The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-02-15
Passing the Buck To Eue
By K. WALTER

Kansas City, January 24-Reciprocal News Service .)-Heres the solution of the
 great American mystery that has been
 flashed on an exile revisiting for about a weekend this material Paradise of the
 world-this high-priced Garden of Eden
 a short story, in two words, explaining everything:
 Watch Evel Somebody's told her an
 auctions more fun than a bargain sale
 Watch her trying it out.
 F. S.-The first day it was a puzzle the
 way higher prices have encouraged
 spending The second day I happened to stand for a moment among a group of sE oppers on Fifth avenue It began to
 dawn. In the westward-bound dining car Eve was ordering dinner. The light grew clearer. In Chicago I became one of the thousands of window shoppers for live
 minutes, and it was nearly daylight. In
 Kansas City one glance at Petticoat lane was enough. l had seen the light the
 key to the American problem of the
 cost of living.
 American salesmanship has put 1t over
 as Nsmartly and quietly and gently as the prchibitionists Back in the dark ages of dollar wheat, salesmanship began to
 tell the American woman that she was
 running the country, and that the proof Of it was not in her voting power put
 in her spending power.
 The buying public determines the cns-
 toms and morals and finances and poll
 ties of a country and the buying pupilc
 name in America is Eve. She began to
 spend before the war just in the hlgh places; showed that she knew how to
 spend; dressed herself better than any
 other women in the world hired the pest
 cooks and built the best houses Europe
 locked on in amazement and talked aoou'
 the fast set in New York, little know
 ing that every city had it's set or beau tiful. well-dressed. 'weli-groomed, weis-Ieu' Olympian. propagandist, spenalhs bNes, It was just becoming popular before the
 war Never was there such country
 of uniformly beautiful and well-dressed'
 vell-fed. well ?housed femininity. omen lof all classes were beginning to demand tbe hest of everything and to know IL when they got it. Then came war eeoiio- mics. and from the social heightS the message ran that spending was no lolisei the fashion Eve bought Liberty Bonds and bragged about wearing the same evening gown, I don't know how many times. and the same street clothes posl- lively three days in succession, my dear' If was a great and heroic period, and people began to say that American char acter was changing. EXiles Tn Europe heard that report and thought It Was u uo because they. perforce, were still lvIns frugal lives. while the first complete his tories of the war were already belng pup lished. They couldn't make out Why at the same time reports came over the water that the American H. C. l.. Dl- vision had somehow lodged the armlstice and the peace and was still breaking through daily on the western front. They thought it must have something to do with Senator Hitchcock or Senator Lodge or some of the politicians who wanted the United States to have peace conference all to itself. They didn't know that Eve had dogged her uniform and was try ing to buy up everything before it went out of fashion
 With proper escort, went through the dr ess department of a big store. Eve was being shown a gown for $l75 Haven't you got one for $2ooE she asked.
 Looking at blouse display. Isn't that a lovely one" said Eve. but 1t must be cheap material at that price
 "Olp I wouldn't shame myself by wear ing Cheap stuff like that" said Eyes friend
 Escort learned that the price of the cheap blouse was 1855 "No wonder she wouldn't buy" said escort. We've \ just received cards telling of sale of blouses at prices, from s35 to BPS" .eWen, why wouldn't she buy the min l imum?"
 ] The answer was the kind of a look a