The Colorado statesman., 1922-07-08

cents. The average cost of manufac-
turing the flour into bread was 10.1G
cents of the dollar the consumer pays
for bread.
Service Cost Is High.
considerable factor in the bakers
cost of distribution is the service ele-
ment. His deliveries are made daily
and his individual sales are comparn-
lively small in terms of dollars. 1t is
quite possible that the consumer finds
the convenience of being able to get
fresh bread daily of as great value as
the commodity itself.
However, it seems possible that
greater efficiency can be developed,
which will tend to reduce the manu-
featuring bakers selling cost and over
head and the retail dealers operating
expense. The inquiry does not indt-
cate that the manufacturing baker has
eXacted an undue profit in taking 5.3
cents from the consumers dollar for
manufacturing bread and distributing
1t to the retailer.
1t would appear, however, that the
retailers operating expense of 10 cents
and the bakers average selling ex-
pense of 1876 cents out of the dollar
the consumer pays for bread should be
reduced by improvement of method.
To some degree consumers demand for
variety causes duplication of service on
the part of the several bakeries max
ing daily deliveries 10 the same re-
tailers.
The competitive element between
manufacturing bakeries in their efforts
to command markets naturally tends
to increase the amount of service ana
the cost of selling. However, competi-
ton tends to maintain high standard
of quality and convenience of service.
Mothers Work; Children Suffer.
Gainful employment of mothers of
young children frequently means that
the children receive inadequate care
during the day, or no care at all, ac-
cording to n report entitled children
of Wage-Earning Mothers, A Study of
Selected Group in Chicago" just
made public by the United States
Department of Labor through the
children's bureau. Other conditions
found include retarded school prog
ress of the children, over-fatigue and
ill-health of the mothers-with conse-
quent loss to the children-and in
some instances overwork by children
who had the responsibility for house
hold tasks beyond their strength.
The report presents the results of
study of S43 families of working
mothers, in which were 2,066 children
under the age of fourteen years. The
group included families known to the
Chicago United Charities and to the
day nurseries, and included also a
special group of 212 colored families.
1t was found that the problem of the
employment of mothers had to do with
both normal and broken families.
Where the father was a member of the
family group and worked regularly his
earnings were, in the great majority
of cases, inadequate for the family
support.
The As day nurseries in Chicago at
the time of the study did not maintain
uniformly high standards with respect
to sanitation and child care and train
ing; many of them had not provided
adequately for the care and training
of the older children. Only two nurser-
les, with capacity of 20 each, were
available to colored children. OF the
1,32S children who were not cared for
in day nurseries, lat least fourth
were left with no provision for their
care aside from that made in the
schools.
School Attendance Is Poor.
The school attendance records of
group of 742 children were obtained.
and these compared unfavorably with
the attendance of all the children en-
rolled in nine selected schools in
workers neighborhoods. A large
amount of retardation was found
among the children of wage-earning
mothers, over one-third of whom were
below standard grade for their age.
The report emphasizes the skill in
planning and management shown by
many of the women in carrying the
triple burden of wage-earner, house
keeper and mother, and states that
large proportion were doing their
housework without assistance. More
than half of the $50 mothers whose
household arrangements were known
were doing all the washing and cook
ing; the mothers in general showed a
tendency to sacrifice themselves in or
der to save the children from tasks
too heavy for their years.
Measures for reducing the necessity
for wage earning by mothers of young
children, the report states, include i'm
proved economic conditions that will
make the fathers earnings more ade
quate; training of mothers in house
hold management and the care of chill
dren preserving the normal family
group through movements for the pre-
van tion of nccihent and the nrnm0tinn