Norwich bulletin., 1919-08-19
WASHINGTON AFFAIRS
Especial to The Bull

Especial to The Bullet1nJ. Washington. D. q. Aug. 1ss-what
 through. stations in New Haven Bridgeport. Waterbury and Norwich to keep the consumers advised re- gardine supplies and prices of food stuffs is recommended as q pattern for the entire country by Secretary Houston in letter submitted to- con- Ercss asking an appropriation of $502,000 to carry on campaign against the high cost of living.
 The secretary outlines his plans for the federal department to establish such information service in 20 of the
 largest cities of the country as cen- ters of distribution for such news tc the consumers. As regards Con- necticut he explains that: There are being maintained at the present time at the expenses of the State of Con- necticut, services similar to those for
 which these estimates provide. in the
 cities of New Haven. Bridgeport, Wat
 erbury and Norwich. Conn. The bu-
 reau of markets maintains coopera- tive relations with these services and
 they can doubtless be coordinated with
 the largest work for which these esti-
 mates are submitted"
 For the distribution of informa-
 ton in this way regarding retail food
 prices the federal department asked a special appropriation of s125,00o.
 Secretary Houston describes the plan as follows:
 To be of value, supply and price in- formation as it affects food in a given community must be made available in that community daily or, at least. two or three times d week. The infornna- ton for the benefit of consumers must be published in the newspapers of the city, since in no other way can large numbers of consumers be reached. The information for the benefit of farmers, which. through it's tendency to stabilize the market and to pre- vent loss, also benefits consumers, must be mimeographed and gotten into the hands of the farmers either through the mails or by distribution on farmers markets. This work re- quireS an office in the city. equipped with desks, tables, chairs. typewriters. addressing mchines. mimeograph ma chimes, etc, and manned by an agent and, in most cases, a typist assistant. Tn very large cities a staff of three or four workers may be- required in order that the necessary information may be collected expeditiously and prepared for publication without de- lay. Unless the information be time ly it will be of little value.
 The cost of a service of making public, information in regard to re tail prices will depend to very large extent upon the number of cities in which the service is to be maintained and the size. It is assumed that the primary idea is to make the inforrna- ton available to as many or the con- sumers of the country as possible at the least possible expense. It is be- lieved that this can best be ac- complished by establishing a service in the largest cities of the country. since one organization in very large city can reach several times the num- Der of consumers that could be reach ed by a single organization in city of moderate size. The sum indicated above is based on a service in 20 of the largest cities of the country. prob ably as follows:
 New York, N. F.; Chicago Ill.,; Philadelphia, Pa; St. Louis. Mo-; Bos- ton Mass: Cleveland, Ohio; Baltt- more. Md; Pittsburgh, Pa.: Los Angeles. Cali. Buffalo, N. Y.; San Francisco, Cali; Milwaukee. Wis; Cincinnati. Ohio; New Orleans. La; Minneapolis Minn.; Washington, D. G.; Seattle, Wash; Kansas City. Mo; Portland. Greg; Indianapolis. Ind. r The city of Detroit. Mich, is not included, as it Is hoped that the muni- cipality of Detroit. which now main tains a similar service. will cooperate witt, the department in this work. If such cooperation is maintained. it may be necessary to pay the salary of clerk. The cities of Newark and ter sey City are not included. because 1t is felt that prices published in New York will be more or less applicable