Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 273, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 21 November 1918 — Page 3

AMERICAN PEOPLE GREAT SPENDERS

Millions of Dollars Thrown Away for Trifles That Ought to ? ■. . Set Nation Thinking. SOME WAYS MONEY GOES Postcard and Chaap Souvenirs Take Big Bum Every Yean—Billions Bpent for Needless Telephone Calls and Telegrams.

! By EDWARD MOTT WOOLLEY. It seems incongruous that in this rich and wonderful land of ours it should be necessary to'conduct mighty selling and advertising campaigns in order to raise money to crush our enemies—cruel and dangerous enemies who are bent on throttling the very liberty on which our country has been built. If we really felt the Impulse, we codld, raise six or eight billion dollars spontaneously and without the blare of salesmanship and publicity; and we would do it so easily that Germany and her allies would stand aghast at our overwhelming resources and purpose. The trouble is that even yet we do not realize the tragedy that Is over us. The war has not sunk into the American consciousness. With a million or more of our boys in France, and the casualty lists coming home every day, we still lack the pulsating fervor of intrepid courager-the courage that wells within one and stirs the soul. Fighting Impulse Needed. The one unquestionable evidence of courage is the willingness to sacrifice. A man who sees his child in deadly peril is instantly ready to sacrifice everything, evervhls life. It takes no argument to “sell" to him the need of courage. He gets it from within. The fighting Impulse dominates his every Instinct What we most need In America today is fighting Impulse’. Once we get it the doom of Germany, as a menace to ourselves and to the world, will be sealed. If we had this valorous, undaunted determination we Could raise, this coming year, not merely six or eight billion, but as many billion as our country might need. Let us search our hearts, therefore, and discover why it is that brass-band methods are needed to sell us Liberty bonds. It seems all the more incredible that such should be the case when the money we are asked to contribute IS merely money saved for ourselves. Indeed, we could put through this fourth Liberty loan without even feeling it directly. lam not talking here about great sacrifices. With merely trivial and passing inhibition we can make this fourth loan a glorious manifestation of Americanism. Never was there such a nation of spenders—we literally throw money to the winds. Cash runs out of our pockets into a hundred channels of extravagance. Tempted at every turn by something that appeals to our pleasuresaturated instincts, we hand out the dimes, quarters and dollars. We work hard, most of us, and we play hard. Many of us play with an amazing abandon that scarcely reckons the cost And we gratify ourselves not only at plays, but we satisfy our luxury-loving tendencies and our vanity in many of the things that enter into our daily lives. Let us consider here merely the millions that go fdr trivial things that do not count as permanent investments either for utility or luxury. Millions Spent for .Cards. For instance, take our post card mania. This habit, which perhaps we would not criticize in times of peace, Is almost universal. A dealer estimates that 60,000,000 people spend an average of a dollar a year on the cheaper kinds of cards, and an additional sum of a hundred million dollars on postage. But on the fancy cards and mote expensive sets, sold largely to tourists, the estimate is $200,000,000, la addition to the postage. Including the cards that are kept by the purchasers, It is probable that the total is half a billion dollars. Many men have made fortunes in this business. I know of one former valentine manufacturer who retired with a lot of money. It is certainly inconsistent that this great sum should go for such p trivial purpose when the nation is involved in this mighty war that calls for cash everlastingly. Here is one expenditure that could-be eliminated almost wholly until the war is. over. Besides this amount put into Liberty bonds might mean something worth while to the people themselves. Then there is another class of souvenirs that masquerade as merchandise and absorb an astonishing amount of money. Travelers and tourists especially waste their cash upon these things, and immense quantities are sold to the people everywhere. The bulk of this stuff is useless junk—at least In war time, when conservation Is the high need. Why spend our money these days for fancy baskets, card trays, wooden claptrap articles, knickknacks, trinkets, popguns, stuff and whim whams? The souvenir stores in Atlantic City, Asbury Park, Coney Island, Revere Beach near Boston, Venice near Los Angeles, and similar establishments take more than a hundred million dollars out of our pockets every summer. One small town epncern in Atlantic City sells a hundred thousand dollars worth, on which the net profit is over fifty thousand. There are factories that turn out this sort of product in vast quantities, and much

of it is fraud stuff. Wooden articles are reputed to be made from trees that grow on historic spots, but are really bogus. Strings of beads are manufactured by the mile and sold to the public as the work of Indians. The same is true of moccasins, toy canoes and the like. At best the bulk of these goods is and our outgo for this purpose might well be cut off entirely during the war. To do this requires absolutely nd sacrifice. The people engaged in this business will simply have to do what so many of us have already done, adjust themselves to war. Aside from souvenirs, we are wanton spenders for actual merchandise that is Inferior or worthless. There is a great class of people to whom cheapness or flashiness appeals, rather than utility and economy. A dealer in cheap goods told me that he netted $25,000 a year from merchandise that was practically worthless. He found it easy to appeal to the spending instincts of his customers. * Unnecessary Phone Calls. Not many of us ever stop to think of the Immense amount of money that is spent for unnecessary telephone calls, iWherever you go the telephone booths are occupied, and when you catch fragments of the conversations you usually find them unimportant. Reginald calls up his best girl to tell, her he still loves her, Maude calls Algernon to thank him for the chocolates. No matter how trivial the occasion, our first impulse Is to step into a telephone booth.

If five million people would save one flve-cent call a day it would mean a total of over ninety million dollars a year. Doubtless several times this sum could be saved very easily by the gen eral public on local and long-distance calls. We are lavishly extravagant in the use of the telephone. I know of business houses that talk several times a day between New York and Chicago, Incurring tolls on each occasion that run from five to forty dollars or more. If there is one thing that the Americans haven't learned it is economy of talk —which in these days of war need might well mean millions of dollars in Liberty Bonds. The telephone wires are heavily overtaxed, anyhow. Then there is the telegraph. We have this habit, too. With a little planning we could commonly use a three-cent stamp Instead of a ten-word message. One large wholesale house requires all its traveling men to report daily by telegram, an expenditure that might be eliminated. The telegraph tolls of some of the large industrial and commercial establishments "are so big that they seem Incredible.

The night letter Is, in a measure, a luxury, at least we could do away with the social phase of it and much of the domestic. I happen to know one business man, who. on his frequent and long absences from home, gets a night letter from his wife every morning and sends one each night Nor are these messages confined to fifty words, but often run several times that length. ,Ba6y had the colic; Freddy fell downstairs and skinned his knee, Jeannette had her hair washed. I happen to be acquainted also with with a young man who revels in night letters to his They are real letters, top, beginning like this: “Darling Sue —I love you more than ever. I couldn’t sleep last night thinking of you. Do you love me still? . . .**

A certain business man, the head of a large concern, goes away at Intervals to rest for a week or two, but insists on having a night letter every morning, narrating the substance of the previous day’s* business. These messages run into hundreds of words every day. I would not belittle the night letter; but in the present stress we need to curtail whatever part of this expense may be unnecessary, and loan the money to the government. The Taxicab Mania. We Americans also have the taxicab mania. There is a very large class of men and women who ride In cabs habitually, and let go Immense sums in the aggregate. They take taxicabs to go a few blocks. In a group of twenty leading cities there are about four hundred thousand of these vehicles, and If each of them absorbed ten dollars every day In unnecessary fares the aggregate would be over fourteen million dollars a year: What would be the total for the whole United States? It is a luxury to jump into a cab whenever ones wants to move about but these are stern times and we need to be more iron-minded. The boys In France do not ride in cabs, and the money we waste on this form of luxury might better go Into gas masks for them.

We American men saturate ourselves withlnany kinds of soft indulgences—as in the barber shops. These places in the high class hotels, as well as the better shops outside, take from us immense sums—for what? Here is a typical list: Shave, 25c; haircut. 50c; shampoo, 85c ; bay rum, 15c; face massage, 35c; manicure. 50c; shine, 10c; tips; 20c ; total <2.40. It is not uncommon for men to go through tlje whole list, and to pay additional money for hair tonics and other fancy frills. When we analyze this llsft we find that the only item really necessary is the haircut and perhaps the shine. Men can shave themselves at a cost of two or three cents, and half an hour in time. Our soldier boys cannot indulge in these effeminacies. Many of them, In those good old days of peace, were'ln the class that patronized these shops, but today they are made of more Draconian stuff. Why should we ourselves Indulge in these costly habits when the nation c&lls for cannon to back our troops abroad? If a million men spend an average of

THE EVENING REPUBLICAN. RENSSELAER, IND.

50 cents a day onnecessarily in barber shops we have a total of $182,500,000. under the actual figures, taking Into consideration all classes of people. In the less exclusive barber shops one finds a continual stream of men, of the moderate salary class, who indulge in the items I have enumerated. We might guess the total ought to be at least half a billion dollars. To have our shoes shined we spend at least $100,000,000 a year and a million more than the market price for shoe laces because we wish to avoid the trouble of putting them in ourselves. Some of this expense undoubtedly is necessary, but while the war lasts we need not be ashamed of any form of Spartan economy. We can be tight handed and rigorous with our nickels and dimes without being open to the charge of stinginess—provided we use the money for- government needs. We can shine our own shoes for a tenth of this hundred million dollars. There are in New York a number of men who have grown very wealthy from the shoe-shining business. Among them are, some large tenement owners —one reputed to be worth millions. There are more than fifty thousand bootblack places in the United States, some of them employing a dozen or more men. The majority of these bootblacks are within the fighting age, at least they ought to be doing some sort of war service, instead of shining shoes —while American blood runs so freely on the other side.

Women Big Wasters. But when it comes to this kind' of self-pampering women spend far more money than men. Figures secured from one large department store give some interesting sidelights on possible economies. Its sales of toilet gpods last year ran about 1.3 per cent of its total sales. Thus for every million dollars in sales its customers buy $13,000 tforth of toilet articles. Apply this rate to all the stores in the United States and you have a total of unnumbered millions. The term toilet goods is very elastic, including. both»necessary and unnecessary articles, but the. conscientious war saver no doubt would class one-third of these items as partly dispensable, such as perfumery, Certain soaps, powders,' rouge* toilet waters, so-called beauty compounds, and the like.

America’s women are highly scented. We live in an atmosphere redolent with ambrosia. From almost every woman one passes on the “parade” streets of the cities there comes an aura of roses, or perhaps violets. Our girls demand scents, in infinite variety, not only In perfumery itself, but in hundreds of products. Merely to gratify our sense of olfactory luxury we spend tens of millions of dollars annually. Yet in France the husbands, brothers and sweethearts of our women and girls are sweating and fighting in noisome places amid the stench of disease and death. The odors they get are of gunpowder and blood. Surely we can spare some of our perfumery money in the cause for which we sent them abroad.

If it were possible to estimate the money spent by'women in New York alone for hairdressing-and beauty culture it would undoubtedly run into the tens of millions. One hairdresser in the metropolitan district states that within eighteen months, or since America entered the war, he has built up a business that nets him seven hundred dollars a month.

A woman proprietor of a so-called beauty establishment says that fifty customers bring her a revenue of $30,000 a year, that she realized a clear profit of $20,000 on powders, creams and perfumes, that she sold sets of cosmetics at seven hundred dollars each. Thousands of women pay fancy fees for hair waving, tinting and blearing. One concern announces twelve colors, ranging from black to ■golden blonde. Much money also goes for removal of freckles, wrinkles treatment, face bleaching and so on. The manicure bill in New York is enormous, and the chiropody outgo large. These places are furnished in the utmost luxury. IL only we could impress on women of this class the dreadful hardships our American youths are undergoing in the great cause! The lesson ought to sink home to all women in America, who In greater or lesser degree, let thelx good money go for such futile vanities.

It is estimated that a million men and womej/throughout the country are giving to'the Turkish baths an average of a dollar a day. Thus we have a total of $365,000,000 a year. To this we can add perhaps half as much for massage, attendant fees, special treatment and incidentals. ,

Bathing is commended, but most of us, at least those who have the Turkish bath habit, can take our ablutions, at home. The soldiers in Europe don’t have Turkish baths. We imagine we need them here. We eat big dinners and fill ourselves with rheumatic deposits, poison ourselves by gormandizing. We contract colds because our systems are top badly clogged to throw off the germs. It is when we are stuffed with rich viands and all sorts of luxuries that we turn to the Turkish bath for relief. Why not discipline ourselves during the war and transfer all these millions of dollars into the fund that is going to beat autocracy and the German peril?

I have touched on merely a few of the items of unnecessary outgo. The list might be extended indefinitely. But there ought to be enough here to set us thinking, and we can makethe extensions ourselves. There is no use denying the fact that the people have not yet put themselves on a war basis financially. We are still wasting millions on trifles. The war would be over now if we had taken ourselves in tmnd at the beginning. ~

Home-Made Iceless Refrigerators

Food Can Be Kept Cool in This Inexpensive and Easily Constructed Convenience

Where Ice Is not obtainable an iceless refrigerator, homemade, will be a useful food keeper and food saver. Maintaining a low temperature through the evaporation of water from its canvas cover, according to the United States department of agriculture, the iceless refrigerator will keep meats, fruits and vegetables cool and will extend the period for keeping milk and butter. It can also serve as a cooler for drinking water. This is the way to make it: J A wooden frame is made with dimensions 42 by 18 by 14 inches and .covered with screen wire, preferably the rustless type, which costs little more than the ordinary kind. The door is made to fit.closely, and is mounted on brass hinges, and can be fastened with a wooden latch. The bottom is fitted solid, but the top should be covered with screen wire. Adjustable shelves can be made of solid wood or strips, or sheets of galvanized metal. Shelves made Of poultry netting on light wooden frames, as shown in the illustration, are probably the most desirable. These shelves rest on side braces placed at desired intervals. A bread-baking pan, 14 by 16 inches, is placed on the top and the frame rests In a 17 by 18 inch pan. All the woodwork, the shelves and the pans should receive two coats of white paint find one or two coats of white enamel. This makes a very attrac-

Two Views of Homemade Iceless Refrigerator. View on Left Shows Frame. View on Right Shows Complete Refrigerator.

tive surface and one that can be easily kept clean. The screen wire also may receive the coats of enamel, which will prevent it from rusting. A cover of canton flannel, burlap, or duck'is .made to fit the frame. Put the smooth side out if canton flannel is used. It will require about three yards of material. This cover is buttoned around the top of the frame and down the side on which the door is not hinged, using buggy hooks and eyes or large-headed tacks and eyelets worked in the material. On the front side arrange the hooks on the top of the door instead of on the frame and also fasten the cover down the latch side of the door, allowing a wide hem of the material to envelop the place where the door closes. The door can then be opened without unbuttoning the cover. The bottom of the cover should extend down into the lower pan. Four double strips, which taper to eight or ten inches in width, are sewed to the upper part of the cover. These strips form wicks that dip oveb into the upper pan. The dimensions given make a refrigerator of very convenient size for household use and one with efficient evaporating surface, but it is not necessary to follow strictly these dimensions. If a larger capacity Is desired, the height of the refrigerator can' be increased. In homes where large quantities of milk and butter are to be kept it would be well to have one refrigerator for milk and butter and another for other foods, as milk and butter easily absorb odors from other foods. It costs very little to build the refrigerator and nothing to operate IL The operation is as simple as the construction. The upper pan should be kept filled with water. The water is drawn by capillary attraction through the wicks and saturates the' cover. As evaporation takes place, heat is taken' from the inside of the refrigerator, thereby lowering the temperature of the Inside and the Contents. Capillary action starts more readily if the cover is first dampened by dipping it in water or throwing water upon IL The greater the rate of evaporation the lower the temperature which can be assured; therefore the refrigerator works best when rapid evaporation takes place. When the refrigerator is placed In a shady place in a strong breeze and the air is warm and dry, evaporation takes place continuously and rapidly and the temperature inside the refrigerator is reduced. Under ideal conditions the temperature has been known to be reduced to 50 degrees Fahr. When it is damp and the air is full of moisture, the refrigerator will not work as well, since there is not enough evaporation. More water will find its way to the lower pan, but it will be drawn up into the covering by capillary attraction when the air again becomes drier.

The refrigerator should be regularly cleaned and sunned. If the framework, shelves and pans are white enameled they can be more easily kept in a sanitary condition. It is well to have two covers, so that a fresh one can be used each week and the soiled one washed and sunned.

WITH THE POULTRY GROWERS

The poultry department of the New Jersey agricultural experiment station advises that careful attention be given to preparing the laying houses for the pullets. Before placing them in their permanent quarters, the house should be thoroughly cleaned and disinfected, as a precaution against disease.

As crowding lowers the vitality, etfch bird should be allowed at least four square feet of floor space. See that all drinking fountains, feed hoppers and other fixtures are raised off the floor.

Ventilation should be secured by means of muslin-curtain window in the front of the house. Keep this open at all times, except In very stormy weather and during severe cold spells. Provision should be made for the largest amount of ‘ sunlight possible in the house, as this Is one of the best means of preventing disease. Windows should be so constructed that the sun can touch every part of the floor some time during the day. It Is essential that the house be kept dry. See that there are no places in the roof or sides where rain can beat in. Also, it is desirable to. hqve a concrete floor, laid on a bed of 10 to 12 inches of cinders. A dust box, 3 by 4 feet and 1% feet deep, containing fine dusL should be placed in each house. In short, for the best results everything should be done to give the birds the best housing condition* possible, ——

“Doughboys” Are American Soldiers, Despite Position They May Hold in the Army

"A ‘doughboy,’" says Stars and Stripes, official paper of the A. E. F„ “is an American soldier, any American soldier, infantryman, artilleryman, medical department, signal corps sharps, officers and men alike, all are called doughboys. Our cartoonist is one, so is General Pershing.” The term "doughboys” dates back to the Civil war when army wit was aroused by large globular brass buttons on infantry uniforms. Somebody (he must have been a sailor) dubbed the buttons "doughboys” because they reminded him of the boiled dumplings of raised dough served in ships* messes and known to all sailors as doughboys. Originally it referred only to an enlisted infantryman, but the A. E. F. applies it to all branches and all grades of the service.

Interesting Facts.

Paper matches are built into a new paper box for cigarettes. By moving a single lever a new automobile body is converted into an open car or a twoseated vehicle. An electric heater has been Invented to prevent moisture collecting on an automobile windshield. * Eight of the olive trees in the historic Garden of Olives in Jerusalem are more than one thousand years old.

Church Membership in the United States Shows Large Increase in Ten Years

During the ten-year. period ending December 81, 1916, the total church membership in the United States increased from 35,068,058 to 42,044,874, or 19.9 per cent; the number of churches from 212,230 to 228,007, or 7.4 per cent; the number of minister* from 164,830 to 191,722, or 16J per cent; the number of Sunday school scholars from 15,337,811 to 20.569,831, or 7.8 per cent, and the number of Sunday school officers and teachers from 1,746,074 to 2,049,293, or 17.4 per cent These data, developed by the census bureau’s recent inquiry relating to religious bodies, are contained in a statement compiled under the supervision of William C. Hunt chief statistician for population. The number of denominations covered was 201, an increase of 13 over the number reported for 1906. This increase is the net result of the consolidation or dropping out of 16 small denominations and the addition of 29 small denominations, comprising some in existence in 1906, but not then brought to light and others resulting from consolidation of formerly independent churches. Of the 42,044,374 church members reported, 15,742,262, or 37.4 per cent were Roman Catholics; 250,340, or sixtenths of 1 per cent, were adherents of the eastern orthodox churches (mainly Greek and Russian), 359,998, or ninetenths’of 1 per cent were members of Jewish congregations. The remainder, 25,091,774, or 61.1 per cent, comprised the membership of-the various Protestant churches, together with that of a few bodies, such as the Latter Day Saints, the Spiritualists and others not usually considered as belonging to any of the groups named. In comparing the figures given it should be borne in mind that the Roman Catholic and eastern orthodox churches include in their membership all children who have been baptized, whereas the Protestant churches do not, as a rule, receive young children as members, and that in the ease of some of the more orthodox Jewish organizations only the male incorporators or those who have bought shares or memberships are treated as members. The foregoing percentages, therefore, overstate the relative strength of the Roman Catholic and eastern orthodox churches and understate that of the Jews.

Mother’s Cook Book

The surest road to health, say what they will, Is never to suppose we shall be 111; t Most of these evils we poor mortals know. From doctors and imagination grow. —Churchill. ' Missouri Hoe Cake. Put through a sieve two cupfuls of cornmeal, and a half a teaspoonful each of baking powder and salL Add .one tablespoonful of melted fat and stir in water to make a soft dough. Make into small cakes a half inch thick and bake on a hot greased griddle until well browned on both sides. Barley Popovers. Beat two eggs, one cupful of barley flour, one teaspoonful at 1 sugar, half a teaspoonful of salt' and one cupful of milk; use a Dover egg beater and beat until smooth. Bake about 40 minutes in a hot, well-greased Iron pan. One-fourth of a cupful of rice flour may replace a half cupful of barley flour, improving the recipe some. Cheese and Rice Souffle. .Put one and one-half cupfuls of American cheese through the food chopper, stir into it one and one-half cupfuls of white sauce, season highly with paprika, and when the cheese Is melted add one and one-half cupfuls of cooked rice and the beaten yolks of three eggs. Fold in the whites of the eggs and turn into a, well-greased baking dish, set in hot water and bake half an hour lit ® moderate oven. r —» Liberty Ice Cream. Add one and one-half cupfuls of evaporated milk to one cupful of water and two cupfuls of milk, then scald. Add one cupful of honey and: cool. When cool add one cupful of crushed raspberries and a teaspoonful of lemon extract Freeze as usual. Can apples, apple juice and other fruit juice without sugar. In the winter the apple juice may be heated and sweetened, and it will be as good as if sweetened when put up. This takes no sugar now when it is scarce. A jar of fruit perfectly sterile, win keep fully as well unsweetened. Dry corn. This is difficult to keep when canned, but it dries easily and keeps its flavor. Cook five minutes, just long enough to set the milk. Cut and dry as quickly as possible. Dampen the brush of the carpet sweper before using; it will then take up all lint with the dust

Fastest Baffle Cruiser.

The largest and fastest battle crulw er in the world is being built by th* United State*. It will have 180,000horse power and a speed of 35 knot*.