absolutely control prices by buyin,
wisely and only what they need
When demand is curtailed and w
produce more than enough for ou
needs, the cost of living will com
down. Wages cannot go up whil
retail prices are going down, and g
the whole economic situation will b
stabilized