Perth Amboy evening news., 1919-10-04

Women Start Il. C.. of L. Fight In Earnest

NEW YORK. Oct. why is the
price of beefsteak2
Would you wander around all night
in the rain to And out7
That's what twenty New York wo-
men didl
In Pouring Rain.
Headed by Mrs. James Lees Laid
law, New York social leader and
chairman of the field committee of
the Federal Fair Price Board, twen-
ty women interested in bringing low
the high cost of living, made an all
night tour Of investigation through
New York's wholesale market dis
trict.
Starting from the Manhattan ho-
tel in a pouring rain, the party en-
parked in W huge Sightseeing buses
kets where they watched the unload
Ing of milk by the trainload. Then
they went to a great pasteurizing and
bottling plant and saw the process OF
making milk safe for baby, from be-
ginning to end.
From the milk plant to the rail-
road piers where shtploads of Cali
fornia fruits are unloaded nightly was
the next move, then to the wholesale
and retail public markets.
Members of the party made obser-
vations as to existing facilities and
possible improvements for the mar
keting and transportation of goods
Mrs. Laidlaw was much impressed
by her observations and expressed her
opinion that IL women really mean to
solve food problems they must come
out of the kitchen and into the mar
kets.
Terminal Markets.
Mrs. Laidlaw criticised the general
methods Of receiving and distributing
foodstuffs, saying that they could be
much improved, and suggested estab-
lishment Of terminal markets In dif=
ferent parts of the great city instead
of permitting market congestion in
one section.
This was the first time In the his
tory of New York that 50 large and
well organized a group Of women
have undertaken a serious study of
the marketing problem. 1t p%ortends
t striking change in the methods OF
food distribution when the housewife
actually begins an investigation and
analysis of the travels and price
change of her grocery purchases.
Mo longer content with protesting
and worrying over the mounting cost
of foods the housewives of America
are about to make personal investi-
cation of the cause of the rise In
prices.
Since women are responsible for
about eighty per cent OF the buying
done in America this latest evidence
Of scientific and economic interest in
the buying job Is Handwriting on the
wall" for merchants.
Those Who Went.
Just to show who's who IN the
present Investigators and to prove
that the Investigators also know
what's what, here are a few of the
food and homemaking experts who
went over the market road to find out
about beefsteak. Most of the "trip
pers'' will formulate reports to be
presented to the various community
councils, which they represent, with
recommendations for state and mu
nioipal action OF control and improve
ment of market conditions. Six mem-
bers of the State Food and Market
Official committee also made the trip
with the
Among those in the party Were
Mrs. Laidlaw, chairman Of the Fair
Price committees; Mrs. v. G. Sirngho-
witch, social worker at Greenwich
House; Miss Isabel Ely Lord, home
economics expert of Pratt Institute,
Brooklyn; Miss May Van Ardsdale,
dean Of home economics department,
Teachers College, New York univer-
sity; Seymour Barnard. Peoples In
stitute, Brooklyn.