Montana labor news., 1939-06-29
YOUR DOLLAR
By CONSUMERS UNION
Antiseptics

advertised "antiseptlcs." For when
tested under conditions resembling
actual use, not only do they fail to
kill disease organisms, but they per-
NIT these organisms to grow and
multiply.
The greater the advertising bally-
hoo, the less, it often happens, is the
germ-killing power. Merphenyl
Borate, an unadvertised product, is
vastly more effective than such
products as Pepsodent, Vick's Vora-
tone, or Listerine. Mercurochrome,
often used as a painless substitute
for iodine, is comparatively ineffec-
tive. Lysol, though it is an active
a%ntiseptic, is too poisonous for use
on the human body.
Iodine is still one of the most
satisfactory general antiseptics. It
may be used either in the 2 per cent
alcoholic solution-Mild Tincture of
Iodine, U.S.P.-or in of the rela-
lively non-irritating watery solutions
Iodine 1875 per cent, sodium iodide
% per cent in distilled water; or
the S per cent Lugol's Solution,
Highly effective, too, are Merphenyl
Borate Tincture 1880; Tincture
Metaphor 1900; Tincture Merthio-
late 1:1000; Mercresin Tincture.
COrrection-Union Made Shoes
YOUR DOLLAR for April stated
that the w. L. Douglas factory was
under contract with the Boot and
Shoe Workers Union (AFL). This
was incorrect. The w. L. Douglas
Company does have a union contract,
but it is with the Brotherhood of
Shoe and Allied Workers (independ-
ent but cooperating with the CIO).
The additional statement still holds,
that according to report from the
union, the Douglas company has
marketed under its trademark thou
sands of shoes bought from the non
union Endicott-Johnson Corp.
Investment Plans
Few workers can accumulate even
as much as $1,000 in a lifetime of
saving. Still fewer can achieve old
age security.
These r facts that every worker
learns. And that's the bait held out
by investment trusts, such as In
vestors Syndicate. They offer plans
Ito help you save"
A little courage, a little will power,
a lot of cooperation from the friendly
investment trust, and you'll be sit
ting pretty with a neat return on
your investment, the salesman says.
What he neglects to emphasize is
that you also need a little cash, paid
on the line each month for ten or
fifteen years. And should your
courage and will power slip, or
should you lose your job so that
you can't keep up the payments
during the first several years, you
must take a considerable loss to get
out.
So great is the loss of the investors
money on giving up the plan any
time during the first five or six
years, and so many are the investors
who must take that loss, that the
companies actually are largely de-
pendent on the new business and the
margin from lapsed certificates to
meet their operating expenses and
interest accumulations.
Here's How They Work 1t
You join Investors Syndicate,
making monthly payments Of $25 to
insure your future. After two years
payments, you lose your job, or
maybe your wife needs an operation.
Anyway, you need immediate cash
more than future security. You go
to Investors Syndicate and ask for
your 5000 back.
"Ah, no." they say in effect. 1T
would sap your moral fibre and dis
courage thrift. We will save you
from yourself by giving you back
only $685." You scratch your head
and read the contract-it's all down
there, but you never noticed it be-
fore. You need the money, you have
nowhere else to turn, and so you
take the loss. Investors Syndicate
chalks up a profit of $685. plus in
%terest, to help meet payments,
salaries and promotion expenses for
getting new investors"
Suppose you leave your money in,
but miss a years payments. The
company graciously extends your
term a year. In other words, they
hold your money one year longer,
without paying one cent Of interest
for that year on the money already
paid in up to that time.
How Much Security?
Suppose that you, or someone in
your family, is able to keep up the
monthly payments for fifteen years.
You have now paid in $4,000 in
actual cash. Towards what? The
company's promise to repay your
investment plus 4 per cent com
pounded annually.
We've already seen that the COM
pany depends on income from new
business and lapsed contracts to meet
its operating expenses and payments
to investors. Now-supposing fewer
contracts lapse? Surprising new
sales decrease? What assurance
have you now, that fifteen years
from now Investors Syndicate will
still be in business and able to fulfill
its promises?
A look at the company's assets as