The people's voice. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1939-1969, 1940-04-17
YOUR DOLLAR
By CONSUMERS UNION

There are no government standards
of quality for chicken soup. So 80
members of Consumers Unions staff
tasted chicken soup for weeks, check
ing one flavor against another, to
determine which soups were most apt
to be enjoyed. The identity of sam
pies was not revealed, and each per-
son gave his opinion independently.
Best liked was Crosse & Blackwell
Chicken-Noodle Soup. A close second
was Campbell's condensed chicken
soup, which costs about half as much
per serving Down towards the bot
tom of the list were HORNED and Col
|lege Inn. Flavor ratings of the IA
brands tested appear in the April
1910 Gu Reports.
FLOOR COVERINGS
When you ask for cheap linoleum,
says Consumers Union Reports for
April, chances are that you'll be-
shown felt base floor covering
product of different composition and
lacking linoleum's wearing quality.
Felt-base is paper "felt' made from
asphalt-saturated rags, and finished
off with various surfaces, while lino-
leum is mixture of cork, linseed OIL
wood flour and pigment, with burlap
back.
There are three main types Of limo
leum-plain, inlaid, and printed, CIV
ing value per dollar in the order
named. If you're furnishing your
own home, plain or inlaid linoleum
is best buy. If you're furnishing an
apartment where you will stay only
a year or two, the cheaper felt base
floor covering will do.
Consumers Union tested samples of
nearly every type and thickness of
linoleum and felt base floor covering,
to find out which offered best value
LABOR
Four companies makes most of the
inoleum sold in this country Their
relations with organized labor are as
'ololws: Paraffine Companies Inc. has
signed contracts with IS AFL and
JIO unions, after poll in 1887
showed that more than half the en-
)loyes wanted to be organized. Sloane
3labon Corp. has union shop agree
nent of several years. standing with
he United Rubber Workers (CIO)-
This years contract provides wage
aise and paid vacations. Armstrong
Cork Co. and Congoleum-Nairn Inc
re bitterly anti-union," says the
JRW.
PHONE RATES
What makes phone bills SO high?
Where does the money go? A feder-
| communications commission inves-
igation showed that the average $64
early bill covered the following: cur
ent maintenance, s11.79; deprecia-
on, $1135; traffic costs, 1881; COM
lercial expenses, s5.32; general ex-
enses, 1888; net earnings, $12-60.
The $3.50 net earnings may sound
a fifth of the bill. But;
ther items conceal additional profits
nd overcharges. Depreciation costs
e often charged at rates that return
UGH more than the company origin
ly paid Telephone supplies - for
hich you pay-are bought at exor-
tant prices, and you also pay for
lgineering mistakes. For example,
ell engineers recognized almost at
ice that the hand set introduced In
27 was an inferior instrument, due
poor mouthpiece design. Yet it
as manufactured for seven years,
ID yielded a return over and above
cost
Traffic costs-meaning largely labor
sts-have been reduced, but in some
ses only by installing expensive
uipment. The added capital used to
stall this equipment costs as much
: interest payments as is saved on
g salaries of discharged workers.
expenditures are zoe a
one per year. And how that soc
es work for the company! Adver-
ing silences newspaper criticism, or
VS. editorial support, when the COM
ny tries to put through rate rise.
Federal investigations of the phone
npany have yielded big dividends
decreased rates. What the investi-
lions have uncovered is explained
a series of articles now running in
Reports.