The spectator., 1919-11-28
INVESTIGATORS FIND VALID RIA. SON FOR THE HIGH COST
 OF LIVING.
SENSELESS SPENDING HURTS
Economy and lncreased Production 10 Hope of Nation, Says Ambassa-
 dov 0. R. Francia

buying coats costing all the way from $125 to $300 each, paying down and pledging their meagre incomes for months and years to come, economists gasped
 It was while committee from the Connecticut War Savings Organiza- tion, working in cooperation with Robert Scoville, state food admins trator in an attempt to track the high cost of living to it's lair. made the discovery.
 "A woman representative of one of the stores in Hartford is reported to have taken orders for 250 fur coats from girl employees of one insurance company, on $1 week basis,' says a statement issued by the committee
 These coats cost from s125 to $500 each. but in this insurance office they were purchased by girls earning prob ably $l5 per week or less Some of the girls will be paying on their coats for three or four years. By such reck- less extravaganza as this tue prices of luxuries are made to soar and to some extent the prices of necessities follow"
 The statement also declared that the owner of the department store has told other merchants of Hartford that the spreading of the gospel of thrift among the people would be bad busi- ness"
 The statement also cites the in. stance of young women employees of the American Thread Mills at Will lmantic who. when they were work ing only 36 hours per week. sold their Liberty Bonds and War Savings Stamps to buy expensive clothing.
 Last winter it is estimated by the committee. 25 per cent of the bonds sold were by girl employees in various factories to make initial payments on fur coats.
 The committee points out there is profiteering, undoubtedly, but that profiteering is by no means the whole story
 The work of the Connecticut thrift campaigners might we'll be emulated by War Savings committees in other states. The American people are no, likely to persist in foolish policy as
 regards their individual spending fl the obvious foolishness of that policy is pointed out to them.
 MT. Scoville says that even the poor people judge the quality of the goods they buy by the price rather than by common sense. What merchant, in such case. would not charge high prices for goods that would otherwise be left on his shelves?
 Every large city could stand an in vestigation along these lines. The peo pie got the thrift lesson during the war. They got it very quickly and they adhered to it admirably. But the end. ing of hostilities seemed to them, also to be the ending of their responsibil- ity IL was not the end-nOt by any means. And the people will respond to the appeal if the sound common sense of it is made clear to them. David R. Francis of St. Louis, Am. bassador to Russia, in recent addresses m his home city. has taken occasion to point out the fact that Germany IS certain to recover quickly from the setback of the war, and If Americans do not guard themselves Germany will surpass this country and gain com mercial supremacy.
 On all hands it Is conceded that the high prices prevalent everywhere may be attributed more 10 lack of produc tion than any one thing. Ambas sador Francis shows that the thrifty Ger mans are now asking that they be permitted to work 10 hours a day in. stead of eight hours, and the first thing the German does is to begin to save and accumulate fund to pay of the debt and rehabilitate himself in a commercial way
 The U. s government plan to save is ideal, and is made to reach all classes The child saver is provided
 with the 2S cent Thrift Stamp. Then in successive steps come the s War Savings Stamp and the Sl00 and sl .0o0 Treasury Savings Certificate These securities pay 4.2I per cent If held until maturity. on January l. 1924, a more profitable investment than the government of any other nation can offer it's people.
 And no investment on earth can be safer. as the entire wealth of every state in the Union is behind these Stamps and Certificates
 A $100 Certificate may be bought in October for $S420. and any banker will be glad to give any person all the information necessary to thorough understanding if he really wants to invest and save.