The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1919-11-27
TOPEKA STATEJOURNAL
Information Bureau
FREDERIC j. HASKIN, Director.
Washington, ID. C.
CoMNIuNITY COUNCILS.

4 1
COMMUNITY COUNCILS.
New York. Nov. 24.-The New York
. consumer is now on the war path
Henceforth, it is generally recognized.
he must be handled gingerly, for be
is thoroly peeved about the high cost
of living Also-which is more I'M
portant-he is organized to combat it.
Distributed thruout the various bor-
oughs of this city there are now eighty
| Organizations, known as community
councils" possessing a membership
| of over sixty THOUSAND consumers, and
| the active support of the American
Federation of Labor. These councils,
| in turn, are under the direction of
! central community council, which has
| its headquarters right in the midst of
/ the civic machinery in the municipal
| building, where it keeps a watchful
! eye on all political moves Once
week each council holds a meeting
for the purpose of discussing the vari-
! Gus affairs which concern its MEM
| bers, which may include anything
from street paving to the high price
of pickles.
! The community council is to the
! consumer what the union is to the
worker. 1t recognizes merely the
! consumers interests and is pledged
merely to their support. Since any
one is a consumer, anyone can be-
| come a m ember of his local council
! upon the payment of the initiation fee
| Of IS cents. Qualifications for mem
bership, however. are suggested by the
7 following questions:
Are you a lonesome citizen, or are
you a ncighborly citizen?
Are you and yours getting u square
| deal in your djstrict2
1.-The cutters clean and giving good
service?
Are the prices you pay for me at
potatoes. milk and Rreau, in your opin-
ion, fair and right
is the school furnishing your child
a good education in return for your
Is the landlord prohteering on your
tent?
These, according to the councils, are
a few of the important matters of
every day city living which should
| have a satisfactory answer if,a man
Is to remain satisfied citizen in his
community. TO get a satisfactory an
sWer he must be a member of his local
council. Pm these times" says a cir
:; cular explaining the organization, the
community council IS a ray of hope.
1t is non-political, non-sectarian
neighborhood organization of the peo-
ple-the voice of the neighborhood.
Parenthetically, it may be added,
that large part of the voice is femi-
nine. thousands of housewives being
enrolled in the various locals
The first community council was
- created during the var as q medium
for war campaigns OF one kind and
another. The New York consumer
was quick to see its value as a means
of orSaniza ton. and kept right on SUD-
he efo af I hc
armistice. For a long period no one
paid any attention to it. The con-
sumner was permitted to go ahead with
the organization of his unions and get
his campaign of self-protection well
under way before il was realized that
they were becoming a source of power.
/ Until recently, the work of the coun-
ellis has been merely discursive and
educational. Last summer under the
direction of the publicity manager of
the central council, C. Se1mer Foug-
ner, the women members of the vari-
Gus locals went on u tour of the city
markets in order to learn the methods
by which foodstuffs were brought to
the city and to count the middlemen
who handled them. The tour started
at midnight and continued until 5
o'clock in the morning, during which
, time the women chung tenaciously to
their posts, watching every process
with intense interest and never once
admitting that they were sleepy.
Now" says Mr.. Fougner, when 4
woman member of a community coun-
Gil speaks of clumsy distribution sys-
| TENS and the margin of profit betw
the producer and the consumer. she
knows what she is talking about
Knows all about the cold storage bust
ness, too because later on we had a
tour of the cold storage plants"
: AS the councils grew in members
and power, they became anxious to
, test their strength with a greater
enemy than a city politician. They
wanted to establish the consumer as
: a definite obstacle-an organized OBJ
: stacle-in the path of higher prices
They did not have to hunt for griev-
ance; they already had one. Every
body had been indignant about it fol
months, everybody considered it a
! criminal injustice, and everybody in
Guiding the newspapers. the city off
Gals and the labor unions, was ready
to support any movement comba ting
= it. 1t was the high price of milk
+ The price of milk has been steadily
climbing in New York until now it is
y cents a quart in most stores, ano
[ IL cents a pint. The dealers haye in.
E sisted all along that this price was the
least at which they could possibly
bring the milk from the farmer to the
! consumer; that to supply the demands
? Of 100000 people was a complicated
f and costly proposition, and that the
loss they were compelled to stant
from the waste and breakage of bottles
alone was enough to excuse an ever
e higher price. The dealers did not ad.
e dress these arguments to the consum.
ers. however. If it had been dispute
between labor and capital each side
would have appointed a committee Il
j deal with the other, and some attemp
would have been made to reach al
agreement. But, as usual. IN this cast
the consumers were ignored excep
e on paper.
e1 The consumers. on the other hand
: had no intention of ignoring the ques
ton of the price of milk. They dis
| cussed It thorolY in their councils q nf