The potters herald. [volume] (East Liverpool, Ohio) 1899-1982, 1940-10-03
Consumer Notes
Issued Weekly by Consumer
Counsel Division, A. A. A.
Washington, d. c.
How Decatur Housewives Got Govern
ment Graded Meat

Graded Meat
How Decatur, Illinois, consumers
got their local markets to sell Gov
ernment- graded meats is a story of
smart consumer action.
1t all started after a member of a
local women's club had visited Seattle,
Washington, where quality grading of
meat is required by law. That law
helped consumers shop more efficiently
and helped farmers to get fairer
prices for meat.
Beck in Decatur the club member
lost no time in telling consumers
, about Government meat grades. Word
went out to members of the Macon
; County Home Bureau Units, that is,
farm wives in clubs working with the
: Extension Service. Homemaking class
es conducted by the Parent Teacher
Association of Decatur were told about
grades. From Chicago came Federal
, meat graders to explain how meat Is
graded. Speakers from the University
. of Illinois, under the auspices of De-
catur organizations explained the why's
, and wherefores of meat grading. Out
: over the air went a program on meat
; grading with consumer putting ques-
. tions to an expert brought down from
: the University of Illinois.
. Demonstrations were staged to show
, the need for Government grades. Meat
: bought from different stores was
. graded in front Of consumers. Price
: this demonstration revealed varied
, with little relationship to quality.
, When a local store put in a con-
: signment Of graded meat
!. women focked to the market and
bought out the meat before the owner
of the store could catch his breath
If that's the way people feel about
Government graded meat the butcher
said, then Pm going to sell it,
Other markets soon began to get
the idea, too.
Checks on an Innerspring Mattress
Press down on the mattress witt
both your hands when you buy an in
nerspring mattress. If you can feel tht
spring through the padding, be wary
Inner springs, used to give mattress
es resiliency, must be padded over, OF
the top, BUTTON, and sides This pad
ding in some mattresses may be hair
in others a cheaper material Of sisa
Ca kind of hemp), then a layer o
hair, or cotton and hair, or, in thu
most expensive kinds, hair, with ;
layer of lambs wool. The label shoult
, tell you what the padding is.
Some innerspring coils are incloset
: in a cloth pocket and put into tn
mattress separately. In the other kind
coils are bound to together into on
huge spring by horizontal spira
wires.
How many individual coils mat
tress should have to be comfortabl
and serviceable depends upon whic
type of spring the mattress contains
upon how many turns are taken in tn
) coils, and whether or not the wire
high quality, tempered steel wire
Where the springs are packed sep
arately, many more springs are neces
sary than in the mattress which
made of coiled springs bound together
The number of coils in a mattress
> quoted in stores on the basis of
standard double bed size mattresse!
Thus, mattress for a single bed ma
be described as containing (say) "a
coils per double bed in the case of tn
Individually packed coil spring, an
(perhaps) 234 coils in the spring UNI
that does not use the Individual
packed coils.
When the Federal Government buy
mattresses, it specifies the type c
wire it believes should be used in ii
nerspring mattresses, and the nun
Der of coils it feels should be used i
each type Of mattress. Interested cor
sumers can get copy of this specit
cation by sending 5 cents in cash
the Superintendent of Document
Washington, ID. G. Ask for FEEDER;
Specification VM96.
X X X
On The Air
Tune in to Consumer Time" o
Saturday, October 5, if you want scer
tific tips on how to do an efhcier
job Of your fall house cleaning. Tf
program, under the joint sponsorshi
of the Consumers Counsel Division {
the Department of Agriculture, an
the General Federation of Women
Clubs, will go on the air at II nool
Eastern Standard Time, over the Re
Network of the National Broadcas
ing Company.
Consumer reporters will bring lis
eners advice Of Department of Agr
culture experts on how to get tt
drudgery out Of house cleaning. The
will tell both how to do the job be
ter and with a minimum of time fro
your schedule given over to the tas
Also on the broadcast will be con
pete report on how the food STAN
plan, through which needy famili'
get surplus farm commodities, is ge
ting along in cities, towns, and vii
ages all over the country. Fact-tin'
ers will tell the number of famliC
now receiving the benefits Of the pla
the amounts and kinds Of foods the