The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1933-02-16
BUY AT HOME
By MILLER LOWEN

A campaign has been started to
"Buy American" so let US look be-
hind the scenes aid determine the
reason for it. The first and main rea-
son for this campaign is to give work
to Americans and to keep the Amer
lean dollar in America. A second rea-
son is to uphold the standard OF AM
erican labor. During the last Presi-
Dental campaign, President Hoover
gave a comparison of the wage OF Ia
borers in the different countries, and
YOU recall that America ranked first.
Another reason is loyalty to our own
country. Let me elucidate by telling
of two incidents.
In the manufacture of any article
the labor involved plays a large part
in the total cost of the article. In
Japan, a laborer, or coolie, is paid but
a few cents day, so the labor charge
is small in any process of manutac-
ture. For this reason, electric light
bulbs can be made in Japan, trans
ported to this country, an import duty
paid and still be sold for price below
that of an American manufacturer
But as is usually the case in the pur-
chase of cheap goods, the buyer soon
finds out he has not made such good
bargain. Perhaps Japan can make as
good electric light bulbs as any Am
erican factory, but they have not prov
en- it. AS you may know, electric light
bulbs are grouped as to the number OF
watts of electrical energy they con-
sumo per hour, that is, ten watts,
forty watts, fifty watts, and so on
Two forty watt bulbs will cost the
same to operate, but they may not
give the same amount of light. The
amount of light given off can be meas
ured as so many candlepower. The
bulb which gives off the greater num-
Der of candlepower for each watt con-
sumed is the better bulb.
Edison's first carbon filament bulb
gave off but very few candlepower per
watt, while the modern bulb gives off
a much greater amount. This i'm
provement has been made possible
through experiments conducted by the
large American manufacturers. A
comparison of the American bulb and
the Japanese bulb will show the AM
erican bulb as the more efficient and
therefore the cheaper to operate. AL
though this is true, and although the
American companies have tried to adj
vertise the truth about their products
the average purchaser of bulbs is
either ignorant of the truth or has
been swayed by the low price Of the
Japanese bulb.
TT get the most service for youl
money, you should buy the American
made bulb. Further, for every Jap
anese bulb bought just one less Amer
lean bulb is sold
The effect has been to decrease the
output of the American factory with
its resultant decrease in employment
Therefore, for the sake of your fell
low countrymen, make sure the cleo
trio light bulbs you buy in the future
are marked "Made in America"
A second example of foreign COM
petition is in the steel industry. Eu-
ropean manufacturers can ship steel
to the eastern port of our country
and charge lower price than man.
ufacturer in Pittsburgh can sell his
product in the same place. 1t is be-
ing done today, much to the dismay
of the American steel industry.
Do you wonder, "Who are the pur-
chasers of this foreign product ?"
read in a steel magazine not long ago
that prominent mail order house