, 1921-08-18

that this house was brick veneer. and
after he had made the deal for the
house with you, you found out that
1t was simply brick veneer, and you
said to him, why, you sold me a
brick veneer house." Would you
call that a brick house? And what
would your opinion be about such a
transaction?
Or II a man should 70 into a jew
elry store and ask for o solid gold
watch. and the jeweler should give
him a 20-year guaranteed gold filled
watch. wouldn't hal be \retty much
the same thing? Now, that jeweler
cannot sell a 20-yea- guaranteed,
gold filled watch as solid gold
watch, because II he did so he would
become criminally liable.
Yesterday you spoke about oleo-
margarine. In discussing that ques-
ton the Congressman did not get 1t
as clear as he might have done. Oleo-
margarine is no revoked butter. It
is a substitute for butter. And when
a person goes into . grocery store
and asks for oleomargarine he does
it simply because he expects to buy
it at q lower price than he would
have to pay for butter. But again,
IL a man wants fresh creamery but
ter he Is perfectly willing to pay the
higher price that he has to pay for
fresh creamery butter.
Now. I might make the same com
parison between shoddy and virgin
wool. Someone in testifying here
said that some virgin wool makes
up rough and raw. Very we'll, lay
hat kind Of fabric to one side. but
ctil1 lot ~ fohn Tho nrnrn uyNN1 khn
virgin wool that makes up a fine
fabric and which completes with the
foreign fabric. Years & when we
were pushing fabrics from the other
side and a man would come in who
wanted to buy a suit of clothes he
would be influenced in the matter of
price. by whether 1t was imported
cloth or not. There was a suit. we
will say, hat cost $3.50. why" we
would say. this is imported" II he
did moi want to pay that much. we
would say, "all right, herr is our
domestic CLOTH" and he would pay
$50 or SIS for a suit made of that
cloth. That was optional with him,
and the same thing would be true
of true virgin wool and shoddy. Now
call 1t shoddy or reworked wool or
anything you may want to, but when
a man comes into our store we will
say, Here Is a garment that will
cost you so and so much. 1t is made
out Of shoddy, and here is is cloth
made of pure wool or virgin wool.
which costs you more" 1t puts the
two fabrics On a competitive basis.
The man who wants to pay SIS or
$25 for a suit OF clothes cannot ex-
pect to get the same fabric in that
suit of clothes as the man yho buys
a suit OF clothes that costs SIS or
800.
Now, another thing that I want to
call your attention to gentlemen, Is
that the Retail Association Of the
United States Is working toward
higher ideals, and I wish to God
there could be a law enacted to make
every retailer in this country come
down to q price that was a just and
fair living price, so that the man
could be protected. In other words.
II a man has got q suit Of clothes
worth $40 or $35. he would not
have the right to ask $45 or $50 for
1t. l want to take your time for a
moment to show you what I mean.
In regard to fabric, II a thing goes
wrong, what comeback have you? We
have no guarantee from the mills
that a thing Is right. or that they
will make 1t right, or anything OF
that kind. We haven't that kind Of
a comeback. The idea Is simply this,
that In my experience in handling
merchandise I find that where you
have q manipulation Of life and
death, as you have here, for 1t is
practically q comparison between
dead wool and live wool, the dead
wool wears off and gets musty; It
loses It's luster; 1t wears through,
and we have got to come back and
take our chance by making 1t right
with our customers. whether the
manufacturer stands back Of It Or
not.
who was chairman Of the Council Of
National Defense. asked US to taboo
or get away from fancy adornment
we had to set the pace.
10 the protection that we should have
and We see nothing unfair about
passing q bill that protects as be.
cause when . ma comes into your
store and you are the right kind OF
. man You want to know Whist You
are giving him. and ron want him
to know what you are giving him.
and you want him to know what he
IL getting. II you are the right kind
Of Q man, II you are honest at heart,
you put your character into your
business, but II, on tie other hand,
you are crooked at heart your char
acter will 90 into your business /
think the day has some when, We
must trade ON high and stn91e
basis. We are getting higher ideals
into our buslaesAsoaAAtlg4ap 70 NJ
to carry them out and eoatinue them.
On the other hAnd, W ssk that the
laboriag man today give a. An s-hour
day ana that 10 IN e-nnNR day. We
want IA 9AA : AnaaasAa Spnffhr AZ VpA1k