The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-06-19
MEN. WOTEEN
 AND THINGS


 and I'll show you my buying system.
 
 But unless you study advertisements and like to gaze in shop windows you will soon drop out. Now, I am an om-
 nivorous student of the advertising col
 umns Or pages, and when it comes to lingering before beautiful displays Of
 tempting merchandise 1 have Paris
 ooulevardier beat mile.
 I occasionally hear some wise guy
 ooasting that he never reads advertise
 ments, or some Gyspectic subscriber kick
 ng because his favorite journal publishes
 them. was set to speak at the recent
 session of the Alabama Press Associa- 1 ton in Montgomery on Should the Edi-
 lorial Page De AooAshed?" My answer
 IS No, uA.e3s it becomes necessary on
 account ol ,4e shortage of wn.te paper
 70 choose between it and advertising. l
 l believe that the head of any family
 the year if an intelligent observer o1 | the advertisements in his paper. I am
 sure that the good wife can, for women
 taken them seriously. But this is not
 to be boost for the advertising game,
 and, what's more, the buslnes5 end of 1 Ihe Age-Herald has not .a..eI on me | for any support o1 the "co.,s cnasers. | It's d free wlu offering, because l be-
 lIeVe it's Tn the interest ot puDic econ
 omy i'll these Gays o1 high prices 1 The best time to walk with me and | tT tf.. ' st
 saturday morning, for, De+ns d bargain hunter, l wait for the spec4ai sd.es on | the last day of the week, and turtner- more 1 speeianze by getting in on the
 before noon offerings;' and this for
 two reasons, the first being to save
 money and the second to save the wear and tear of getting waited upon. It's money in my pocket and balm to my
 nerves.
 1 In the beginning let me warn you that | if you are tied down to office hours or | have no leisure it will not pay you to bother with me my system, for 1 make my living out of Men, Women and Things, and my beat is out on the ] streets or anywhere that human beings congregate or things are scattered around. My specially is folks, and things" but the frame to go around | their portraits.
 
 If you want to be ready for the prom enade, to get the most out of it, you | must first have studied the Saturday of- ferings of the grocers, butchers and pro- duce men. Then you'll need a good sized basket, for I buy everything which goes on my table, and, what's more, tote every bit of it home. I am my own purchasing agent and delivery wagon I have first choice of the goods and am n " show up not.
 If you get more than the saving of a few dollars out of the Frank Willis Bar nett system of home economics you will have to be a born shopper or acquire the art. Now for myself I jess+- naturally like to buy things I am interested not only in the articles I purchase, but enjoy being waited on, and there is something in the very atmosphere of stores and markets which to me is fasci- hating. Let the ''near" aristocrats frown down on trade as much as they please, and set ,nle down as "pleb,' but barter has its fine points.
 not only like the environment of the stores, and get pleasure out of the clerks, the heads of departments and the proprietors, but I find much joy in the customers. I never go on a shopping 
 been socially repaid for the time given to it. The beauty about meeting ones friends in the asles of a mercantile es- ta blishment comes from the ease in which one can make getaway without having to make a whole lot of excuses, as is required at formal social gather ing.
 I used to spend much time at the so- cial game, going to dances, dinners, par ties, receptions and other social func- | ticns and it amused me- but how that I am not in society I find that I can keep up with the ones I want to know on the streets or in the stores. I'll ad- init this is a rather novel way to look upon the matter but if you will think | it through you will discover that it is an easy way to keep in touch with those who are without being under any social obligations.
 Time was when no one of the smart set would have been caught in a mis- )cellaneous crowd of Saturday shoppers, but it's different now, and I even catch them quite frequently in Kress' and Woolworths and they no longer make apology for being overtaken in the act of making a purchase
 I referred to the namber of automo- piles lined up each afternoon around the 'help-yourself stores,' and they can be found any Saturday morning in the lneighborhood of the markets which have advertised special sales.
 
 If you have followed me sympathetic ally thus far I'll set down some things found on a recent Saturday morning expedition, for I canvassed the district on upper Second avenue, on Eighteenth street and Fourth avenue, the sections i'll which the ereater part of the grooers, fruiterers, butchers and produce men are located. I had their ads and watched the windows and sidewalk stands to get a line on the quality of stuff for sale Naturally the best is displayed the most prominently.
 It's all right to read the advertise mensst but to get the full benefit of them one must do his own selecting. for it's hard to discriminate between the articles dvertised unless one is willing to take tEe trouble to make compar- sons For instance, last Saturday morn ing roast beef was featured at prices varying from 20 to 30 cents pound. The question of grade and cuts entered into the discrepancy in the prices. but this gave the careful buyer his chance to choose between them.
 There was similar variation in pork and pork chops from 30 to 40 cents. in sliced breakfast bacon from 35 to 52 cents, in veal steaks and chops from 25 to s5 cents, in sausage (mixed from 15 to 25 cents and pork from 40 to 45 cents) from breakfast ones at 25 and 30 cents, t1 oha; at fro,, to