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ADVENTURES IN THRIFT
"Pounds! I never weighed them"
ADVENTURES IN
THRIFT
By
ANNA STEESE RICHARDSON
ILLUSTRATED BY
CHARLES S. CORSON
INDIANAPOLIS
THE BOBBS-MERRILL COMPANY
PUBLISHERS
COPYRIGHT 1915
THE CHOWZLL PUBLISHING COMPANY
COPYRIGHT 1916
THI BOBBS-MERRILL COMPANY
PRESS OF
BRAUNWORTH & CO.
BOOKBINDERS AND PRINTERS
BROOKLYN. N. Y.
PREFACE
The incidents, the stores, the organizations and
the individuals described in this book are real, not
fictitious. At the time that this book goes to press,
each one of the societies mentioned is actively engaged
in the task of reducing the cost of living for its mem-
bers. The National Housewives' League has its
headquarters at 25 West Forty-fifth Street, New York
City. Mrs. Julian Heath, a real flesh and blood
woman, is president of the organization. The House-
wives' Cooperative League is still working actively
toward cooperative buying and no doubt for several
years to come can be reached through its efficient sec-
retary, Miss Edna 0. Crofton, Norwood, Ohio, a
suburb of Cincinnati, from which city the organiza-
tion directs its work.
The Cooperative Store at Montclair is a flourish-
ing reality. The Experimental Farm at Medford,
Long Island, is still encouraging local farmers to sell
direct to the housewives of Greater New York and
vicinity by parcel post and express. Even Mrs. Larry
and her friend, Claire Pierce, exist under other
names, and they participated in the adventures herein
described.
PREFACE
This explanation is given because when the chap-
ters appeared originally in the Woman's Home Com-
panion, the author received many letters containing
queries of this nature: "Is there such an organiza-
tion as the National Housewives' League, the House-
wives' Cooperative League, a Cooperative Store in
Montclair?" "Is there such a farm as you describe
under the title of the Experimental Farm at Med-
ford? If so, I want to get in touch with its super-
intendent."
The material in this book, which is of profound
interest to all home-makers present or prospective, is
presented in fiction form because the writer, being
a housekeeper, realizes that household routine is so
much a business of facts and figures that studies in
thrift are more acceptable to busy women when
brightened by the little toucE of romance that goes
so far in leavening the day'g work of the home-
maker.
A.S.R.
ADVENTURES IN THRIFT
ADVENTURES IN THRIFT
CHAPTER I
"Luxury is attained through thrift."
H. C. OF L. PROVERB NO. 1.
MRS. LARRY folded her veil with nice
exactitude and speared it with two in-
visible hairpins. Then she bent her hat one-
fourth of an inch on the right side, fluffed up
her hair on the left and tucked her gloves un-
der her purse. These pre-luncheon rites com-
pleted, she reached for the program of music.
But, glancing casually at Claire Pierce on the
other side of the table, she dropped the square
of cardboard, with its Pierrot silhouettes, and
studied the girl curiously.
When one has picked up a remnant of chif-
fon taffeta in a most desirable shade, at two-
thirds the price asked at the regular counter,
$nd has ordered a tidy luncheon of chicken-
1
2 ADVENTURES IN THRIFT
salad sandwiches and chocolate with whipped
cream, in the popular restaurant of Kimbell's
very popular department store, one has cause
to look cheerful. And Claire's expression was
anything but cheerful. She had removed
neither veil nor gloves, but, with her hands
folded in her lap, she sat staring through the
window which overlooked one of New York's
busiest corners.
"My dear, what has happened?"
Claire transferred her gaze from the roof-
tops to the pattern in the tablecloth which she
outlined mechanically with a finger-tip.
"I I've broken with Jimmy, and and he
went back to Kansas City last night."
"Oh, you poor lamb ! Whatever went wrong
between you two? Why, you were just made
for each other."
"That's what Jimmy said," murmured the
girl in a choking voice.
The great restaurant, with its chattering
shoppers, faded away. They two seemed quite
alone. Mrs. Larry reached out a warm impul-
sive hand and gripped Claire's fingers, cold even
through her heavy gloves.
ADVENTURES IN THRIFT 3
"Why didn't you tell me before?"
"Telling doesn't help."
"Oh, yes, it does, my dear. Do you suppose
that if I had known, I would have dragged you
from one sale to another, boring you with such
unimportant details as trimmings and findings?
No, indeedy! We'd have gone home to my
apartment and talked about Jimmy, and cud-
dled the baby."
Claire covered her eyes quickly with a shak-
ing hand.
"Oh, I couldn't have stood that. This has
been much better. It's helped me to forget for
a little while."
Mrs. Larry shook her head.
"Oh, no, it hasn't. You're not the kind to for-
get. You're too sweet and womanly and loyal,
and you're going to tell me what happened,*
why you sent Jimmy away."
"Because I love him too well to marry him."
Mrs. Larry's pretty oval face clouded. She
was essentially a normal, single-minded wom-
an. To her way of thinking, if you loved a man,
you married him and made him happy. You
did not send him off to another city to live
4 ADVENTURES IN THRIFT
among strangers, quite probably in some fussy,
musty boarding-house. Subtleties of this sort
positively annoyed her. They seemed so un-
necessary, so futile. However, she cloaked her
real feelings and threw an extra sympathetic
note into her next speech.
"Well, tell me the worst! I'm bromidic, I
know, but perhaps I can help. Marriage does
help one to understand the male creature !"
Nobody could withstand Mrs. Larry in this
mood. Mrs. Larry was not her real name. She
was Mrs. Lawrence Hall, born Gregory, chris-
tened Elizabeth Ellen, but from the day of her
marriage she had been nick-named "Mrs. Lar-
ry" by all those fortunate enough to count
themselves as friends or acquaintances. And
she loved the name. She said it made her feel
so completely married to Larry. For be it
known that Mr. Larry was the planet round
which Mrs. Larry, Larry Junior, Baby Lisbeth,
and even Lena, the maid of all work in the
house of Hall, revolved as subsidiary stars. Un-
happy wives, bewildered husbands, uncertain
bachelors and all too certain young women con-
fided their love-affairs to Mrs. Larry and left
ADVENTURES IN THRIFT 5
her presence cheered, if not actually helped in
the solution of their particular problems.
So she was quite sure that Claire would open
her heart when the proper moment arrived. It
came when the white-uniformed waitress, hav-
ing served the sandwiches and the chocolate,
hurried away to collect payment on a luncheon
check. The words were not gracious, but the
tone in which they were uttered would have
moved a heart of stone. They fairly set Mrs.
Larry's quivering.
"Well, if you must know, it was this and
this and this " wailed Claire, as she poked
the tip of her spoon into the top of her sand-
wich, the whipped cream on her chocolate and
the powdered sugar heaped in the silver bowl.
"The high cost of living money, dirty, sor-
did, hideously essential money. We can't live
on Jimmy's income, and he's too proud to let
father give me even my ridiculous little allow-
ance after we are married. He says he'll sup-
port his own wife and his own house, or he
doesn't want either. And, do you know, he
doesn't draw any more money out of the firm
each month than my father pays for the up-
6 ADVENTURES IN THRIFT
keep of our limousine? Can you picture me
trying to stretch forty dollars a week to pro-
vide everything everything for Jimmy and
me?"
"You could learn, dear," suggested Mrs. Lar-
ry, with a secret thrill at the thought of her own
housewifely abilities.
"That's what Jimmy said, but when we fig-
ured it all out, from house rent to cravats for
Jimmy, crediting me incidentally with being
the experienced housewife I am not, there
wasn't five cents left for insurance, the savings
fund or the simplest recreation, let alone lux-
uries. In his profession, Jimmy'd just have to
keep up appearances on the outside, if we had
to live on oatmeal gruel and dried apples in the
privacy of our apartment. I tried to persuade
Jimmy to let father loan him a few thousand,
just for the good of his career. He accused me
of trying to weaken his character. He said I
could learn how to manage, if I really loved
him. And I told him if he waited until I knew
how to manage a house on forty dollars a week,
he'd forget how to love me."
Claire made a fine pretense of choking over
ADVENTURES IN THRIFT 7
her hot chocolate. Anything was better than
allowing even so sympathetic a person as Mrs.
Larry to see that she was shedding tears over
a certain party now speeding in the direction
of Kansas City. Mrs. Larry drew her smooth
brows together in a frown.
"But, Claire, dear, there are women who keep
nice little homes on twenty dollars a week."
"Their husbands are not ambitious and com-
ing lawyers. No, dear woman, I recognize my
own limitations, and I love Jimmy too well to
interfere with his future to to wreck his dear
life. But it does seem as if mother might have
realized that one of us girls might fall in love
with some one besides a rich man. She might
have taught me something about the value of
money and the management of a house."
Mrs. Larry, reaching for her purse, pictured
the easy-going, money-spending life of the
Pierce household, with its inherited and well
invested money and its irresponsible wife and
mother. But she said in her cheeriest voice :
"Well, my dear Claire, there is always a way
out of such a situation, when there's nothing
more serious at stake than the high cost of liv-
8 ADVENTURES IN THRIFT
ing. And nothing in the world would shake the
loyalty of a man like Jimmy Graves. You see ?
in his very next letter "
"But there won't be any next letter : "
Claire extended a ringless hand.
Mrs. Larry gasped.
"Claire Pierce, you didn't!"
"Yes, and what's more he he took it. Of
course, I expected him to insist upon my keep-
ing it."
Mrs. Larry was so amazed, so shocked that
she almost forgot to leave a tip on the tray for
the waitress. She even rose without adjusting
her veil.
"Let's go down to the concert hall," she mur-
mured. "They usually have an organ recital in
the afternoon. I can always think better to
music."
They threaded their way between the tables
and under the broad archway to the foyer con-
necting the elevators and the smaller dining-
room used for afternoon tea. Here they were
approached by a well-mannered salesgirl, car-
rying small announcements, which she offered
with an ingratiating smile.
ADVENTURES IN THRIFT 9
"Wouldn't you like to stop for the lecture this
afternoon? It will begin in ten minutes."
Claire and Mrs. Larry accepted the printed
announcements mechanically, their gaze fixed
on the tea room, which was already half full.
On the platform, bustling employees of the
store were arranging what looked like an ex-
hibit, bolts of cloth and silk, ready-made gar-
ments, shoes, gloves, linens, perfumes. The
saleswoman followed their curious glance.
"Those are the heads of departments and the
buyers. They are going to answer questions
after the lecture."
"What's the subject of the lecture?" inquired
Mrs. Larry.
The salesgirl actually chuckled and pointed
to the card in Mrs. Larry's hand
" 'What Do You Do With Father's Money?' "
Other women had gathered round, sensing the
unusual.
"It is a funny title, isn't it?" exclaimed the
girl, quite thrilled by her small but interested
audience. "A lady from one of the magazines
is holding a conference here all this week for
housekeepers and mothers."
10 ADVENTURES IN THRIFT
"Yes," interrupted Mrs. Larry, "but what
does she mean by such a title, 'What Do You Do
With Father's Money?' "
"Oh," answered the girl brightly, "she's go-
ing to tell you, first, how women who don't
know how to shop, waste the money their men
folks earn; and then the different buyers are
going to tell you how to know the difference
between good goods and bad."
An elevator discharged fifteen or eighteen
women, who, with note-books in hand, hurried
toward the lecture room. Some of them nodded
to the salesgirl as they passed.
"Lots of the ladies have been here every
afternoon, but I think this is going to be the
biggest meeting of all. That title's made a
hit: 'What Do You Do With Father's Money?' "
Mrs. Larry gripped Claire's arm feverishly
and fairly dragged her toward the lecture room.
"My dear, I told you there'd be a way out.
Talk about providence, to think of our
stumbling, first thing, on a lecture about get-
ting your money's worth. You ought to take
this as an omen!"
They found seats near the platform and
ADVENTURES IN THRIFT 11
watched with interest the operations of the
buyers arranging their exhibits and the move-
ments of the competent-looking woman with
a short maternal figure, snapping bright eyes
and a friendly way of addressing the women
in the audience who plainly regarded her as
their leader. Claire, still benumbed by the de-
parture of Jimmy Graves, sat gazing in preoc-
cupied fashion at figures which were just so
many manikins. Gregarious Mrs. Larry turned
to the woman on her left.
"Have you been to the other meetings?"
"Indeed, yes, and you wouldn't believe how
much I have learned."
"About what?" asked Mrs. Larry.
"Oh, about taking care of yourself before the
baby comes, feeding babies, diet for older chil-
dren, discipline, and lots of things that puzzle
young mothers like me. It's funny, isn't it, how
we girls marry without knowing a single thing
about handling children, when they are the big-
gest thing in our lives after marriage."
"Except our husbands," was Mrs. Larry's
mental reservation. "Yes," she said aloud. "I
had lots of trouble with my first baby. I man-
12 ADVENTURES IN THRIFT
aged better with the second. But who bears
the expenses of this conference? We didn't pay
any admission!"
"Oh, it's done by the Kimbells. My husband
says it's a very clever way to bring women into
the store. And you just want to buy every-
thing the doctors and the lecturers tell you
about/'
The brisk-looking leader had mounted the
platform. An expectant hush fell upon the
audience.
"Yesterday afternoon, when I announced the
subject of to-day's lecture, 'What Do You Do
With Father's Money?' a good many of you
laughed. Some of you shook your heads, be-
cause you know how hard it is to make father's
money g'o around. And one reason why it is so
hard to stretch the family income is this : You
don't know what you are getting for the money
you spend, how much nourishment it contains,
if it is for food ; how long it will wear, if it is
clothing. You take a chance. You guess. But
you don't know. And because you don't know,
quite a little of father's money goes to waste.
"Now, this isn't your fault. It is because
ADVENTURES IN THRIFT 13
economic and domestic conditions have changed
or progressed, but the training of women has
not changed nor progressed in the same way.
We are still trying to economize by concocting
dishes out of left-overs in the refrigerator, and
turning and dyeing clothes, when it is far more
important that we should know the true value
of food and fabrics when we buy them.
"A few generations back, your ancestors and
mine, both husbands and wives, raised together
in the field, the pasture and the garden, most
of the foodstuffs required for the family. And
in the great kitchen were woven most of the
fabrics required for clothing the family. What
could not be raised on the land or made in the
home was traded for at the country store. Quite
generally, these negotiations were conducted by
the men of the family. The women knew how
much sugar would be brought home for each
dozen of eggs, how many pounds of butter they
must send to the store for a pair of shoes.
"Then farms were cut up into towns, towns
were swallowed by cities and the family loom
disappeared before the advancing factory. The
daughter of the woman who had dried apples,
14 ADVENTURES IN THRIFT
cherries and corn on the tin roof of her lean-
to kitchen served at her table the product of
canneries. And everybody whose ancestors
had traded butter and eggs and cheese and
smoke-house ham for drygoods had money to
spend instead. Some of them had a great deal
of money more than was good for them. The
country passed through a period of prosperity
and suddenly acquired wealth, but nobody
thought to teach this new generation of women
the value of money or how to spend it to best
advantage. No one even realized that while ex-
travagant habits were gripping American wo-
men, nobody warned them concerning the lean
days that would come with financial panic, and
nobody observed the quiet but steady increase
in the cost of living.
"Then the deluge! Greedy corporations
cornered food supplies. The high cost of living
became a bitter reality. And behold, press and
public bewailing the extravagance of the Amer-
ican woman and comparing her unfavorably
with her housewifely sisters across the sea!
"This is unjust. Give the American woman
lessons in thrift along the modern lines of in-
ADVENTURES IN THRIFT 15
come and expenditure, and she will work out
her splendid salvation. Throw light on food
values, on fabrics and their adulteration. Teach
the woman how to buy as well as how to utilize
what she buys, and she will be able to solve,
in her own way, the much discussed problem
of the high cost of living. She will know what
to do with father's money.
"It is not possible in one short afternoon to
discuss food values and modern methods of
marketing, but when you have heard what these
ladies and gentlemen have to say," indicating
the buyers in charge of their respective ex-
hibits, "you will realize what you can save by
knowing more about what you buy. I take
pleasure in introducing Mr. Jones, the linen
buyer."
Mr. Jones, an elderly man, took his place be-
side a table piled high with towels, table and
bed linen.
"As each one of us is limited to a few min-
utes," he explained, while the more experienced
women in the audience opened their note-books,
"I will take up just one point in the buying of
linens, the difference between real linen and
16 ADVENTURES IN THRIFT
mercerized cotton. It is on this one point that
shoppers are most often deceived and cheated.
Do not misunderstand me. Mercerized cotton
is worth the price an honest firm asks for mer-
cerized cotton. But it is not worth the price
asked for linen. When you buy mercerized cot-
ton at the price for which you should receive
honest linen, then you are wasting fifty per
cent, of father's money; throwing away fifty
cents out of every dollar, twenty-five cents out
of every fifty.
"Mercerized cotton wears just as long as
linen, but it does not wear in the same way.
Properly laundered, it shines quite as highly as
good linen damask, but there is this difference
the first time mercerized cotton is laundered
it begins to shed a fine fuzz or lint which settles
on your clothing. No doubt you have noticed
this, when you have dined at a restaurant and
discovered lint from the tablecloth or napkin
on your tailored suit. Most of the linen used
in restaurants is not linen at all it is mercer-
ized cotton. The lint which sticks to your
clothes is the same lint that rises like a haze
in a cotton mill. But when I visit a big linen
ADVENTURES IN THRIFT 17
mill in Ireland, Belgium, Flanders or Germany,
there is no lint in the air. Flax, from which
real linen is made, does not give forth lint.
"Buy mercerized cotton for your dining-room
table or your bedding, if you want, but pay just
what it is worth and no more. To be quite ex-
plicit, as mercerized cotton fabrics are worth
just half what pure linen is worth, if you pay
for mercerized cotton the price asked for pure
linen, you are wasting father's money.
"I have here two bolts of table 'linen' in ex-
actly the same chrysanthemum design. One of
these is real linen, value one dollar and fifty
cents per yard ; the other is mercerized cotton,
value seventy-five cents per yard. I am quite
sure that when these two bolts are passed
around, you will not be able to tell the linen
from the mercerized cotton. My own salesmen
can not tell them apart without applying some
sort of a test. Down in our basement you can
buy the mercerized cotton at seventy-five cents
a yard. If you will launder it carefully, rinsing
it finally in very thin starch water, iron it very
dry with heavy irons, you can get exactly the
same gloss possible for linen damask, and you
18 ADVENTURES IN THRIFT
will get its full value of seventy-five cents a
yard.
"The real linen sells at one dollar and fifty
cents per yard, in our linen department on the
second floor. If you want to spend a dollar and
a half a yard for table linen, just make sure
that you are getting linen and not mercerized
cotton, that you are getting a dollar in fabric
value for every dollar of father's money."
Several clerks started to carry the bolts of
linen through the audience. Instantly an eager
woman was on her feet.
"But how are we to know the difference be-
tween mercerized cotton and linen, if your own
clerks do not recognize it?" she demanded.
"By asking the clerk to test what you are
buying, in front of your eyes. Have the ma-
terial moistened on the right side. If the
moisture shows almost immediately on the
wrong side you may be reasonably sure that it
is linen damask. If, however, the moisture
does not show quickly on the wrong side, you
may be pretty sure that it is cotton so highly
mercerized or finished that the polish or finish
withstands moisture. Or you can have it rub-
ADVENTURES IN THRIFT 19
bed with a damp cloth. Linen will remain
smooth ; mercerized cotton will roughen.
"Moreover, as soon as the salesman finds out
that you know how to buy linen, he will tell
you the truth rather than be caught in an at-
tempt to deceive you. Don't say to a salesman,
as some of our customers do, 'I don't know
anything about linens, except the kind of pat-
tern I like, so I'll have to depend on you about
quality/ Don't confess ignorance and invite
deception when you can so easily possess
knowledge."
When the linen had been passed from one
part of the audience to another, and the excite-
ment had subsided, the buyer of cotton dress
goods took the floor to explain the difference in
price and values between imported and domes-
tic goods. Like the linen buyer, he contended
that the cheaper goods of domestic manufac-
ture wear quite as well and hold their colors
quite as long as their imported cousins, the dif-
ference being largely in sheerness and in de-
sign. There could be no doubt, he admitted,
that foreign cotton goods, like mulls, organdies,
lawns, veilings, etc., are more finely woven
20 ADVENTURES IN THRIFT
from more distinctive designs than those made
in American mills. But from economic reasons
and not from patriotism, he urged the woman
of limited means to buy summer fabrics of
American manufacture.
"In preferring foreign fabrics," he added,
"you are only indulging a taste for luxury,
satisfying your desire to have fabrics of more
exclusive color and design than your neighbor.
You won't get one more day's wear for spend-
ing thirty per cent., even fifty per cent, more, of
father's money."
On the other hand, the buyer of woolens ad-
vised shoppers, especially those who sought ma-
terial for tailored suits, separate skirts and
one-piece serge dresses for hard wear, to give
the preference to foreign weaves, as these
would withstand all bad weather conditions.
The buyer for flannels next took the floor,
and many women were surprised to learn that
the all-wool flannel for petticoats and binders
for the layette, the all-wool shirts and stock-
ings for the new baby, represented a waste of
father's money. Wool and cotton mixed or
wool and silk will shrink less, wear longer and
ADVENTURES IN THRIFT 21
give more comfort to the wearer than the cov-
eted all-wool.
"Only don't pay for fine cotton and wool
what you would pay for all-wool or silk and
wool," exclaimed the buyer, as she carried
samples of the different weaves from aisle to
aisle.
The shoe buyer discussed the wearing qual-
ities of different leathers and explained how
cheap shoes that did not fit are more expensive
in the end than higher priced shoes properly
fitted. Also how the foot changes at different
ages and how the health and working capacity
of human beings are affected by so simple a
factor as the shoes they wear. But most inter-
esting of all, to the average woman, was the
illuminating talk given by the buyer of suits,
coats and blouses.
"You women who buy ready-made clothes
think that when you have undone the parcel,
paid the balance due on it, and shaken out the
garment, it is quite ready for you to wear. You
have bought it ready-made to escape visits to
the dressmaker or the annoyance of a seam-
stress in the house, or any tax on your own
22 ADVENTURES IN THRIFT
limited abilities as a sewer. All you have to do
now is to wear the dress. What is more, you
figure that it is much cheaper to buy a taffeta
house dress for sixteen dollars and seventy-five
cents than to have one made at the dress-
maker's or in the home at twenty dollars or
twenty-five dollars. On the surface, you are
right. You do pay out less money, but I will
tell you a little secret. If you don't go over a
ready-made garment, even at sixteen dollars
and seventy-five cents, you have wasted several
dollars of father's money, and I will explain
why.
"In order to turn out clothing in quantities
large enough to yield a profit and at prices low
enough to have popular appeal, a manufac-
turer must depend upon certain employees to
inspect the output of the factory. These wo-
men and girls work rapidly and sometimes miss
defects. For a few inches, one side of a seam
may slip from under the machine ; a tired girl
may catch a button or hook with a single thread
^vhen she should use three or four; a bit of
lace may not be fastened tight. Now, if on re-
ceipt of this garment you take time to go over
ADVENTURES IN THRIFT 23
it carefully, you can lengthen its life one-third.
If a seam is not deep enough at a point where
there is considerable strain, rip it for a few
inches and take a deeper seam by hand. If you
see that a piece of lace is almost loose, re-sew
it before it begins to fray, or you will have to
set in a new piece of lace at your own expense.
It pays to fasten on buttons, bows, ornaments
and buckles. You can't expect the workers in
a great factory to take the same individual
pains that your dressmaker or seamstress
would take. It costs money to renew trifles like
these which drop from a ready-made garment.
Sometimes you can not match them at all and
your dress is spoiled.
"I've known women who, in their haste to
wear a pretty new blouse, neglected so simple
a thing as sewing in shields. If your dress-
maker or the home seamstress had spent
enough time to make a satisfactory gown, you
may rest assured she would not forget the
shields. A self -toned braid, at ten or fifteen
cents, will lengthen the life of a ready-made
skirt. Fashionable tailors never send out a
high-priced suit without suggesting braid for
24 ADVENTURES IN THRIFT
the skirt. For ten cents and a little time, you
can add this exclusive and economical touch
Jo your ready-made skirt."
Long before the different buyers had finished
their talks, Claire Pierce was roused from her
lethargy of near-despair. She was beginning
to understand, to a small degree, why her effi-
cient, optimistic lover had been so sure that she
would master the intricacies of household ex-
penditure. All around her were women who
knew how to be happy on small incomes or who
were there to find the road to such content-
ment. She felt sudden contempt for the care-
less way in which she and her sisters had
always ordered their gowns, without even
demanding itemized bills for the father who
paid them so cheerfully.
As for Mrs. Larry, she had leaned forward
in the receptive attitude of a child watching its
first Punch and Judy show. And now that the
buyers were retiring behind their exhibits, the
conference leader once more mounted the plat-
form.
"I know we have all learned a great deal this
afternoon about better values for father's
ADVENTURES IN THRIFT 25
money, and I hope that each one of us will use
this knowledge in our homes, not only to save
father's money, but to bring to ourselves
greater contentment with our lot, and, in the
end, little luxuries which we must now deny
ourselves. For in efficiency there is content-
ment, and through true economy do we attain
luxuries. I believe in what is commonly called
luxuries. I believe in the right of every refined,
intelligent wife to enjoy these luxuries.
"I wonder how many of you women are
weary of petty economies, of making over
clothes, of trying to stretch a chicken to cover
the meat course for three meals ?"
A wave of laughter passed over the room, but
it was not free from hysteria. The speaker
continued.
"I know just how you feel. You turn and
you twist, you warm up and you conjure new
dishes out of next to nothing, and, still, at the
end of the year, you realize how little money
has gone into the savings bank, or how much is
still due on the mortgage. You wonder if you
will ever be able to buy a complete new dress ;
whether you can ever spare enough money for
26 ADVENTURES IN THRIFT
Nellie to go to dancing school, or for you and
your husband to hear a good concert. I hope
these talks will help you to solve just such
problems. I'd like to think of each one of you
having just one thing that you have always
denied yourself, and to have it by learning
how to get the most for father's money."
On the applause which followed, Claire
Pierce rose, new vitality straightening the fig-
ure that had drooped at the luncheon table.
It was Mrs. Larry who sat quite still, looking
beyond the platform with its group of buyers,
its exhibit of purple and fine linen, and the
cheery conference leader, far, far up-town in-
to a certain apartment where reposed certain
manila envelopes known to herself and Mr.
Larry as "The Budget."
As Claire Pierce touched her elbow, she
drew a deep sigh and rose.
"Oh, dear," said Claire, "if only I'd heard
this talk before I said what I did to Jimmy!"
Mrs. Larry came to with a start.
"Jimmy? Oh, yes, Jimmy! Forgive me. I'd
forgotten him. You see, I was thinking of my
Larry."
CHAPTER II
"There is nothing in high finance more ex-
citingly uncertain than just trying to get your
ynoney's worth!" H. c. OF L. PROVERB NO. 2.
MRS. LARRY sat at the old mahogany
secretary which had been Great-aunt
Abigail's wedding gift, her elbows planted in a
litter of papers covered with figures and her
despairing gaze fixed on a row of small manila
envelopes.
It was the second day after the lecture at the
Kimbell store on "What Do You Do With
Father's Money?" Mrs. Larry had attacked
her account book and budget envelopes in a fine
spirit of enthusiasm. With an intelligent
knowledge of true fabric values, she would be
able now to transfer from the two envelopes
marked "Operating Expenses" and "Clothing,"
to the one marked "Luxuries," at least ten dol-
lars a month.
27
28 ADVENTURES IN THRIFT
But* alas, she found that the fund for lux-
uries amounted to exactly one dollar and
thirteen cents, while there existed no imme-
diate need for renewing linen or clothing at
the promised reduction. On the other hand, a
month's rent was due, and a dentist's bill had
arrived that very morning. Both expenses
were imperative and non-reducible. She shook
out the dimes, nickels and pennies from the
envelope marked "Luxuries" and arranged
them in a geometrical design.
"It can't be done !" she groaned, and shook a
rebellious fist at the smug-looking envelopes.
Then suddenly she swung round in her chair,
startled by an unexpected yet strangely famil-
iar sound.
She glanced sharply at the clock. Its tick
was strictly businesslike and the hands point-
ed to twenty minutes past two. Yet surely
that had been the click of Larry's key in the
front door, and now Larry's never-to-be-mis-
taken step coming down the hall.
Only an emergency, very bad news or very
good, would bring Larry home in the middle
of a crisp autumn afternoon.
ADVENTURES IN THRIFT 29
Now he was in the doorway, looking quite
commonplace and natural, except for a sharp
frown above the eyes which usually smiled at
sight of her.
"Hello, little woman," he said, drawing her
close with that little air of proprietorship
which never failed to thrill her, "I'm leaving
for South Bethlehem at five back Thursday
wonder if you could pack my bag while I take
a nap? Head aches."
He was out of his coat and shoes with the last
word.
"Put in a soft shirt," he added as he sank on
the couch an.d reached for the rug.
"Has anything happened?" asked Mrs.
Larry, adjusting the rug to his feet in the way
he liked best.
"I should say so," he answered drowsily.
"Directors couldn't declare any dividend this
quarter. Had all of us on the carpet this morn-
ing. Seems up to me and Duggan to reduce
expenses. I've got to cut about ten thousand
dollars in my department this year. Call me
at three-thirty, will you, dear?"
And he was off!
3Q ADVENTURES IN THRIFT
Mrs. Larry stood like a statue, staring down
on this wonderful creature who, confronted by
the task of reducing expenses by ten thousand
a year, could fall off asleep in a few seconds.
That's what came of being a man, she de-
cided a man, privileged to deal in big figures,
hundreds, thousands, instead of dollars, quar-
ters and dimes! Her glance traveled back to
the hated sheets of papers and the accusing
envelopes, labeled: "Rent," "Operating Ex-
penses," "Food," "Clothing," "Savings," "Care
and Education," "Luxuries."
Something very like hysterical laughter rose
in her throat. Larry could sleep with a weight
of ten thousand on his mind, and she would
lie awake nights figuring how to save ten dol-
lars a month. She looked down at her hus-
band.
How strong and capable, even in his sleep,
this man who worked day after day, year in
and year out, for her and the babies, who
turned over to her all that he earned. The
beauty of his unquestioning trust brought a
different sort of choke to her throat. Of
ADVENTURES IN THRIFT 31
course, she would find a way to save that extra
ten each month for Larry's use or pleasure.
Then she tiptoed out of the living-room,
closing the door behind her, lest the children,
coming in from their walk, should fall upon
their father like the Philistines they were. But
as she packed his bag and laid out his clean
linen, her mind turned over and over the
troublesome question, and the lines reappeared
in her broad white forehead.
She was tabulating the luxuries which they
denied themselves. First, there was Larry's
love for music. From the day of their engage-
ment they had subscribed annually to a cer-
tain series of orchestral concerts. When it
had come time this year to renew the subscrip-
tion, she had had to tell Larry that the family
budget would not admit of the expenditure.
Larry, Junior's, measles, her dentist's bill, and
the filling out of their dinner set from open
stock, had overdrawn the envelopes marked
"Care and Education" and "Operating Ex-
penses/' leaving a vacuum in the one labeled
"Luxuries,"
32 ADVENTURES IN THRIFT
She did not care so much for herself twice
during the last season she had been too tired
really to appreciate the symphonies, but Larry
rested and recuperated through music. He had
pretended not to care, and had suggested that
they might buy an occasional ticket for the
very best concerts ; but she knew that giving up
the subscription tickets had marked the biggest
sacrifice of Larry's married life.
Then for herself there was the day when
Belle Saunders had told her that, being in
mourning, she would sell her blue fox set for
fifteen dollars. And Mrs. Larry, looking into
the envelope marked "Clothing" had realized
that one must go without furs as well as sub-
scription tickets, but a fox set at fifteen dollars
was an opportunity.
It was utterly absurd, she agreed with the
lecturer, that a husband and wife with two
babies could not enjoy an occasional luxury of
this sort on an income of two hundred dollars
a month. It was unthinkable that on this in-
come she might not take advantage of an op-
portunity like Belle Saunders' fox set. She was
tired of skimping and saving, tired of self-de-
ADVENTURES IN THRIFT 33
nial in this city of New York, where at every
turn was the temptation to buy that which
would beautify one's home or brighten one's
life. And then suddenly a sharp pain shot
through her heart.
If she were dissatisfied with what they were
getting out of life, how must Larry feel? If
she irked at spending everything on stern
necessities, how must he, who earned it all,
rebel?
There was no doubt about it! She must re-
form her management of their income. A new
envelope marked "Larry" must be started and
filled ten dollars a month, one hundred and
twenty dollars a year her little labor of love
for Larry's pleasure, no, not selfish pleasure,
but for both of them a little joy in living that
would lift them above the mere sordid effort
to make both ends meet and to educate the
children.
"Larry," she inquired, as he brushed his hair
with the vigor of one who has enjoyed a well-
deserved nap and is the better for it, "why are
you and Mr. Duggan expected to save all the
money for the company?"
34 ADVENTURES IN THRIFT
"Because we have the two departments
where it can be done. Duggan is superinten-
dent of employees. He must reduce the force
or the wages, or increase the output of his
workers. This will lessen the cost of produc-
tion, through better management efficiency,
we call it. I must buy to better advantage, for
less money, and still give the firm the same
quality of raw material to work with."
"But you can't do that, Larry. If you get
cheaper material it's bound not to be so good."
"Not necessarily," said Larry, slipping on
his coat. "It's up to me to study the market
more closely, to find new markets, if I can.
That's why I'm going to South Bethlehem if
you'll let me."
He smiled down on her, loosening the hands
that clasped his arm so closely.
"Don't take it so seriously, little woman.
I've been up against stiff er jobs than this, and
always found a way out. Kiss the kiddies for
me. If I don't get through to-morrow night,
I'll wire."
The door banged behind him and Mrs. Larry
shook herself impatiently. What in the world
ADVENTURES IN THRIFT 35
had she started to call after him? That the
wire would cost a quarter and he must not
waste the money!
The thought of it made her dizzy and faint.
No matter where Larry went, how long he was
gone, he had always kept in touch with her by
night lettergrams, and she had come to be-
grudge him this comfort ! Could it be that she
had taken the lecturer at KimbelPs too serious-
ly? Or was there something radically wrong
with the plan of her budget, with her house-
hold management; she had tried so hard to be
thrifty.
"Thrift!"
What did the word mean?
She reached for her dictionary.
Thrift care and prudence in the manage-
ment of one's resources.
Well, Larry's salary was their one resource
and there was no increasing it. The seven
little envelopes were as inevitable as the rising
and the setting of the sun.
What had Larry said? It was up to Dug-
gan to reduce the force of workers or cut their
wages. She had long since parted with a gen-
36 ADVENTURES IN THRIFT
eral housekeeper who represented waste in the
kitchen. Now she was doing her own cooking,
with Lena, a young Swedish girl, at three dol-
lars a week to help in the kitchen, wash dishes
and take the children for their daily airing on
Riverside Drive, and a laundress one day in
the week. No, there was no reducing the force
or wages.
And what had Larry said about the purchas-
ing department?
"Buy to better advantage. Find a new mar-
ket."
She shuddered at the thought. Had she not
bought a lot of canned goods at a department
store sale, only to find that they were "sec-
onds" and tasteless? Hadn't Aunt Myra in-
duced her to buy poultry, eggs and cheese from
the man who ran Uncle Jack's farm on shares,
with the result that one-third of the eggs were
broken through poor packing, and they had to
live on poultry for days interminable or have
it spoil on their hands?
And Mr. Dorlon, the grocer, was so clean
and convenient and obliging. She simply could
not change, she told herself firmly. And yet,
ADVENTURES IN THRIFT 37
the lecturer insinuated that a housewife wasted
money when she did not know food values. She
had decided that the very foundations of her
household management were shaking, when
the telephone bell rang and she hurried down
the hall to answer it.
"Can't you and Larry come over to dinner
to-night?" Teresa Moore inquired. "The Greg-
orys are stopping over on their way to Cali-
fornia."
"Oh," sighed Mrs. Larry. "Larry's just left
for South Bethlehem. I'm so sorry."
"Well, you can come. I'll telephone Claire
Pierce and Jimmy Graves. Jimmy met the
Gregorys last summer."
"Claire might come, but Jimmy's gone back
to Kansas City. Invite Claire and I'll drop
out."
"Not for a minute," answered Mrs. Moore.
I'll phone my brother to fill Larry's place. It's
all very informal. We'll just make it seven in-
stead of eight. We'll all take you home and
stop somewhere to trot a bit. Do come. Larry
would want you to."
"All right," said Mrs. Larry, almost blithely.
38 ADVENTURES IN THRIFT
She stopped at the secretary long enough to
thrust the bothersome envelopes into a drawer.
At Teresa Moore's there never seemed any
question about giving a little dinner or going
to the theater, and yet George Moore earned
only fifty dollars more a month than Larry did.
To be sure, the Moores had only one baby
and Teresa's mother gave her an occasional
frock. Still, some day she would ask Teresa
for a little inside information on budget-build-
ing.
It was Teresa's bachelor brother who made
the opening for Mrs. Larry that very evening
at dinner. He looked with undisguised admira-
tion upon a baked potato which had just been
served to him by the trim maid.
"Teresa, I take my hat off to your baked po-
tatoes. There isn't a club chef in New York
who can hold a candle to you when it comes to
baking these."
"It isn't the baking, my dear boy, it's the
buying of them. A watery potato won't bake
well."
"Ah and how, prajj do you know a watery
ADVENTURES IN THRIFT 39
potato from a dry one?" inquired her brother
with something akin to respect in his voice.
"By breaking them open, silly boy," she an-
swered with a gay little laugh. "As runs one,
so, generally speaking, runs the whole basket.
I don't look at the size or smoothness of the
skin, but at the grain of the broken potato."
"Are they Maine or Long Island potatoes?"
asked Mrs. Larry suddenly.
"Maine," answered Mrs. Moore. "There
isn't a Long Island potato on the market to-
day."
"But, Mr. Dorlon "
"Told you so! Yes, and they always will, if
you ask for Long Island potatoes. I don't take
any one's word for food. The only safeguard
is to know your market for yourself and ask
no information of the dealer."
"Then you think there are no honest deal-
ers?" asked Mr. Gregory.
"Lots of them," replied his brisk hostess,
"but we women put a premium on misinfor-
mation and trickery by demanding what the
market does not offer. We demand fresh coun-
40 ADVENTURES IN THRIFT
try eggs when only the dealers in certified eggs
can furnish them, and so we get cold storage
eggs labeled 'country.' We demand Long Is-
land potatoes when the market is sold out, and
we get Maine potatoes at a slightly higher fig-
ure than they should bring, because the dealer
does not dare tell us the truth. If he does, we
go to another dealer who knows us better."
"In Boston," remarked Mrs. Gregory, "we
have a little marketing club and study prices
and market conditions. It takes time, but it
saves us all quite a little."
Mrs. Larry ate mechanically, hardly know-
ing what was served. This was what the lec-
turer had meant about studying food values :
what Larry had meant by finding a new mar-
ket. But both of them had missed the mark.
She would combine the two, study the old mar-
kets and find new ones.
Mrs. Moore was warming up to the topic
and everybody was interested. "New York is
headquarters for the National Housewives'
League. We have district branches and lead-
ers, and we are shaking up the dealers just
beautifully. Last week our district leader an-
ADVENTURES IN THRIFT 41
nounced that there had been a drop in bacon
and ham. One of the nationally advertised
brands of bacon in jars was selling at several
cents less a jar. I asked my grocer why he
had not reduced the price. He said this was
the first he'd heard of it. The next day he
started a sale on this particular brand, and I
bought a dozen jars. He knew all the time
that the firm had cut the price, that ham and
bacon were down, but he did not give his cus-
tomers, who did not know the same thing, the
advantage of the wholesale cut. Other grocers
gave it and announced it as a special or leader.
"That's why I belong to the National House-
wives' League. Grocers and butchers may
argue with an individual woman who has read
about food prices in the papers, but when a
committee bears down upon them, they listen
respectfully and admit the truth about prices."
"Then you believe that the old ogre H. C. of
L., otherwise known as the High Cost of Liv-
ing, can be reduced by an organization of
housewives who agitate for lower prices?" in-
quired Mr. Gregory.
"I believe in education first, and organization
42 ADVENTURES IN THRIFT
afterward. An organization of women who do
not know food values or market conditions will
start a sensational campaign against cold stor-
age eggs or poultry, and then subside. What
we need under existing food conditions is wo-
men educated as buyers, not as cooks. It's no
use to economize in the kitchen and waste in
the market."
Mrs. Larry glanced round the table. Even
the bachelor brother was listening intently.
Of course she had heard rumors of his atten-
tions to that pretty Murray girl. As for Claire
Pierce, her face bore the expression of one who
sat at the feet of wisdom and understood.
"What does it avail a woman to have thirty-
five recipes for utilizing the remains of a roast,
if she does not know how to buy a roast in the
beginning? Our grandmothers, yes, and even
our mothers, used to devise means of making
what was grown on the farm go as far as pos-
sible. To-day, our men folks grow nothing. We
women in the cities and the towns and the vil-
lages must go out and buy so wisely that we
rival in this new housekeeping the frugality of
our ancestors. It's all in the buying."
ADVENTURES IN THRIFT 43
Mrs. Larry, nibbling a salted almond,
thought of her own burning zeal in using up
left-overs, and almost sighed. No doubt Ter-
esa Moore and the lecturer were both right.
It was all in the buying. And her patient in-
dustry in the kitchen had probably been un-
done and set at naught by the trickery of
grocer or butcher. She had been paying the
old price for bacon and ham. She had been
paying the price of Long Island potatoes for
the Maine brand. She
Goodness gracious! Larry had gone to
South Bethlehem to find a better market and
she had only to turn the corner.
Again she glanced round the table, her eye
resting now on Teresa Moore's new bonbon
dish, which she had bought at a mid-summer
sale, and at Mrs. Gregory's fresh, straight-
from-the-shop black chiffon. Of course they
could have new things. They had found the
right market, through organization and educa-
tion. She wanted to laugh aloud, did Mrs.
Larry. She wanted to go right out and send a
telegram about that new envelope marked
44 ADVENTURES IN THRIFT
no, not "Larry," but "A little pleasure as we
go along."
However, as the conversation had drifted
from food values to a new play, she pulled her-
self together and chatted with the rest. But
as she parted with her hostess a few hours
later, she said:
"Teresa, give me the address of the House-
wives' League."
"Going to join, honey?" asked Mrs. Moore.
"Yes, I'm starting on an adventure in
thrift."
"I'll go with you," laughed Teresa. "Meet
me at the headquarters of the Housewives'
League, 25 West Forty-fifth Street, Monday
morning. We're having a demonstration of
meat cuts by a butcher."
"I'll be there," replied Mrs. Larry promptly.
She did not go alone. Claire had insisted on
accompanying her.
"So long as Teresa doesn't know about
about Jimmy's going away as he did, we
won't have to tell her. And and even if I
never did marry and, of course, I wouldn't
marry any one but Jimmy I might want to
ADVENTURES IN THRIFT 45
do work among the poor and this would help
me."
Mrs. Larry nodded her head. She was wise
enough not to insinuate that welfare work
would never supplant love for Jimmy in
Claire's heart. The all-important thing just
now was to act as if nothing had happened be-
tween the two young people.
"I love to have you with me, Claire. Per-
haps I'm a little stale in the domestic light.
Your fresh view-point will help me amazingly."
Stepping from the elevator they found them-
selves in a huge undecorated auditorium cov-
ering an entire floor of a great office building.
Just ahead was a desk, where they registered in
the National League, paying ten cents each and
receiving in return a small button, with a navy
blue rim and lettering on a white ground,
"Housewives' League."
"Wear this whenever you market," said the
secretary. "It commands respect."
Beyond the desk was a space given over to
desks, tables and bookcases filled with free bul-
letins and literature on food values and food
preparations, easy chairs and settees.
46 ADVENTURES IN THRIFT
Teresa Moore came bustling forward to greet
them.
"This," she explained, "is the first club-room
ever opened exclusively for housekeepers. Here
may come any housekeeper, member of the
League or not, New Yorker or suburbanite, to
read our bulletins and magazines, to rest, to
write notes on League stationery, to meet
friends. We want to educate home-makers to
the club idea, to put housekeeping on a club
basis.
"Way over there in the corner is the desk
of our national president, Mrs. Julian Heath.
Across the room is the gas demonstration,
cooking, ironing, etc. And now we must hurry
if we are to see the meat demonstration."
One side of the great auditorium was filled
with camp chairs and groups of interested
eager women. On a platform, a force of
butchers and helpers were hanging up a great
side of fresh beef. Near the platform were two
blocks on which the meat could be cut into
pieces.
"Now, ladies, this is the fore-quarter "
A great hustling for seats and advantageous
"The price for this cut today is "
ADVENTURES IN THRIFT 47
positions, whipping out of note-books and pen-
cils, then respectful silence.
Deftly one helper cut and sawed while the
butcher held up cut after cut and explained
their food values and their prices. Invariably
he said: "The price for this cut to-day is "
showing the variability of the market.
Mrs. Larry listened almost breathlessly,
glancing now and then at the oblong diagram
of a side of beef furnished by Mr. Richard
Webber, the dealer who had arranged the dem-
onstration. The different sections of the beef
were colored like states on a map.
"This, ladies, is the chuck steak at sixteen
cents a pound."
Mrs. Larry looked at it with disapproving
eyes. That would not do for Larry. He must
have the best and most nutritious beef.
"Just as tender if properly cooked and just
as nourishing as sirloin," announced the
butcher. "But it lacks a certain flavor which
both sirloin and porterhouse have."
He was handling more familiar cuts now.
"First and second ribs, twenty-four cents a
pound because they are most in demand. But
48 ADVENTURES IN THRIFT
I consider the second cut, third, fourth and fifth
ribs just as good at twenty-two cents a pound.
The seventh and eighth ribs, known as the
blade, have a fine flavor and are more econom-
ical at eighteen cents. Use the bones and blade
for soup and have the rest rolled and
skewered."
Mrs. Larry nibbled her pencil and frowned.
A difference of six cents a pound between the
first cut and the last and she had never asked
her butcher which rib it was. Last Sunday's
roast had cost twenty-six cents a pound, and
she had not known whether that was the right
price on beef or not.
"Here is what I call one of the most economi-
cal cuts if you can get your butcher to make
it for you. Some do not handle it. It's the
ninth and tenth ribs, boned, known as the in-
side and outside roll roast, tender as porter-
house steak, solid meat, no waste, at twenty-
five cents a pound. Five pounds of this are
equal in nutritive and cash value to eight
pounds of the usual rib roast."
Mrs. Larry's pencil fairly flew.
"Here is the most economical cut for a large
ADVENTURES IN THRIFT 49
family. The cross rib at twenty-one cents a
pound. Average weight fourteen pounds. But
be sure you get the best grade of beef if you
try this cut. If it weighs less than fourteen
pounds, you are getting poor quality of beef.
Note the fat, creamy yellow, not a bit of dead
white.
"Now, have your butcher cut off two steaks
first Saturday night's dinner! The next piece
makes a fine pot roast for Sunday and Monday,
and the balance a big pot of soup stock. From
the pot roast you will have some cold meat for
hash."
"Suppose you want just those two juicy
steaks," suggested a well-dressed woman near
the platform.
"Well, see that the butcher cuts them off the
right end," readily replied the butcher.
"But," exclaimed Claire, as the result of
watching her mother's household management,
"suppose you order by telephone "
The butcher and his helper looked at each
other and grinned. As one voice, the other wo-
men cried, "Oh, don't do it!"
"Never buy meat by telephone," emphasized
50 ADVENTURES IN THRIFT
Mrs. Heath, the national president, "go to mar-
ket it pays."
Claire was blushing furiously. Of course,
everybody would guess that she was unmar-
ried and inexperienced. In reality, her ques-
tion was already forgotten. The audience was
absorbed in watching the butcher carving the
hind quarter of the beef.
"You ladies scorn the flank," he explained,
as he held up a long thin cut of beef, "but the
inside cut, with a pocket to be filled with poul-
try dressing, makes a fine pot roast. And now
for the steaks, "
Delmonico, porterhouse, sirloin and round
he explained their points clearly, and then a
young bride brought up the question:
"What is minute steak?"
"You'll have to ask the chef," replied the
butcher, nodding to a stout mustached man
on the edge of the crowd. "We thought you
might ask questions like this, so we brought
him along."
"Minute steak," explained the chef, "is any
good cut, without bone, sliced very thin. It
ADVENTURES IN THRIFT 51
gets its name from the short time required to
cook it."
Zip, the saw, knives and hatchet gleamed in
and out of the red flesh, and the pages of Mrs.
Larry's note-book bristled with facts and fig-
ures. When the demonstration was over, she
snapped a rubber band around the little book,
thrust it into her bag and walked thoughtfully
to the elevator.
"Did you enjoy it, honey?" Teresa Moore
linked arms with Mrs. Larry and rang for the
elevator.
"Well, if there's any enjoyment in learning
how little you know, I must have had a per-
fectly splendid time!" replied Mrs. Larry, not
without slight sarcasm.
"Fine! I felt the same way once. Now
go a-marketing while it is all fresh in your
mind. Put the fear of God in the heart of your
butcher. You won't have to do it but once, I
venture to assure you."
"I will," said Mrs. Larry firmly, as they part-
ed at the corner. Then suddenly she stopped
and stared in dismay at an unoffending,
52 ADVENTURES IN THRIFT
overtrimmed pincushion in a shop window.
Memory turned a blur of red beef, white bone
and creamy yellow fat.
"I don't believe I'll ever recognize those dif-
ferent cuts when I see them."
"I will," said Claire Pierce firmly. "I mean
to have a talk with our butcher, too. No doubt
father has paid him thousands of dollars, and
now he can pay back some of the overcharge
by teaching me how to buy meat properly. Let's
go into that shop; I want to buy a note-book
like yours."
"Well," said Mrs. Larry thoughtfully, as they
waited for Claire's parcel and change, "they do
say that meat is cheaper in Kansas City than
in New York."
CHAPTER III
"There's always a reason for high prices, and
it's well worth finding out"
r H. C. OF L. PROVERB NO. 3.
MR. LARRY, settling his stalwart shoul-
ders into his overcoat, stopped and
looked down with a smile at the pink-tipped
finger peeping through the buttonhole in his
left-hand lapel. He had come to recognize cer-
tain wifely signs. Mrs. Larry's finger attached
to this particular buttonhole indicated that Mrs.
Larry's gray matter was twisting itself into an
interrogation point.
"Well?" he prompted.
"Um-m!" she murmured; then, with sudden
accession of courage : "Larry, when you went to
South Bethlehem looking for a new foundry to
buy castings, what did the old man say?"
"The old man?" echoed Mr. Larry.
"Yes, the man where you had been buying
53
54 ADVENTURES IN THRIFT
them before. Didn't he want you to keep right
on buying from him ? Didn't he say anything ?"
"Did he ? Why, as soon as he heard we were
dickering with new people, he had half a dozen
of his best men camping on our trail, cutting
prices. That's the game play one concern
against the other."
"Thank you, dear," murmured Mrs. Larry,
with a far-away look in her eye.
Mr. Larry caught the pink-tipped finger as it
slipped from the mooring in his buttonhole.
"What's up, sweetheart? Been hearing a lec-
ture on 'Every Wife Her Husband's Partner'?
Going into business?"
"That's just it, Larry, I am your partner,
and I ought to make a business of it."
Mr. Larry drew her close, looking a trifle
anxious.
"I don't want you any different. I love you
just as you are."
"Yes, but you might love me better "
"I couldn't."
"Yes, you could if I were a better manager.
Larry, we eat too much. I mean, I don't market
efficiently."
ADVENTURES IN THRIFT 55
Her husband groaned.
"I don't want an efficient wife, the kind that
counts her steps and moves, and has charts and
signs hanging all over the house."
"I'm not going to do any of those things ; but
I do want to buy for our home as closely as you
buy for your firm. I'm afraid that Mr. Dahl-
gren, my butcher, is overcharging me. I've
bought meat there, and vegetables and fruit
ever since we moved into this apartment ; we've
paid him hundreds and hundreds of dollars, and
well, I think I ought to talk to him."
Mr. Larry kissed the pink finger-tip, and sev-
eral more, before he answered.
"Before you make any statements about his
overcharging, you must know the prices else-
where."
"Oh, I do," and she held up a sheet of paper
covered with figures, some newspaper clippings
and a Housewives' Marketing Guide of the
current week. "I got these at the Housewives'
League meeting."
The clock in the living-ro.om struck the half
hour and Mr. Larry reached for his hat.
56 ADVENTURES IN THRIFT
"That's right you hand it to the old boy,
straight and tell me about it to-night."
When the door had closed on Mr. Larry, his
wife tripped to the telephone and called up
Claire.
"I'm going to have it out with my butcher,"
she announced very firmly. "If you've remem-
bered anything that I've forgotten, now's your
chance to help me."
"I'll be over in half an hour," answered
Claire briskly. "Mother wants me to answer
some invitations for her, and then I'll be free
for the morning. It's dear of you to take me
on your adventures. By-by."
Mrs. Larry stood looking at the now silent
telephone. Certainly Claire was taking the
thing splendidly. If only Jimmy knew what
was going on ! Yes, decidedly, Jimmy ought to
know. Having settled this matter to her satis-
faction, Mrs. Larry proceeded to act with char-
acteristic promptness. She took her pen in
hand
"Dear Jimmy:
"Clearing out a drawer this morning, I came
ADVENTURES IN THRIFT 57
upon the program of the Monday Night Dance.
Didn't we have a wonderful time? If you are
as good a lawyer as you are a dancer, you'll be
famous before long.
"So sorry you did not have dinner with us
before you left. You must never treat us that
way again.
"Can't write any more, because I am going
over to my butcher's to take my second lesson
in reducing the high cost of living. Claire is
going with me. Of course, she'll write and tell
you all about our adventures in thrift. I sup-
pose we'll have some wild experiences. But
when you really, truly love a man, you don't
mind what you go through for him. Not even
if this means stalking that ogre, 'High Prices/
to its darkest lair."
She sealed and stamped the envelope with an
affectionate little pat.
"It's just as well not to take any chances on
some catty Kansas City girl discovering that
Jimmy's heart has had a wound that she might
heal. I've heard a lot of strange things about
the way a man's heart acts on the rebound."
58 ADVENTURES IN THRIFT
Nevertheless, she was very careful not to al-
low Claire to see the address on the letter,
which she mailed in the first box they passed.
When Mrs. Larry, armed with market quota-
tions, entered the Dahlgren market, with its
glittering marble slabs, its white-coated cutters,
and its generally up-to-the-minute air, she felt
a sudden sinking in the region of her heart.
"Jud," the rosy-cheeked, bright-eyed cutter,
who always took her order, came forward, book
in hand.
"What is it this morning?"
"A roast of beef "
"Two ribs or three?" he suggested, already
writing the order.
"I think I'd like to see it."
"Certainly. Bill, let me have that prime rib,
rolled. No, the other cut."
A helper produced a roast, beautifully rolled,
all crimson flesh, flecked with rich, creamy-
white fat. Jud tossed it on the scales, and in a
flash had it off again.
"Not quite eight pounds two dollars and
thirty-two cents. Can't be beat for slicing down
ADVENTURES IN THRIFT 59
cold. Anything else?" he added. "We have an
unusually fine pair of sweetbreads to-day.
Some chops for lunch?"
Mrs. Larry was doing mental arithmetic.
Claire had been using her pencil. "Two-thirty-
two That's thirty cents a pound."
"What cut is that?" Mrs. Larry asked, with
a fine assumption of firmness and indicating the
rolled roast, which Jud had tossed into the bas-
ket, as if the sale were made.
"That?" echoed the wondering cutter.
"That's a Delmonico roast fancy."
"Haven't you haven't you a third or fourth
rib roast, something cheaper than this?"
"Well, of course, I can give you any cut you
want," said the amazed attendant, accustomed
to filling unqualified telephone orders. "But
I'd advise you to take this no waste."
Mrs. Larry looked up from her quotations.
"The second cut is only twenty-one cents a
pound, to-day. I'll take that."
"Certainly," acquiesced Jud; "but you won't
find much saving in that piece, what with bones
and tailings." He had flung another roast, un-
60 ADVENTURES IN THRIFT
rolled, on the scales. "Seven pounds one dol-
lar and sixty cents. Mebbe you'd rather have
three ribs than two?"
Again Claire's pencil moved to the rhythm of
figures.
"If it's twenty-one cents a pound, it ought to
be only one dollar and forty-seven cents."
"This cut is twenty-three cents a pound."
"But the market quotations say twenty-one
cents," murmured Mrs. Larry.
Jud's good-humored face clouded. Here was
an experience practically unheard of in the
Dahlgren market, and plainly beyond his juris-
diction.
"I guess you'd better talk to the boss."
Mr. Dahlgren stepped forward solicitously.
"Nothing wrong, I hope?"
Mrs. Larry felt her color rising. The few
women in the market, like herself, were well-
groomed, well-tailored. They turned and stared
at her and Claire. Price-haggling in a shop of
this class suddenly seemed cheap and common.
And yet she was determined to put into prac-
tise the lessons in meat buying she had learned
ADVENTURES IN THRIFT 61
at the Monday morning meeting of the House-
wives' League.
"I don't quite understand why this cut, the
third and fourth ribs, is twenty-three cents a
pound when the Housewives' League price says
twenty-one cents," she explained, proffering
Mr. Dahlgren the printed sheet.
The butcher's shrewd experienced glance
swept the line of quotations.
"Ah hem yes, I see. U'm Quite so.
Twenty-one cents to twenty-three. That's
right. Twenty-three cents and that's what
we're charging you."
"But," murmured Mrs. Larry, trying to look
severe, "why do you charge me the top price
instead of the bottom one ? I am a regular cus-
tomer. I pay my bill weekly, which is as good
as cash, my husband says." Being launched,
she felt quite courageous. Surely this was the
way Larry would talk to competing firms !
"I have been marketing here for three years
and have paid you hundreds of dollars."
"I appreciate all that," said Mr. Dahlgren
good-naturedly, "and I want to hold your trade ;
62 ADVENTURES IN THRIFT
but we do not carry the twenty-one-cent grade.
See?"
Decidedly Mrs. Larry did not "see," and her
puzzled face betrayed the fact.
"The difference between twenty-three cents
and twenty-one cents does not represent the
whim of the butcher, Mrs. Hall, but the grade
of the beef sold, and I might say, also the ex-
penses of store management what your hus-
band would call overhead expenses. This par-
ticular roast, cut from the Argentine beef
mentioned in your Marketing Guide, could be
sold by some butchers at twenty-one cents a
pound, because the Argentine beef wholesales
at ten to ten and a half a pound. But I handle
only fancy, native, stall-fed beef, which whole-
sales from fourteen and a half to fifteen and a
half cents per pound. Our prices here arc reg-
ulated by what I pay, which is always top notch
for selected meats, and by the expense of run-
ning the shop. Cleanliness, modern equipment,
highly paid clerks, good telephone and delivery
service all come high. Then, of course, in a
shop like this heavy accounts are carried "
"Oh then I pay not only for the meat I buy,
ADVENTURES IN THRIFT 63
but must make up your losses from charge cus-
tomers who do not pay. I really gain nothing
by paying my bill weekly."
A great light illuminated Mrs. Larry's mar-
keting vision. Mr. Dahlgren looked uncomfort-
able.
"Oh, I wouldn't say that, Mrs. Hall; but the
sort of custom I have, what we call A-l charge
trade, demands the best "
"It can," asserted Mrs. Larry significantly,
"if it does not pay."
"I can't offer you seconds in meat, poultry or
vegetables. Now, take this lettuce "
He picked out a head of choice lettuce and
pulled the leaves apart.
"See? Not a withered leaf, not a single leaf
you could not serve on your table. Fifteen
cents. Well, you can go to the dago stand round
the corner and buy lettuce for eight or ten
cents. My lettuce you have charged and deliv-
ered in clean baskets, by clean, respectful de-
livery boys, and you'll have enough for two sal-
ads. The Italian sells you lettuce that is with-
ered on the outside from long standing in his
liot cellar, or small heads from which all the
64 ADVENTURES IN THRIFT
outside leaves are stripped. You pay cash, the
lettuce is dusty, it is delivered by a dirty little
ragamuffin who ought to be in school, and you
get one salad as against two from the head
bought here.
"Same way with those meat quotations. I
went down to hear that lecture. I sort of felt
some of my customers would be there. The man
who gave what you called your meat demonstra-
tion is one of the biggest dealers in this city.
He wholesales as well as retails. He does not
carry a single retail charge account. He would
not give credit to a woman who had traded with
him ten years. Every sale is a cash transaction
no waiting, no chance of loss. Of course, he
can undersell a man like me. I don't pretend
to compete with him. You can go to his mar-
ket across town or you can order by tele-
phone or postal card, and he will give you good
meat, not fancy grades like I carry for my ex-
clusive trade, but good meat, and you will save
money. His rent is less than mine and he pays
smaller wages. I am not knocking his meat;
but I will say that if you take his roast at twen-
ty-one cents a pound and mine at twenty-three
ADVENTURES IN THRIFT 65
cents a pound, and trea.t them exactly the same
way, you'll be able to tell the difference. It's
in the flavor and the tenderness and the juici-
ness, and of the twenty-one-cent roast Mr. Hall
will probably say: 'Roast a little dry and flat
to-night, isn't it ?'"
"Then this Marketing Guide is really no gufde
at all?" sighed Mrs. Larry, suddenly recalling
that she had meant to clean the baby's white
coat this morning, and here she was spending
precious minutes unlearning what she thought
she had learned so well.
"Oh, yes, it is if you know how to use it.
Take this one item alone. 'The market is flood-
ed with Florida oranges and grapefruit? Thafs
your chance to lay in a supply of both fruits
while the wholesale prices are down. 'Cran-
berry shipments are heavy and market glutted.'
That's true, too. Cranberries have sold a few
weeks back for twelve cents a quart. I am
selling now for nine. It would pay you to make
up some jelly and set it aside, or, if you have a
cool place, you can keep the raw berries just
as well as we can. Just now the manufactur-
ers of : bacon are cutting prices they
66 ADVENTURES IN THRIFT
are overloaded. I can save you three cents a
jar if you want to buy a quantity and stock up.
Next week it may be back to the old price."
"And these prices change all the time, like
this? Why haven't you told me such things
before?"
"Well," said the butcher, trying hard not to
smile, "you never asked me. You usually order
by phone, and "
"You can send me the roast the second cut
at twenty-three cents five quarts of cran-
berries and a dozen jars of bacon," said Mrs.
Larry out loud. Inwardly she calculated:
"Fifteen cents saved on cranberries, thirty-six
on bacon. Every penny cut off what it might
have been, saves just a little bit more."
Safely back on the sunlit street, Mrs. Larry
and Claire glanced at each other. The faces
of both were a trifle flushed.
"I've had more agreeable experiences," com-
mented Mrs. Larry, with a wry smile.
"I don't care what happens," said Claire,
looking straight ahead, "I'm going to wim out
in this game. It means everything to me."
ADVENTURES IN THRIFT 67
Whereat Mrs. Larry felt an inward glow.
She hadn't made any mistake in writing to
Jimmy Graves.
"If you feel that way about it, I'll telephone
you my plans every day."
"Do," said Claire, as she hurried away.
Frequently, when Mrs. Larry discoursed on
the happenings of the day to her husband, she
felt that Mr. Larry was not so deeply inter-
ested in domestic problems as a carefully
chosen, father might be. But on the memor-
able evening after her discovery that the same
cut of beef might sell for twenty-one or twenty-
three cents a pound, and for a very sufficient
and convincing reason Mr. Larry gave her
remarks flattering attention.
After he had studied the Marketing Guide
and gone over Mrs. Larry's figures, he drew
her down into the great chair that had been
built for two and which faced the sputtery
gas log.
"Tell you, little woman, you are all right!
I supposed it cost just so much to keep up our
table, and there was no use fighting the high
68 ADVENTURES IN THRIFT
cost of living, but I believe you are on the
right track. Finding the cause of high prices
is the way to begin."
"And, Larry, one cause of our high prices
is the neighborhood in which we live."
"Well, we're not going to move out of it.
I won't raise my children in an undesirable
neighborhood just to save two cents a pound
on meat."
"I have an idea!" remarked Mrs. Larry,
snuggling closer in the arm that seemed always
waiting for her. "If the cheap markets can't
come to our neighborhood because of the high
rents, I'm going to them. All of them deliver.
The man who talked to the League said so; I
don't suppose the East Side butchers would
come over here more than once a day."
"And his system of delivery at all hours is
one of Mr. Dahlgren's heavy overhead ex-
penses, remember."
"And you're not to complain, understand, if
sometimes there is a shortage in tenderness or
juiciness of roasts."
"I'll be the best little victim of your experi-
ADVENTURES IN THRIFT 69
ments in thrift that ever was," said Mr. Larry
assuringly.
"Oh, Larry, that's the very idea ! Every day
will brings its adventure in thrift. I'll have my
next trip in the morning."
"Why don't you start with the open mar-
ket?" suggested Mr. Larry.
"I thought they were just for the poor."
"They are run by the city for the people
and we are the people, aren't we?"
"Well, not just people when you have the
darlingest and most understandingest of hus-
bands"
"And the most calculating and parsimonious
of wives."
"Now you're making fun of me. But I'll try
the city market to-morrow. There's one at
the end of the Broadway car line."
"Yes ; at the old Fort Lee Ferry. You ought
to catch some New Jersey farmers there, with
fresh butter and eggs."
At ten the next morning Mrs. Larry and
Claire started for the people's market. This
was Mrs. Larry's usual time for marketing.
70 ADVENTURES IN THRIFT
At ten-thirty they sprang from the car, near
the dull, redding-brown ferry house, and looked
around for the market with the true country
atmosphere. Near the recreation pier were
scattered a few wagons that suggested the
hucksters who sometimes dared to invade the
sacred precincts of her exclusive neighborhood,
with heaps of over-ripe pineapples and under-
ripe apples. Here and there were push carts,
such as Mrs. Larry had seen that day when she
had "slummed" through the great East Side
in search of a wedding gift in old Russian
brass. A few rickety stands completed the
background, and these were heaped with sad-
looking poultry, tubs of butter, and crates of
eggs, bearing striking black and white signs
that announced big cuts in prices.
Hucksters, pedlers and sharp-featured
tradesmen greeted them with strident price
quotations. But Mrs. Larry's glance sought in
vain for the kindly farmer and his wife, the
sort she could suddenly recall as handing her
bits of home-made cake, pot cheese or a tiny
nosegay of garden flowers in the days when
ADVENTURES IN THRIFT 71
she had gone to early market with her grand-
mother in a quiet Pennsylvania city.
A neatly dressed man, with a semi-official
air, who had evidently noticed their bewilder-
ment, raised his hat and spoke courteously:
"Is there anything special you want?"
"No; nothing special we thought we'd like
to see one of the city markets."
"Well, you're a little late to see the market
at its best. I'll explain, if you don't mind. I'm
on Borough President Marks' committee and
we are very anxious to interest New York
housekeepers in these markets."
"But it's not clean," protested Mrs. Larry,
driven to frankness by her disappointment.
"It's as clean as any open market can be
kept. Everything is cleaned up and flushed
every night, but you see people have been trad-
ing here since six-thirty this morning."
"As early as that?" exclaimed the astonished
Claire.
"Yes, the farmers are early birds. They
are the first to arrive and the first to leave.
They sell out in no time. One man brought in
72 ADVENTURES IN THRIFT
two loads weighing about five tons each, solid
produce, and his wagons were empty in two
hours. Among other things he sold six hun-
dred bunches of celery at ten per cent, less than
you can buy it at your fancy grocery store.
He sold small heads of cabbage for four cents,
large for eight, solid as rock and fine for cold
slaw. You may pay the same in your store,
but the heads are soft and wasteful. His
cooking apples brought ten cents for a two-
quart basket that grocers sell at fifteen or
twenty, according to the customer. We've
got rid of eight hundred pounds of fresh fish,
brought direct from Monmouth, New Jersey,
by a real fisherman. On Friday we'll sell one
thousand eight hundred pounds caught by the
same man and his neighbors."
"Then these," murmured Mrs. Larry, indi-
cating the straggling wagons and push carts,
"are not farmers?"
"No; these are hucksters, mostly, or small
dealers. You could buy for the same prices
at your door or at their stands down-town.
We group the farmers under signs: 'FARM-
ERS' WAGONS,' and discourage hucksters
ADVENTURES IN THRIFT 73
who fix wagons to look like the real farm
article.
"We have a representative of the Depart-
ment of Weights and Measures to receive
complaints, and to test weights and measures.
This morning we ordered off a push cart man
because his fruit and vegetables were not fresh.
We are doing everything in our power to pro-
tect housewives and encourage them to patron-
ize the open market, because that means more
farmers will come here. And we are aiming
to bring about direct connection between pro-
ducer and consumer farmer and housewife."
"But what of that wagon," inquired Claire,
indicated a huge delivery wagon bearing the
name of a prominent down-town department
store, "does that firm sell fresh food?"
"No ; staple groceries which they can buy in
huge quantities, like five pounds of granulated
sugar at twenty-three cents, when your grocer
and mine are charging us at the rate of three
and one-half pounds for eighteen cents. This
firm delivers orders. The farmers, the huck-
sters and stand men can not. But we arrange
for that by having a man who will deliver the
74 ADVENTURES IN THRIFT
ordinary market basket from any of our open
markets at ten cents."
"Then the delivery is extra and cuts into the
saving on prices?"
"Not enough to notice if you buy in good
quantities. Now figure this up for yourself.
What are you paying for potatoes?"
"Twenty-five cents a basket."
"How big a basket; how many pounds?"
Mrs. Larry stared.
"Pounds? I never weighed them."
"But that's the only honest way to sell po-
tatoes. Big potatoes leave huge air holes in
the basket that weigh nothing. Well, here are
seven pounds for ten cents. The same quantity
by measure would cost you at least fifteen
cents. This head of cabbage at six cents would
cost ten in your store; six bunches of beets
here for ten cents, two bunches in your store.
Two quarts * of onions five cents, ten in your
store. Three fine rutabagas for eight cents ; I
paid eight cents for one like these down-town.
You can afford ten cents for delivery on a list
like that."
"I would save about thirty cents. Ten cents
ADVENTURES IN THRIFT 75
would go for delivery, ten for car fare and
my time "
"Well, of course, you have not bought much,
considering that you must have them delivered
and you must pay car fare. Women like you
from the distance must either buy in larger
quantities or carry things home on the car."
"Carry them !" exclaimed Mrs. Larry.
"Yes; women come here with old suit-cases
and bags. Women with babies bring the babies
in the carriages and fill the front with vege-
tables, etc. Mothers of older children use the
little express wagons. They don't spend ten
cents for deliveries."
"Do do many ladies come here?"
"Say, if you want to see ladies marketing,
you go over to the market under Queensboro
Bridge to-morrow morning early."
Mrs. Larry laughed joyously over her re-
cital that night.
"Evidently the early bird has come back
into style," was her husband's comment. "Are
you game for the early market?"
"Indeed I am," declared Mrs. Larry. "Just
think ! I didn't save a penny to-day lost time
76 ADVENTURES IN THRIFT
and money because I didn't know enough to
dig out your old suit-case. Anyhow, I think
it is cowardly to market with a bag or suit-
case. My grandmother and aunts carried a
market basket, and so shall I."
"Hurrah!" shouted Mr. Larry. "A fig for
convention-bound neighbors. But do you own
one?"
"I just do," responded Mrs. Larry proudly.
"Aunt Myra sent it to me last fall, packed with
pickles and jelly."
And the next morning, after wafting a kiss
to the sleeping Mr. Larry and stealing a
glimpse at the rosy-cheeked small Larrys, she
drank a cup of hot coffee, munched a roll, and
by eight o'clock was at the Queensboro Bridge
market.
But she was not accompanied by Claire on
this trip. The girl's enthusiasm was beautiful
to see, but Mrs. Larry was a cautious person.
She did not want to kill it by drawing on it at
seven A. M. The family of Pierce were not early
risers.
"Ah, this is something like," she sighed as
she saw the groups of farm wagons from Long
ADVENTURES IN THRIFT 77
Island, with tanned lean men handling poultry,
eggs and vegetables. She bought with enthu-
siasm fowl that she knew were fresh killed and
picked, at the price often charged for cold stor-
age poultry; vegetables that were firm and
fresh; fruits at close to wholesale prices. The
farmers and dealers helped her pack her bas-
ket compactly. All around her were comfort-
able-looking, well-dressed women. Beyond the
line of wagons, push carts and stands was a
second line of automobiles, many of whose own-
ers were marketing at her elbow.
"It's the automobile folks that are saving
money," said a farmer's helper, as he packed a
crisp head of lettuce into the last corner of
her basket. "You'd die to see how it riles their
chauffeurs to have to come for the baskets."
The baskets, of course and Mrs. Larry sud-
denly realized that her arm throbbed like the
proverbial toothache. She had a full block to
walk to the car, a transfer to make, and two
blocks to walk at the other end of the line. The
prospect was not cheering. She sought out the
man who had contracted to deliver baskets at
ten, cents each.
78 ADVENTURES IN THRIFT
"What time shall I get these goods?" she
asked.
"Before nightfall/' answered the man.
"But this chicken is for dinner," she said.
"I must have it by two o'clock."
"Then you had better take it with you,"
said a by-stander, a competent-looking woman.
Mrs. Larry unpacked the basket, had the
fowl, some sweet potatoes and celery done up
in a big paper sack which she could carry, and
turned the balance of her marketing over to
the delivery men.
Why in the world hadn't she thought of this
and let Claire bring them both over in the
Pierce limousine? Well, she'd know better the
next time. And she turned over the silver
lining of this particular domestic cloud so
quickly that the young bride, sitting opposite
her on the cross-town car simply had to smile
back. After which they fell into conversation.
"I've just about decided," the younger wo-
man remarked, as she looked at Mrs. Larry's
great bag of provisions, "that you've got to
pay the high cost of living either in money or
time or strength. I bought four dollars' worth
ADVENTURES IN THRIFT 79
of produce this morning for about two dollars
and seventy-five cents. That is, I save about
one dollar and twenty-five cents on what you'd
pay to the grocer on your block, or your regular
butcher. But it takes two hours of my time,
and then we can't tell how long these city mar-
kets will last. If they are to be open in winter,
the city will have to lay floors of concrete, my
husband says, and provide better protection all
round. That means the city will have to charge
the dealers for rent, and then up will go the
prices. Seems like you have to pay somebody
his price or give a lot of yourself in saving."
"It is discouraging," said Mrs. Larry. "The
chief trouble I have is in taking care of goods
in quantity after I buy them. You have no
cellar or pantry in an apartment-house. There
are closets and bins enough in my kitchen, but
winter and summer it's too hot, vegetables and
fruit spoil."
"And that eats up what you save going to
market. Buying in small quantities comes
high. Now if a lot of women could go together
and buy and then divide up, they could save
money,"
80 ADVENTURES IN THRIFT
"Oh, I've heard of that system. They're
called 'Marketing Clubs.' I believe there's one
in Brooklyn. Suppose we look into it," she
added.
"I'll have my husband get the president's
address. He knows some newspaper men and
the club has been written up lots of times. Oh,
yes, I remember the president's name is Mrs.
Bangs."
So they exchanged cards, and, much to their
amusement, discovered that they lived on the
same block. The little bride's name was Mrs.
Norton, and, as they parted at her door, she
bound herself to join Mrs. Larry, Teresa
Moore and Claire Pierce on their adventures
in thrift.
"It's so much nicer to travel in pairs than in
odd numbers," said Mrs. Larry.
"It's awfully good of you to let me come,"
answered Mrs. Norton. "None of my intimate
friends are particularly interested in this sort
of thing, but I've just got to be."
Mrs. Larry shifted the heavy parcel to the
other arm.
"Every wife would be happier if she was
ADVENTURES IN THRIFT 81
interested. I'm beginning to think that she
really can't be happy if she isn't efficient,
though my husband hates that word."
"So does mine," said Mrs. Norton, and hav-
ing found that their husbands were of one
mind, they decided that it was a real bond be-
tween them.
CHAPTER IV
"A wise woman knows that economy in
money isn't always real economy." H. c. OF L.
PROVERB NO. 4.
MR. LARRY tasted the second mouthful of
lemon pie and glanced at Mrs. Larry.
Then he plunged into the business of finishing
off its yellow and white sweetness, just as if it
had been Mrs. Larry's very best brand of
dessert.
"Oh, Larry dear, don't don't eat it. It's
simply fearful and I bought it at the ex-
change, too. I guess she put too much corn-
starch in it or didn't cook it enough."
There was the hint of tears in her voice, and
her chin quivered just enough to deepen the
dimple that cleft it. Down went Mr. Larry's
after-dinner coffee cup, and in two strides he
was round the table, throwing his arms about
her. He spoke very tenderly:
"What is the matter, dearest? Are you sick?"
83
ADVENTURES IN THRIFT 83
"No honey I'm just a little fool!" And
now the tears flowed frankly and unchecked.
"You're nothing of the sort, and one lemon
pie"
"It's not the pie, Larry, it's it's everything!
Ever since I started to cut down our table ex-
penses, I've been losing money in other ways.
I can't be in two places at once, can I?"
Mr. Larry shook his head.
"And so when I'm chasing all over town
looking for cheaper markets, things go wrong
here at home. While I was picking up bar-
gains in poultry and vegetables in the city mar-
ket last Saturday, Lena broke one of my best
goblets they cost me forty-five cents each
there went all I saved on vegetables. I never
let Lena wash the fine glass and china when
I'm home.
"Then this afternoon I went to Mrs. Nor-
ton's to talk about organizing a marketing club
to buy in quantities, and suddenly remembered
I had made no dessert. The exchange charged
sixty cents for that apology for a pie. I could
make the real thing for twenty."
84 ADVENTURES IN THRIFT
"You bet you could," remarked Mr. Larry,
heartily if inelegantly.
"And the cleaner charged me one dollar for
cleaning baby's coat. I've always done it my-
self with a quarter's worth of gasoline. So
here I am, trying to work out some method
of reducing household expenses, but neglecting
my house and cooking and wondering whether
in the end I'll have saved even a single penny."
"Experiments are sometimes costly, but if
they develop into labor savers or expense re-
ducers, they are well worth while. You re-
member Maguire, who insisted that if the firm
would give him time to experiment he could
make one of our machines double its capacity?
The firm agreed and paid his salary for two
years. Then suddenly he turned the trick, and
cut down expenses in that particular line of
output about one-third. That paid, didn't it?"
"Oh, Larry, you are so comforting. I do
think there must be something in cooperation,
in buying directly from producers in large
quantities, because everybody is talking about
it."
."Then stop worrying about the little leaks
ADVENTURES IN THRIFT 85
and stick to it till you find out where the big
saving lies," said Mr. Larry.
"And, by the way, here's a letter I found
under the door and forgot to give you before
dinner. Of course, I'm not jealous but I have
a natural curiosity to learn what Kansas City
man dares write my wife."
Mrs. Larry reached for the letter, worry
vanishing before the sunny smile.
"Jimmy Graves! Give it to me instanter!"
Mr. Larry retained his grip on the letter and
looked at her accusingly.
"Now, little woman, don't you try to under-
study destiny. It's ticklish business to patch
up a quarrel between sweethearts. Better let
them work out their own salvation."
Mrs. Larry possessed herself of the envelope,
patted the hand that relinquished it, and re-
plied :
"Did you ever think, honey, how many young
couples, blinded by anger, self-pity or pride,
can not see the road which leads to the salvav-
tion of their happiness? Well, I just painted
a sign-board, not another thing, Larry, so let's
see whether Jimmy read it aright."
86 ADVENTURES IN THRIFT
"Dear Mrs. Larry," ran the letter "It cer-
tainly was good of you to write me so kindly
after I rushed out of town without so much
as telephoning, but, manlike, I left a lot of
things till the very last minute. And it was
jolly to hear of the adventure in thrift which
you and Claire are sharing. You know the
sort of girl she is, too modest to let even the
man who loves her know how thorough and
earnest she is. She hasn't written me a word
about it, and perhaps she won't, so if you have
time to drop me an occasional line about your
jaunts, I sure would enjoy it. And when you've
done all the stunts, perhaps I might come on
and blow you both to a dinner, reward of
virtue and all that sort of thing. That is, if
you think it wise for me to come.
"My regards to old Larry and chuck both
the kiddies under the chin for their adopted
Uncle Jimmy.
"P. S.-Don't let Claire overdo the thing.
Remember I am trusting you with the biggest
thing in my life."
Mrs. Larry raised shining eyes to her hus-
band's face*
ADVENTURES IN THRIFT 87
"Oh, my dear, can you read between the
lines? He doesn't admit that anything has
happened between them man creature that he
is but he is starving for a word of her."
"Well, why don't you tell her?"
"Honey, she'd never speak to me again. No
I shall just write an occasional sign-board
for Jimmy. Claire doesn't deserve one."
"Don't be so hard on Claire, dear. Remem-
ber, she didn't have your advantages a sane
home life a fine wholesome mother who be-
lieved in marriage for love "
"To say nothing of a man worth waiting and
working for " interrupted Mrs. Larry.
"Outside the question, madam. Claire has
been raised in the atmosphere of personal lux-
ury and in the belief that there is nothing worse
than having to do for herself and for others.
If she wasn't vastly different from her pleas-
ure-loving mother, Jimmy Graves never would
have had a chance with her. It would have
been a millionaire or nothing for her."
"And as she has turned her back on million-
aires, I propose to do my part in steering her
toward happiness with the common or garden
88 ADVENTURES IN THRIFT
variety of husband. But, of course, this must
be done tactfully. So, when she comes for the
conference to-night you are to act as if she
just dropped in accidentally and we insisted on
her staying to see the fun."
"Fun ! Um-m " murmured Mr. Larry. "If
this conference is on the practical question of
reducing the cost of living, and Claire betrays
interest, I fear she will rouse the suspicions
of sharp-eyed, clever Teresa Moore. Why
can't you women play the game of being in
love, like we men do, open and above aboard?"
"Because, dearest husband, for generations
we have been taught that a 'nice' girl does not
flaunt love. Your grandmothers might have
died of love, but admit it never. However,
at the present rate of liberation, we'll soon be
proposing "
"Do you really believe that men propose?
Why"
"Now, Larry Hall, don't you dare start that
moth-eaten argument. You did "
"Of course, but you were an exceptional
girl"
Having admitted that such might be the cage
ADVENTURES IN THRIFT 89
and having escaped from her husband's en-
folding arms, Mrs. Larry outlined the evening's
plans.
"You remember that dear little Mrs. Norton
I met coming from the Queensboro market?
Well, she and I decided that on this block are
enough housekeepers to form a market club "
"No doubt the lady across the hall, with the
chestnut locks and the five hundred dollar
Pekinese, will be deeply interested in such a
project."
"Now, Larry, don't be discouraging. We
have been looking over our neighbors, and
we're going to start with the ones that take
their own babies for an airing on the drive."
"Wise and observant lady!"
"I wrote to Mrs. Bleecker Bangs, president
of the Brooklyn Market Club, for suggestions,
and she answered right away. Her letter with
the clippings she enclosed will help us outline
our plans."
"And who are 'we'?"
"Mrs. Norton, Teresa, Claire"
"Then I'm expected to furnish a valid excuse
for spending the evening away from home?"
90 ADVENTURES IN THRIFT
"No, indeedy. You stop right here. Mr.
Norton and Mr. Moore are coming. You men
can help us organize. You ought to help. It's
your money we're trying to save."
"Quite so;" responded Mr. Larry, with sud-
den gravity. After all, these investigations did
seem to mean quite a lot to the men who earned
the money.
So at eight o'clock, Mrs. Larry faced her
little audience of six, Mrs. Bleecker Bangs'
letter in hand:
"400 Lafayette Avenue, Brooklyn, N. Y.
"My Dear Mrs. Hall I would be very glad
to supply you with suggestions for organizing
your club, but my time is taken with writing.
Ladies by dozens are asking me how to or-
ganize and should be instructed. So I send
you newspaper clippings, interviews with me,
which will do just as well. Follow the sug-
gestions in these articles and you will have
great success, I am sure.
"Sincerely,
"Charlotte R. Bangs."
ADVENTURES IN THRIFT 91
"Explicit and to the point," remarked Mr.
Larry. "And now for the clippings."
" 'On Friday evening," Mrs. Larry contin-
ued, "every member of the club comes to see
me and brings a list of the things she would like
to have purchased for her. She also brings her
money, because everything is cash, and I have
to have the money to pay as soon as I have made
my purchase. I go to the market about eight
o'clock, because the busiest time is over then,
and I can pick up bargains. That is the whole
secret of saving by this plan buying bargains
which are going for almost nothing. For in-
stance, a broken basket of fine Hubbard
squashes will be offered at a very great reduc-
tion, because the busy time is over.
" 'I purchase to the best advantage I can. The
things are delivered at my home early in the
afternoon, and all the housekeepers come over
and take their things home, and settle the ac-
count then and there.
" 'The rules of the club are not many nor very
complicated. We hold business meetings once
a month for the purpose of making a schedule
92 ADVENTURES IN THRIFT
of buyers. That means four members each
twenty-eight days ; two trips to market for each
member. When it is inconvenient for a mem-
ber, she gives her reasons, and usually some
other member is ready to step in and exchange
with her. Of course, each club member knows
who is to buy that week. Monday and Thursday
nights each member of the club sends in a list
of the things she wants, with the quantity and
the money. The marketer combines these lists
to get the quantity as well as the articles.
" 'What happens if only one person wants a
small quantity of one particular item? That
article is crossed from their list, and they are
warned, so they can get it from the greengro-
cer. We had a lot of that when the club first
started ; now it seldom happens. Even when it
did happen, and the various members bought
one or more items each week from the green-
grocer, they saved so much on the staple items
bought wholesale that we have never had one
who willingly withdrew from the club/ "
Mrs. Larry paused dramatically, and Mrs.
Norton murmured, "Lovely !"
"Does she give any actual comparison be-
ADVENTURES IN THRIFT 93
tween her prices and what the ordinary house-
wife pays?" asked Mr. Moore,
"Oh, yes," answered Mrs. Larry. "Here's a
table:
Retail Market
Grocers' Price Club Price
Lettuce, a head ________ lOc 21/2^
Squashes ______________ 5c Ic
Celery, a bunch ________ 15c 4i/ 2 c
Best butter ____________ 40c 29c
Best eggs, a dozen ______ 40c 26c
Potatoes, a bushel ________ $2.40 $1.25
Apples, a bushel ________ 1.25 50c
Tomatoes, a quart _______ lOc 2c
Cauliflower, each _______ 10ctol5c
" 'Besides, we pick up bargains by getting in
after the rush is over. Only last week I bought
beautiful lettuce at a cent a head. Earlier in
the day it had sold at two and a half cents the
head to greengrocers, who retailed it at ten
cents.
" 'Do we save as much as that, the difference
between two and a half and ten cents on every-
thing? On a good many things, yes!'
94 ADVENTURES IN THRIFT
"Imagine! Last Thanksgiving she bought
white grapes by the keg," interrupted Mrs.
Larry; "sixty pounds at eight cents a pound,
when all retailers were asking us eighteen and
twenty cents. Just listen:
" 'At the end of each year the secretary makes
her report, showing approximately how much
the members of the club have saved. The dif-
ference is between the wholesale and retail
prices of food supplies. Last year's report
showed a saving of nearly sixty per cent. That
was our banner year, but we have never run
below forty per cent. At first I counted on sav-
ing forty per cent. ; now we think it safe to say
we save fifty-five per cent.'
"Now, Teresa, isn't that great?"
"It is, my dear too great to be practical or
to last. I investigated the Brooklyn Market
Club when it was first started several years
ago, and found it was practically only for Mrs.
Bangs and her particular little group. In that
group were her own married daughters and a
very few intimate, tried friends, who under-
stood one another and worked out the plan sys-
tematically. Then, for months Mrs. Bangs gave
ADVENTURES IN THRIFT 95
herself over to running the club. She had no
children at home, nothing to interfere with the
successful management of that little organiza-
tion. In fact, when I asked her whether any
one else would take up the work if she dropped
it, she said she was quite sure no one could.
And any organization which demands an en-
thuisast, a fanatic, as its manager is not prac-
tical."
"But, my dear woman," remarked Mrs. Nor-
ton briskly, "surely any of us could train our-
selves for the work."
"Any one who does must be paid for it, must
make a business of it, because it will take all
her time. I don't want to throw cold water on
your lovely plan, Mrs. Larry," she said affec-
tionately, "but I don't want you chasing rain-
bows. Let us analyze some of Mrs. Bangs'
figures and compare them with our own needs.
You speak of organizing a club of six. Well,
let us say ten, if we are to buy in such quanti-
ties. Very well. Mrs. Bangs buys sixty pounds
of white grapes in order to secure a keg at the
rate of eight cents a pound. What would you
and I do with six pounds of grapes ? How could
96 ADVENTURES IN THRIFT
we keep them until they were used, in our little
apartments? And do you know what lettuce
at two and three cents a head means ? Buying
a sack or crate of it. We'd receive about eight
heads, each one of us and how much would
we have to throw away when it spoiled on our
hands? My husband won't live on lettuce!
"And then there is the question of delivery.
I have bought fruit wholesale for preserving,
and paid from twenty-five cents to a dollar for
having it delivered. At the lower figure, you
wait till the expressman pleases to deliver it.
Then comes the question of distributing it from
the apartment at which it is delivered. How
would your kitchen look if it was the delivery
center, and we divided up sacks of potatoes,
barrels of apples, kegs of grapes and crates of
lettuce?
"And can you see us, all creeping home after
nightfall with our supplies, leaving you and
your girl to clean up the mess? Not for my
kitchen, Mrs. Larry."
A silence followed these few spirited re-
marks.
"That does put it in a new light," said Mrs.
ADVENTURES IN THRIFT 97
Norton at last. "But it looked so lovely on
paper."
Claire echoed the sigh.
Mrs. Larry, her shoulders drooping pathetic-
ally, was folding up the clippings.
"Don't let me discourage you," continued
practical Mrs. Moore. "If you think you can
organize and secure ten women willing to give
a great deal of time and put up with consider-
able inconvenience in order to save, perhaps,
ten per cent, in the final accounting, go ahead
and try it; but I thought you ought to know
that I had thoroughly investigated Mrs. Bangs'
plan and found just where it fails us women in
small apartments. I do not think her club even
exists now, but it served an excellent purpose >
it made Mrs. Bangs an authority on household
economics and marketing, and she is very busy
writing for publication."
"Well, then, it helped some one," remarked
Mr. Larry, trying to speak lightly, and wishing
he could pat Mrs. Larry's hand without being
caught in the act.
"Oh, yes, each of these cooperative plans has
its good points," continued Mrs. Moore. "I have
98 ADVENTURES IN THRIFT
two friends living in Chicago who belong to
such an organization, and they save a great
deal, but they deal directly with the producers."
"How?" asked Mr. Norton, deeply interested.
"By parcel post, express and correspondence.
Their organization grew out of the old Fifty-
first Street Food and Market Club, formed to
clean up the markets and groceries and stands
in their neighborhood. From cleaning up food,
they naturally turned their attention to cutting
down prices. One of the leading spirits of this
club, which is little more than a group of prac-
tical, earnest neighbors, is Mrs. J. C. Bley,
president of the famous Chicago Clean Food
Club, and active in all the good works done by
the household economic department of the
equally famous Woman's Club.
"This little band of economists buys potatoes,
apples, butter, eggs, poultry, etc., direct from
farmers. One of their number acts as purchas-
ing agent and general secretary. She carries
on the correspondence with farmers, has all
goods shipped to her house and sends for her
coworkers when fresh consignments arrive.
She is practically the middleman for the rest of
ADVENTURES IN THRIFT 99
the club, and receives a small commission from
the members. And she is worth it, because she
conducts their business admirably, and saves
them as much as one-third on their supplies.
"Mrs. Bley, a most practical woman, is deep-
ly interested in the experiment, and hopes to
extend the movement until farmers' wives and
city housekeepers know each other better and
are mutually useful. When I visited her home
last she was making a special study of cartons
for the parcel-post service for her club mem-
bers. I call that practical."
"But how do they get in touch with the farm-
ers?" inquired Mr. Norton.
"Through the granges and their secretaries.
All farmers' societies are encouraging direct
sales by parcel-post system. That is the hope
of the woman in the small city apartment or
modern cottage, deprived of cellar, pantry or
storage space.
"For the more fortunate woman who can
still boast a cellar with dry bins, or a huge
pantry, I imagine that the cooperative league,
run by Mrs. Ellms of Cincinnati, would be ideal.
I can not give you the particulars, but my
100 ADVENTURES IN THRIFT
cousin, Emily Tyler, can, because she was a
member of the organization when she lived in
Cincinnati. Wouldn't you all like to come round
to our house Friday night and meet her?"
The invitation was accepted with enthusiasm,
after which Mr. Larry rolled back the rugs and
Mrs. Larry turned on the phonograph for one-
stepping, while Lena appeared with a fruit
punch and little cakes. For, as Mrs. Norton
philosophically remarked "What's the use of
taking economy so hard that you get to hate
it?"
Mrs. Tyler, formerly of Cincinnati, now of
Flushing, New York, proved to be a plump and
friendly young matron, with deep blue eyes that
took on a violet tint when she talked earnestly
on cooperative buying.
"You see, I've brought the documents in the
case," she said smilingly, as she pointed to a
quantity of printed matter on Mrs. Moore's
library table. "But you must stop me the min^
ute you feel bored. I'm so homesick for my
Cooperative League that it is a joy to talk
about it.
ADVENTURES IN THRIFT 101
"First, let me introduce you to what I con-
sider the most practical organization of prac-
tical women in the country "
She held up a tiny button : "National House-
wives' Cooperative League" ran the inscrip-
tion.
"And then to its very capable and practical
president, Mrs. Joseph W. Ellms."
And here she produced a photograph of a
refined, rather intellectual-looking woman, face
oval, mouth firm, eyes looking keenly through
glasses, hair parted and waved over a fine
white forehead.
"Mrs. Ellms, with our splendid secretary,
Miss Edna 0. Crofton, keeps the sincerity of
this organization always alive. For coopera-
tive buying needs sincerity, firmness and stead-
fastness of purpose. No compromising with
the corner grocer or a heedless servant if you
want to be a real cooperator!
"Our League started in a very funny way.
We had a typical organization of mothers known
as the Hyde Park Colony Mothers' Club, with
meetings devoted to the conventional discus-
sions of children, their care, feeding, education
102 ADVENTURES IN THRIFT
and discipline. One afternoon a member read
an unusual paper on the increased cost of liv-
ing, and especially the power which women con-
trol as the spenders of the family income. I
think it roused what Mrs. Ellms calls our en-
lightened consumers' conscience. I know that
I saw for the first time my duty as the dis-
penser of my husband's earnings.
"That was five years ago. To-day the League
in Cincinnati alone is the buying power for
three hundred families, and is growing steadily.
No society of this sort can have a mushroom
growth, because the cooperative idea does not
appeal to emotional or impulsive women. Our
Cincinnati membership is divided into three
centers. Then each center is subdivided into
groups of ten members, each having its own
local director. All public meetings are held in
the public library and its branches. Demon-
strations (tests in foods, weights, measures,
etc.) and distributions are made at the homes
of the directors. These directors are the pur-
chasers for the various groups, except when
supplies in carload lots are to be bought. Such
ADVENTURES IN THRIFT 103
purchases are then made by the executive board,
consisting of the president, the officers and the
directors.
"None of these women are salaried officers.
They are anxious to serve for the experience
gained, the educational value of the work, and
the benefit each gains for herself and her neigh-
bors. No woman can do this work and not keep
in touch with the many-sided question of eco-
nomics. She corresponds with farmers, manu-
facturers, merchants big and little, government
officials and professors of household economics
and civics. She must know the true values of
such supplies as soaps, cleansers, etc., as well
as foods.
"To give you an idea of our system, last fall
we bought flour at five dollars and fifty cents a
barrel, wholesale, delivered to the homes of
members. The market price then for a single
barrel was six dollars and fifty cents. It is
now seven dollars and fifty cents. So you see,
the new member, paying her initiation fee of
fifty cents and her annual dues of fifty cents,
saved them at once on her one barrel of flour.
104 ADVENTURES IN THRIFT
"Here is Exhibit A Bulletin No. 1 : Duties
of local directors. I want you to see how good
a business woman a director must be."
She passed around a printed sheet, five by
eight inches.
1. Visit wholesalers, commission men and
jobbers, and ascertain wholesale prices on
foodstuffs. Also get in touch with the pro-
ducers as far as possible and buy directly from
them.
2. Buy in large quantities, that is, in barrel
and case lots, since the larger the quantity the
less will be the cost.
3. Have all orders shipped to one place,
preferably the home of the local director.
4. The director must own reliable scales
and measures, and keep an accurate account of
all goods bought and pay all bills incurred by
her own center.
5. Each month the local director shall ap-
point a committee of three women, to whom
she shall submit a record of all expenditures and
receipts, together with the original bills for ex-
amination and approval.
6. Each member participating in any pur-
ADVENTURES IN THRIFT 105
chase shares proportionately according to the
amount taken, in the cost of freight and ex-
press charges.
7. Each member of a center must agree be-
fore an order is sent to take and pay CASH
for her portion of order when received.
8. Members failing to take their orders,
when ready for delivery, shall forfeit their por-
tion, the same to be sold by the director in any
way she sees fit to reimburse herself.
9. Goods delivered by the director without
payment shall be on her own responsibility,
and should she fail to receive money due, she
should have recourse to the usual methods of
law to obtain settlement. Neither the League
nor its officers hold themselves responsible for
debts incurred by local centers or their direc-
tors.
"You probably saw in the paper how last
fall we bought a carload of potatoes from Mich-
igan, saving fifty-five cents a bushel. Our
Thanksgiving and Christmas turkeys we bought
direct from farmers, country dressed, i. e.,
drawn and fully dressed instead of merely
picked, thereby saving more than five cents on
106 ADVENTURES IN THRIFT
the pound. I could give one instance after an-
other, but to sum it up I would say that our
aim is to set a wholesome, attractive table for
a family of six persons on fifteen dollars a
week.
"But you understand, the directors alone
can not accomplish this. They must have intel-
ligent cooperation from each housewife in or-
dering the supplies to be bought in quantities.
Our League sounds the death knell of corner-
grocery-to-table buying. A cooperator must
plan her purchases well. And to help her do
this our president has prepared some admirable
bulletins, two of which I happen to have with
me."
The men in particular were much impressed
by the carefully arranged suggestions on these
bulletins. Then Mrs. Tyler went on:
"The educational campaign goes on the year
round. We have our own organ, the National
Cooperative Housewife, issued monthly for
members and filled with practical food sug-
gestions, reports of local meetings, market re-
ports and more market news. Just now the
League is deeply interested in bringing pro-
ADVENTURES IN THRIFT 107
ducer and consumer together by means of par-
cel post shipments, and each of its members and
directors has a copy of the United States Par-
cel Post Produce List, issued by the Cincinnati
post-office. This gives the names of farmers,
dairymen and poultry raisers in Ohio, Indiana
and Kentucky, who will ship supplies by par-
cel post.
"The ultimate aim of the League is, of course,
cooperative stores and distributing stations for
its members. Just now each director opens her
home as the distributing center for her group."
"To whom are your local directors respon-
sible?" asked Mr. Norton.
"To the executive board. Of course, each
director is anxious to make a record as a buyer.
But the buying is not all. Our officers believe
that education in such problems as nutritive
values, substitutes for foods when certain sup-
plies are scarce and costly, the proper way to
prepare supplies after they have been purchas-
ed at the lowest possible figure is quite as im-
portant as mere price-shaving. The individual
member must grow, or she is of no value as a
member. The woman who joins merely to have
108 ADVENTURES IN THRIFT
a director save dollars and cents for her, soon
finds herself out of harmony with the League.
And quite generally she begins a course in self-
education as a housewife, which is the biggest
result an organization can bring about."
"But in buying such quantities," suggested
Mrs. Norton, "you must have the old-fashioned
cellar to store potatoes, apples, etc."
"No," answered Mrs. Tyler, "a cool dry at-
tic does as well, with barrels well covered for
a cold snap."
"Oh, I wish there was such a club in New
York, so we could see it actually working,"
sighed Mrs. Larry.
"There is one near New York at Montclair,
New Jersey," said Mrs. Moore.
"Suppose we women take a run over there
next week and learn what our neighbors are
doing?"
CHAPTER V
"The housewife's pocketbook can beat its
owner at keeping thin." H. c. OF L. PROVERB
NO. 5.
MR. LARRY lounged in the doorway,
watching Mrs. Larry array herself for
her next adventure in thrift. Lena, the young
maid, similarly occupied, sat on the shirt-waist
box with Larry, Junior, and his wee sister
snuggling close.
"The money for the milkman is next to the
sugar can," announced Mrs. Larry, settling her
hat above anxious brows. "And you may boil
rice for the children's luncheon."
"There ain't any, ma'am," answered Lena.
"Oh, dear !" sighed Mrs. Larry, reaching for
her veil. "I didn't have time to go over the
groceries yesterday. When you take baby out,
buy a pound package at Dorlon's."
"Yes'm," murmured Lena. "But he's a rob-
109
110 ADVENTURES IN THRIFT
ber, Dorlon is. Our grocer sells two pounds for
what Dorlon charges for one."
"Yes, yes ! But that is loose rice. The pack-
age is cleaner."
"Then don't I wash the package rice,
ma'am?" persisted Lena.
"Why, of course, you do you wash every-
thing," answered Mrs. Larry, a bit irritably, as
she drove a veil pin home. Whereupon Lena,
the tactless, pursuing her own line of reason-
ing, remarked with a mere suggestion of
triumph :
"If I gotta wash it anyhow, what's the dif-
ference whether it's clean or dirty to start
with?"
Mr. Larry suddenly ducked out into the hall.
The telephone bell rang sharply, and Mrs.
Larry reached for her gloves :
"There are the girls now. One more kiss,
dears, and then mumsie is off."
The babies watched her going with mute dis-
approval. Lena was all right in her way, espe-
cially during the daily outing, but mumsie was
a most wonderful person and greatly to be
ADVENTURES IN THRIFT 111
missed. But then, when one is properly train-
ed, one does not cry; so Mrs. Larry made her
departure without the accompaniment of child-
ish wails. Nevertheless, the lines in her brow
had deepened, and as Mr. Larry started to open
the door for her, she laid a hand on his coat
sleeve.
"Larry, dear, these investigations of the high
cost of living are getting on my nerves. I'm
leaving the babies too much with Lena, and I
haven't saved a penny yet!"
"The way of the investigator is hard, eh?"
murmured Mr. Larry, as he bent for a farewell
kiss. "But think what you will save when you
have found out the right way ! Anyhow, I be-
lieve it is good for you to go about a bit. You
were sticking too close to the house before you
started to look for short cuts in economy. Here
you are out of the house and away at eight
o'clock."
Claire, Teresa Moore and Mrs. Norton were
waiting in the reception hall.
"So you're all off for Montclair, home of the
Cooperative Store, the Cooperative Kitchen
112 ADVENTURES IN THRIFT
and the School for Housemaids!" exclaimed
Mr. Larry. "May I have the honor of escort-
ing you as far as the Hudson Terminal?"
"Indeed, you may!" answered Teresa Moore,
the audacious. "And you may help the Cause
by paying our fares all of 'em."
"Delighted !" answered Mr. Larry, falling in-
to step. "Especially as I expect these investi-
gations to make a millionaire of me some day."
"You may laugh, but I firmly believe that in
cooperation, or, at least, the cooperative store,
lies our one sure hope of reducing the cost of
living. It works two ways it actually cuts
down the price of foodstuffs, and it teaches the
woman thrift through investment in stock. You
know this has really been proved."
"No! Where?"
"In England. The International Coopera-
tive Alliance was originally founded to reduce
the cost of living for the underpaid working
classes. From a sociological and economic ex-
periment, it has grown to be the soundest and
most democratic organization of its kind in the
world, numbering among its shareholders men
women from all walks of society. Before
ADVENTURES IN THRIFT 113
the war broke out, families to the number of
two million seven hundred and one thousand
were buying their food, clothing and homes
through the Alliance. It employed more than
eighty-one thousand persons, ran a dozen fac-
tories to supply its different stores, and it had
its own fleet of steamships for transporting the
output of its various plants, which included
plantations in Brazil and Ceylon. It sold more
than half a billion's worth of goods annually
on a margin of two per cent. And in 1913 it
distributed among its stockholders of cooper-
ative members profits amounting to eleven mil-
lion dollars. Think of the war breaking down
an economic structure of such magnificent pos-
sibilities."
"Perhaps it will survive even war. But I
don't know what you mean by its stockholders
buying homes through a cooperative store."
"Oh, that is quite simple," explained the en-
thusiastic Teresa. "A member or stockholder
decided that he wished to use his interest or
profits to buy a home. When the next dividend
was declared, he did not draw out his money.
When his dividends had accumulated in the
114 ADVENTURES IN THRIFT
association treasury to the amount of one-fifth
of the purchase price on the home he desired to
own, the association advanced the remaining
four-fifths, so that he could pay cash for his
home. The association was repaid by future
dividends. In other words, he could buy a home
through the association without loading himself
with the usual mortgage and its high rate of
interest. The association was safe because it
knew dividends would be forthcoming, and that
once a man or woman is started on the path of
thrift it amounts to an obsession to save and
to possess."
Mrs. Moore stopped to open her bag and as-
sure herself by means of a wee mirror against
its gray lining that her hat was at the correct
angle. Mr. Larry studied her in frank amuse-
ment.
"Teresa, you are a singular combination of
the frivolous and the practical. Can you leave
your mirror long enough to tell me how they
have managed to keep this English association
free from graft?"
"Through the high ideals of the men who
founded and conducted it. The association
ADVENTURES IN THRIFT 115
never deteriorated from its original design of
saving through honest cooperation into any
scheme whereby the mass of stockholders would
save only a mere trifle, while the executive offi-
cers built up private fortunes through trickery,
watered stock, et cetera."
"And you believe that men with the same
high ideals can be interested in such a project
here in America?" inquired Mr. Larry.
"Finding the right men and women to act as
directors is not the problem," answered Mrs.
Moore soberly. "The trouble is to convince in-
dividual stockholders, especially housekeepers,
that cooperation eventually spells saving a
lower cost of living. It may be the fault of
our bringing up, but we women seek economy
in only one of two ways an actual and con-
siderable reduction in the price of goods sold,
or the money we put in the savings bank. We
lack the economic vision of the man, which sees
money invested, paying a profit six months or
a year ahead. The feminine instinct for chas-
ing so-called bargain sales blinds her to the
bigger and safer saving which cooperation
represents. Here in America cooperation is
116 ADVENTURES IN THRIFT
a form of fanaticism, not of every-day common
sense."
They were all sitting together on the ele-
vated train, and Claire remarked crisply :
"Then you consider that men have higher
ideals than women?"
"No," said Mrs. Moore; "but in financial
matters they have a broader vision. For ex-
ample, a number of Boston men who had
studied the plans and ideals of the English as-
sociation started a cooperative society under
the name of The Palmer Cooperative Associa-
tion. It was designed especially to help the em-
ployees of the New York, New Haven and Hart-
ford Road and its allied branches, to reduce
the cost of living. About two thousand of the
railroad men subscribed to the stock, but they
were very slow about paying up. The men be-
lieved in it, but their wives did not patronize
the store. This was largely because all the
business was done on a cash basis. There was
no sending Johnny or Jennie around to have
something 'charged.' Goods were delivered only
when bought in large quantities, and on certain
days.
ADVENTURES IN THRIFT 117
"The women did not figure that in the aver-
age retail store delivery adds eight per cent, to
the cost of goods. Then the wives of the sub-
scribers seemed to think that they should get
goods at cost, because their husbands held stock.
The manager of the store, an experienced
buyer, saved them from fifty to seventy-five
cents on a five-dollar order. The profits of the
store were to go back to the stockholders in
the form of dividends. The women, and some
of the men, could not grasp the idea of future
saving, of dividend paying. They felt that they
were saving very little by paying cash; they
were annoyed by having to make out orders
for large quantities, when they had been ac-
customed to send round to the corner grocery
three or four times a day. And so the asso-
ciation died.
"When you figure that those allied roads em-
ploy sixty thousand men, each of whom would
spend a minimum of four hundred dollars a
year in a cooperative store, you find that such
an association would do a business of twenty-
four million ($24,000,000) dollars a year. At
least three per cent, would go back to the men
118 ADVENTURES IN THRIFT
in the form of a dividend, amounting in all to
seven hundred and twenty million dollars.
Then, allowing an average saving of five per
cent, on goods purchased, you find that the store
could have saved its stockholders one million,
two hundred thousand dollars at the time of
purchase, plus seven hundred and twenty thou-
sand dollars in dividends, or one million, nine
hundred and twenty thousand dollars in a
single year. This shows you what one group of
industrial workers, cooperating in the purchase
of food alone, could save themselves. The
beauty of this system is that the more you
spend the more you save "
Mr. Larry rose, laughing.
"It's a good thing that this is my station,
otherwise you might inspire me to resign my
position and start a cooperative store. Well,
a pleasant day to all of you, and more knowl-
edge on the subject."
The four investigators nodded gaily to their
vanishing escort and then settled down to the
discussion.
"So you think the average housekeeper would
rather chase the rainbow of special sales than
ADVENTURES IN THRIFT 119
the more solid investment represented by a co-
operative association?" asked Mrs. Larry.
"Not when they have grasped the true idea
of cooperative buying," responded Mrs. Moore.
"Boston now has a very successful association
known as the New England Cooperative So-
ciety, which uses the Rochdale System in oper-
ating its stores. Its headquarters are at 7
Water Street, and it operates the following
stores in that city: Charles River Coopera-
tive Market, South Boston Cooperative Mar-
ket, Tremont Cooperative Market, Devonshire
Cooperative Market, Charlesbank Cooperative
Market.
"I understand that markets of the same sort
will soon be opened in Allston and Melrose.
Bucksport, Maine, also has a market under the
direction of this society. You remember that
night at our house when you met Mrs. Gregory
of Boston? She told us that she belonged to
a marketing club in which the women took
turns in marketing for the entire organization.
This saved money, but it was quite a tax on
the individual members. She did not know
.there was a cooperative store in Boston until
120 ADVENTURES IN THRIFT
she heard it discussed at our house. When she
returned home she bought a ten-dollar share
in the New England Cooperative Society, re-
signed from her club and now does all her buy-
ing at the Charles River Market. Only one
share in a local society may be held by any one
person. Those who wish to invest more than
ten dollars may do so by purchasing what are
known as preferred shares in the New England
Cooperative Society. These shares have a par
value of ten dollars and draw dividends at the
rate of seven per cent. Shareholders, you see,
not only draw dividends, but they receive dis-
counts, given at stated periods, in proportion
to the amount of cash purchases by members.
"The New England Cooperative Society, in-
corporated under Massachusetts laws, is re-
quired by those laws to maintain a certain re-
serve, but all net profits of the stores above this
reserve are distributed in discounts and divi-
dends."
"My dear Teresa, you talk like a man,"
sighed Mrs. Larry. "Can't you put that into
woman-talk?"
ADVENTURES IN THRIFT 121
Teresa Moore patted her friend's hand in a
comforting way.
"I'll try. The cooperative society secures as
managers for its stores men who know how
to buy for markets which have earned from
fifteen to twenty-five per cent, net on the capital
invested. Now, if you own shares in that asso-
ciation, you get your share of the profits. Do
you see that?"
Mrs. Larry nodded.
"You also buy your groceries at the lowest
possible price for desirable goods. Instead of
buying 'seconds' in groceries, and inferior
meats and fresh vegetables, fruits, etc., at
slightly cut rates, you pay a fair market price
for the best the market affords, and at some
future date you get part of what you have paid
out, in the form of discounts and dividends.
Is that clear?"
"Perfectly," said Mrs. Larry. "Then it must
also follow that if a store is not properly run,
there will be no discount and no dividend."
"That is quite true," said Mrs. Moore; "but
the history of cooperative societies in Amer-
122 ADVENTURES IN THRIFT
ica proves that there are more failures from
lack of cooperation than from bad manage-
ment. As soon as shareholders grasp the idea
and really cooperate, the store is a success;
but, as I said before, one must believe and un-
derstand cooperation to realize the benefits
which will eventually accrue from membership.
It is what you might call a waiting game."
"Are there many such associations in the
United States in the West, for instance?" in-
quired Claire. Then she flushed furiously.
"I really have no idea how many," answered
Mrs. Moore tactfully, ignoring the blush. "But
occasionally a guest tells me of a new society
formed in her community. For instance, Polly
Sutton, of Washington, was visiting me only
last week and told me of the Civil Service Co-
operators, Incorporated, which has a very nice
new store in her neighborhood."
Mrs. Moore opened her address book.
"Yes, here it is located at 1948 New Hamp-
shire Avenue, N. W., in a very fine residence
district. This society had a very peculiar start.
In the Forestry Service, a small group of men
wanted to purchase a superior brand of butter
ADVENTURES IN THRIFT 123
made in Minnesota. To secure it they had to
order in large quantities, and they were amazed
at the large saving eventually made. They had
been banded together for the avowed purpose
of increasing their efficiency, protecting and
promoting common interests, cultivating har-
mony and good fellowship, and maintaining
high ideals in connection with public service.
Their success with purchasing butter in quan-
tities showed them the practical possibilities
of the phrase 'promoting common interests.'
Gradually the social and civic betterment pro-
jects were abandoned, and the club devoted it-
self to buying household supplies.
"After a year the members decided to incor-
porate, with a capitalization of three thousand
dollars. The shares are the smallest of any
cooperative enterprise I have heard about.
They are of two kinds. There are five hundred
shares of common or voting stock, at one dol-
lar each. No member may hold more than one
share of common stock, and every member must
take one. Preferred stock costs five dollars a
share, and each member is expected to hold at
least one share. By a very helpful arrange-
124 ADVENTURES IN THRIFT
ment the entire five dollars does not have to
be paid at once. If one dollar is paid in toward
a share of preferred stock, the remainder may
be accumulated through dividends, though on
stock not fully paid up only half the declared
rate is allowed. Preferred stock gives no voting
privilege, but it receives a regular six per cent,
interest each year out of the profits.
"The society soon outgrew its original quar-
ters, which were in a basement near the heart
of the business section, and it began to look
around for a new location. This was chosen by
actually comparing the size of the orders re-
ceived from shareholders in different parts of
the city, with the map of the city itself. About
this time, Mr. J. P. Farnham, an expert ac-
countant, who had been auditing the associa-
tion books, became imbued with the coopera-
tive idea and was made manager of the store.
He believes that cooperative business solves the
bulk of our high cost of living problem, and
he has developed many good ideas. He has
tried out the parcel-post plan of shipment and
secured direct dealings with farmers. The
ADVENTURES IN THRIFT 125
store is simply fitted, but immaculately clean,
and the white-washed cellar, dry and sweet
smelling, is a joy to the women who get a peep
into it.
"Every Saturday morning each member re-
ceives a printed order blank on which are listed
the two hundred and sixty odd items carried
in stock for the coming week, with the current
prices. A printed news letter usually accom-
panies the order sheet, giving notes of the busi-
ness, frank explanations of changes in price,
news of directors' meetings, and serving gen-
erally to keep the members in touch with one
another.
"While telephone ordering and personal calls
at the store are permissible, more housekeep-
ers prefer the mail order system, as the fact
has been well established that the quality of
the goods never varies, and that full weight
may be depended upon. By Tuesday morning
these order sheets must be received at the store,
accompanied by check or money order for the
amount indicated. This business is not only on
a cash basis. It actually requires its pay in
126 ADVENTURES IN THRIFT
advance. But as it can proudly point out that
it has never lost a dollar in bad debts, the
shareholders do not object.
"Polly sent me one of the price lists or order
sheets, and on comparing it with what I pay
at my own corner grocery, I find the Washing-
ton cooperator saves not less than two per
cent, on her purchases at the time of the pur-
chase; in some lines of goods it runs as high
as ten per cent, but the real saving comes in
the form of dividends.
"And with the Civil Service Cooperators, In-
corporated, as with all societies of this sort, the
woman must figure ahead in order to save. She
must have money on deposit at the store or
send check or cash with her order; she must
order in quantities practically for the week, and
she must be satisfied with a weekly or semi-
weekly delivery. This plan absolutely breaks
a woman of the expensive habit of sending
maid or child to the nearest grocery store where
she can have goods charged and delivered at
any hour of the day. I presume we will find
the same conditions at Montclair."
ADVENTURES IN THRIFT 127
"Dear me," sighed Mrs. Larry, "cooperative
stores present a very complicated problem."
"Indeed, they do," admitted Mrs. Moore. "All
economic questions are more or less compli-
cated, and it's a great pity that we women are
rarely educated to see financial administration
in our homes as anything deeper than what we
pay for actual groceries, meat, vegetables, etc.,
at the actual time of purchase."
"You must not expect Dahlgren equipment
and decorations in this cooperative store," sug-
gested Mrs. Moore as she led the way through
the crisp sunlight down Montclair's well-kept
streets to 517 Bloomfield Avenue. "Dahlgren
adds the cost of mirrors and white marble to
your cuts of meat, while a cooperative store
is run without frills, at the least possible ex-
pense."
Thus prepared for simplicity, if not down-
right unattractiveness, in the cause of econ-
omy, the New York quartet almost gasped on
entering the store of the Montclair Coop-
erative Society. If there was an absence of
glittering mirrors and obsequious clerks in
128 ADVENTURES IN THRIFT
white caps and aprons, there was no lack of
up-to-date equipment and methods. Efficiency
and success shone in every corner of the plant,
consisting of the three-story and basement
brick business block with a forty-foot front.
"In a material way this plant is one of the
things we have to show for our three years'
existence," explained Mr. Leroy Dyal, the man-
ager of the store. "And when a cooperative
society has weathered its first three years, it
may feel comparatively safe.
"The store is owned by over four hundred
residents of Montclair, and run in their inter-
ests by a board of directors as follows : Presi-
dent, Emerson P. Hains; vice-president, Mrs.
Alfred W. Diller; secretary, Miss Florence
Hains; treasurer, Henry Wheaton; directors,
Ralph T. Crane, W. W. Ames, H. B. Van Cleve,
Edgar Bates, George French, Mrs. William
Ropes. You will note that we have women on
our board of directors and they are extremely
interested and active.
"All business is cash, or the members may,
if they wish, make a deposit and draw on that.
Once a week I make a budget of prices, and
ADVENTURES IN THRIFT 129
on comparing them with the prices in other
stores of the same class I find that they run
about four per cent, lower. In addition to this,
while we will deliver goods, we allow a dis-
count of five per cent, to members who carry
goods home. Therefore, the housekeeper who
markets here and acts as her own delivery man,
using her motor, carriage or trolley, or even
the family market basket, and walking, saves
at the time of purchase about nine per cent.
In addition to this, as a shareholder, she is
paid her share of the profits on the business
we do. Of this I will speak later.
"We do everything we can to popularize this
store, not only with the stockholders, but with
the general public. You see, we have both a
dry and green grocery department, a meat and
a fish department. On Saturdays we have a
special sale, known as the 'no rebate and no
delivery sale,' which runs from five to ten p. M.
This is so popular as a matter of economy with
Montclair people that we have great crowds
during those hours, many customers arriving
at four-thirty and waiting the half hour till
specials are on sale. This gives us a chance
130 ADVENTURES IN THRIFT
to sell off all vegetables and other perishable
foodstuffs that otherwise must be carried over
the week-end. I mention it merely to show you
that a cooperative store is not necessarily high-
brow, as some women think. We try to follow
all modern business methods but we permit
no substitution, adulteration, nor any other of
the evils of so-called modern merchandising.
"To explain the theory on which our store
and society are run, I will say that the require-
ments for this, as for all cooperative ventures,
are an adequate organization of consumers to
act in their own behalf, and a first-class plant.
Our aim is not merely to transfer to the pock-
ets of our shareholders the small net profits
made by other storekeepers, but so to manage
the journey of food products from source to
kitchen as to cut out certain evils from which
the housewife suffers the cost of duplicate or
wasted motion, and the adulteration and un-
sanitary conditions which surround the hand-
ling of products. We eliminate many of the
cost items of ordinary retail trade in competi-
tion, and we protect the society from loss by
only a cash trade.
ADVENTURES IN THRIFT 131
"Our shares have a par value of ten dollars.
Members may own one share or more. The
stock is non-assessable when fully paid, and the
subscriptions may be paid in cash or at the
rate of two dollars per share down, and the
balance at the rate of one dollar per share
monthly. All sales are recorded on double sales
slips. One is kept by the shareholder and one
by the society.
"After effecting an organization and proving
the honesty and sincerity of our members in
supporting the venture, the next step was a
plant which would insure the most efficient
handling of the trade.
"Of vital importance is to provide a proper
medium for keeping fresh foods, such as meat,
vegetables, fruit, etc. This means an abun-
dance of dry cold air, in place of the ice sup-
ply with its unhealthy dampness and general
unreliability.
"For this purpose we have installed in our
basement a Brunswick refrigerating machine,
which produces an amount of cold air equal to
the melting of six tons of ice daily. This cold
air is piped through ammonia cooling pipes
132 ADVENTURES IN THRIFT
which run through our glass counters, wall
cases and the regular refrigerators. This sys-
tem of cold air protection saves enormous waste
in handling the stock. We also have driven
our own well one hundred and twenty-seven
feet deep, which is capable of furnishing thirty
gallons of pure water per minute.
"Our plant follows in principle and construc-
tion the superb modern public markets of
Providence, Rhode Island, and Worcester,
Massachusetts. It keeps the stock sanitary and
enables us to regulate temperature in different
refrigerators to meet the requirements of dif-
ferent sorts of food.
"All the foods sold in our delicatessen de-
partment are prepared in our model kitchens
on the floor above."
The New Yorkers were shown through these
kitchens, where colored women, immaculately
dressed, were preparing delicious salads. They
studied the method by which running water
in the fish department positively eliminated all
odor. They were especially impressed by the
freshness and crispness of the vegetables and
ADVENTURES IN THRIFT 133
the high standard of dry groceries on the
shelves.
"The best of everything," murmured Mrs.
Larry, "and at exactly what saving?"
The manager smiled at her earnest query.
"That can not be expressed in round figures.
It varies. As I said before, I think our prices
average about four per cent, below those of
the competitive stores, largely because they
must spend money to attract trade which we
hold through our membership. The housewife
who takes home her goods saves an additional
five per cent. The member who attends our
Saturday evening sales saves a little more.
And, finally, stockholders get back money in
these two ways :
"First, regular interest on their investment
of not more than six per cent.; second, gains
or profits which the store has made, redis-
tributed every quarter at the rate of five per
cent, on the amount of purchases recorded on
duplicate sales slips."
"Then it is a success, your store and your
society?" asked Mrs. Norton. "And the wo-
men believe in it and support it?"
134 ADVENTURES IN THRIFT
"They certainly do. They have the true co-
operative spirit."
"And what of your cooperative kitchen and
your housemaids' school, and "
"Those? Oh, they are another story! The
cooperative kitchen is managed by a different
society, and the school for housemaids by the
Housewives' League."
"Shall we see them?" inquired Mrs. Moore,
as the quartet walked down the sun-bright
street.
"Yes, let us make a day of it in this remark-
able community with its cooperative spirit,
even if, as Mr. Dyal says, it is another story."
CHAPTER VI
"High prices do not necessarily mean high
living"- H. c. OF L. PROVERB NO. 6.
MRS. LARRY, her chin cupped in her slim
competent hand, gazed at the toe of her
bronze slipper. A smile played round her lips
and brightened her eyes.
Mr. Larry, leaning back in his favorite chair,
studied her with the satisfaction of a man who
has found matrimony a success, and is eager
to blazon the fact to all the world.
"Well, and what of to-day's adventure in
thrift?" he asked.
"Oh, Larry, it ended in such a mess!" she
answered, leaning forward, her hands clasped
about her knees. "The day started with a per-
fectly wonderful trip through the Montclair
Cooperative Store. Then, because we did not
realize that we had taken in about all the in-
formation we could absorb at one time, we went
135
136 ADVENTURES IN THRIFT
chasing off to see a cooperative kitchen and
training school for housemaids "
She stopped abruptly, and resumed her
study of the beaded bronze slipper.
"And then," prompted Mr. Larry in exactly
the tone which he knew would bring a re-
sponse.
"Oh, Larry, I'm afraid I'm a little silly,"
she sighed. "I can't rise to the heights of co-
operation and the good of the greatest number
and all that sort of thing. Moreover, if I keep
on investigating the attempts of my own sex
to solve the high cost of living problem, I shall
develop into an out and out anti-suffragist. If
we women can not solve the economic problems
in our own pantries and kitchens, what right
have we to meddle with state and national
economics?"
Mr. Larry flung back his head and laughed
with delight.
"My dear girl," he announced consolingly,
"if every man who has shown himself incom-
petent to direct the finances of his family and
his business were deprived of the ballot, the
voting list in this city would be cut down about
ADVENTURES IN THRIFT 137
three-fourths. But how does this bear on your
trip to Montclair?"
"Oh, in lots of ways," replied Mrs. Larry
firmly. "Now about the kitchen. You see,
dear, there is so much waste for families like
ours, who buy in small quantities. And there
is waste in service when each family keeps a
maid in a small apartment like this. That's
why Teresa Moore said we really ought to see
the Montclair Cooperative Kitchen.
"Now suppose she and I had adjoining apart-
ments. Suppose we had one maid between us
instead of two, and that the marketing was
done simultaneously for both families in larger
quantities, and the cooking and serving were
done in either her apartment or mine for both
families, see?"
Mr. Larry looked alarmed.
"I see, but I don't care for it. I like Teresa
in small doses but I do not relish the idea of
eating my meals with her three hundred and
sixty-five days in the year. A man chooses the
woman who's to sit opposite him at table be-
cause he loves her, not for economic reasons.
If this is what your investigations are leading
138 ADVENTURES IN THRIFT
to, we'll quit here and now. Of course, I don't
want to interfere with your friendship with
Teresa, but"
"Larry, Larry," chortled his wife, "do run
down a minute or two and let me explain. I
was only leading up to the Montclair experi-
ence by presenting a hypothetical case, as the
lawyers do "
"Oh, if it's only that" said the mollified
Mr. Larry, setting down once more to listen.
"And anyhow," pursued his wife, "you
wouldn't have to sit opposite anybody but me.
We'd have a table of our own, one for each
family."
"Like a high-class boarding house, I suppose,
with near-silk candle-shades and a bargain
counter fern dish in near-silver "
"But you don't have to go to the cooperative
kitchen if you don't want to ; you can have your
meals sent piping hot by paying a little more,
and even a trim maid to serve the dinner for
you," finished Mrs. Larry in triumph.
"Fine! And if you wanted a second helping
of mashed potatoes, I suppose the trim little
maid would trip down three blocks and bring
ADVENTURES IN THRIFT 139
it back on the run. Great on a rainy night.
And suppose that I didn't like onions in my
turkey stuffing, but Teresa's husband did, who
would win?"
Mrs. Larry shook her head at him.
"That's why cooperative kitchens fail. You
men will have the kind of bread your mother
used to bake "
"No, the kind of pie my wife makes, lemon
with meringue this high. Do you think there's
a cooperative kitchen on earth that can bake
a pie like yours ?"
"But you can't save a lot of money and have
just what you want to eat, Larry, dear."
"All right, then we'll save a little less. Di-
gestion is an important factor in efficiency."
He said this with a twinkle in his eye, and then
turned sober. "You see, my dear, several years
before I married you, I yielded to the impor-
tunities of a chap who went in for this sort
of thing. He dragged me out to live in a co-
operative home established by Upton Sinclair
in Jersey. Halcyon Hall they called it. My
word, such a site, on top of a mountain with
the world at your feet! And then such rules
140 ADVENTURES IN THRIFT
of organization, with the running of the plant
neatly divided between us !
"One woman tended all the babies, another
did all the cooking. She was a dietitian with
a diploma, but she was no cook. To save steps,
the food was run in from the kitchen to the
dining-room on a sort of miniature railway.
Sometimes it stuck, and then everybody with a
mechanical turn of mind rushed from the table
to pry it loose. Of course, by the time you
got your soup or gravy it was cold, but, never
mind, the railroad was in working order again,
and nobody would have to walk from kitchen
to dining-room!"
"Larry ! You are hopeless !"
"So was this plan. I dropped my board
money and ran for my life literally, because
the man whose specialty was engineering let
something go amiss with the furnace in his
charge, and the whole place burned to the
ground one frosty night. Several of the 'col-
onists' were severely injured; one claims that
she has never fully recovered her health. But,
of course, such troubles would not overtake a
cooperative kitchen. That is a simpler propo-
ADVENTURES IN THRIFT 141
sition, so go ahead with your story and I prom-
ise not to interrupt."
"Well, the enterprise is not quite a year old
it was started by Mrs. H. A. Leonhauser, wife
of a retired army officer, who has lived in all
sorts of countries and posts and barracks and
things, so she knew the economy of cooperative
living.
"We found the kitchen conveniently located
at Valley Road and Mountainview Place. You
never did see such a wonderful equipment of
ranges and sinks and tables and cooking uten-
sils outside of a hotel kitchen. There was
everything to do with and so much room to do
it in. There are times, dear, when an apart-
ment house kitchen does get on one's nerves
it's like going round and round in a squirrel
cage.
"Well, everything started out beautifully "
"This morning?" queried Mr. Larry.
"No, last November, when the kitchen open-
ed. Only the humblest helpers were what you
might call servants. Everybody else had de-
grees and letters after their names. The mak-
ing of the menus and the balancing of the food
142 ADVENTURES IN THRIFT
values were done by a graduate dietitian. A
woman who had made efficiency a study was
appointed as general housekeeper and she look-
ed after the preparation of the meals."
"Who cooked them?"
"Why, the dietitian, of course. Then a
graduate in domestic science looked after the
real economics, figuring costs and specifying
what prices should be paid."
"Any of these ladies ever been married or
kept house?"
"Now, Larry, that is horrid ! You don't have
to marry in order to keep house. The idea was
so to arrange meals that every one would be
satisfied."
"Impossible!"
"By that I mean different menus would be
arranged to suit the incomes of different stock-
holders. Even if you wanted a vegetarian diet,
it would be supplied. If you wanted to have
your meals in the dining-room attached to the
kitchen, there would be a table d'hote."
Mr. Larry groaned.
"French or Italian?"
"American, of course, and if you didn't want
There would be the family dinner sitting on the back step
ADVENTURES IN THRIFT 143
bo come to the kitchen, your dinner was to be
sent to your home in a sort of thermos stove.
The table d'hote, price fifty cents, was to include
a soup, a roast, a vegetable, a salad, a dessert
and coffee. Every day a post-card folder was
to be mailed subscribers, with the dishes to be
served the next day, all prices marked for a la
carte service. The housekeeper selected her
menu in the morning, sent it to the kitchen,
and then was free to go to town for shopping
or a matinee. When she and her husband came
home there would be the family dinner, sitting
on the back step in its little thermos stove !"
"But did it?"
"Did it what?" asked Mrs. Larry.
"Did it ever sit, waiting on the back step for
its subscribers, stockholders or whatever you
call them? Did the kitchen ever really live up
to the promises of its prospectus? Did you
meet any cooperator who has saved time,
trouble and money by and through that
kitchen? Any one with an imagination can
write a prospectus. What were they doing in
that kitchen to-day?"
"Well, now that was just the difficult phase
144 ADVENTURES IN THRIFT
of our investigation. They seemed to be reor-
ganizing. A very clever young woman, Miss
Helen Siegle, has recently been placed in charge
as manager. She was most courteous, but er
evasive. There was so much to be done, she
said but the prospects of ultimate success
were excellent. She did not criticize past man-
agement, but somehow you felt that things had
not gone just so you know what I mean."
"Yes, the way we fellows felt at the club last
January when we said what a fine year's work
the house committee had done, and all the time
were pulling wires to get in an entirely new
committee to look after things this year."
"Larry, you certainly are a most understand-
ing person. Miss Siegle took us all over the
plant, but she did not tell us much about her
own plans. She really seemed to have her
hands and her mind pretty full."
"I should say so think of trying to please
each and every stockholder, irrespective of dif-
ferent nationalities, digestions and former con-
dition of servitude to mother's cakes and pies !
But, to sum it up, you really did not secure any
practical suggestions from the kitchen?"
ADVENTURES IN THRIFT 145
"No," admitted Mrs. Larry reluctantly, "we
didn't see it in operation. But the idea is won-
derful, if you could just get the right person
to put it in operation."
"If you found her, one of the bachelor stock-
holders would promptly marry her, and that
would settle it. And so from the kitchen you
went to the school for housemaids?"
"No, Larry, we did not. Teresa telephoned
one of the ladies interested in the school, and
she was getting ready to go to a tea, but said
if we would telephone Mrs. Somebody else, she
would be delighted "
"If she didn't happen to have a tea on hand
also."
"So then we all suddenly decided that we
wanted to come home. Teresa remembered an
appointment with her tailor you know they
are going to take the Panama trip, don't you?
And Mrs. Norton wanted to fill in her dinner
set at a china sale, and I well, Larry, I had
the funniest sinking sensation when I happened
to remember that I'd been away from the chil-
dren almost five hours. And we ran like mad to
catch the next train?"
146 ADVENTURES IN THRIFT
"A fine, dignified quartet of investigators,
you are! Now, what did you learn as the re-
ward of your trip? Just tell me that!"
"I learned that I'd rather have a real steak
from my own broiler than a thermos stove on
my back step."
"Good little wife ! And as a reward for that
sensible answer, you shall read this letter,
which may or may not confirm your findings."
Mr. Larry drew a bulky envelope from his
pocket, slit it open and tossed the contents in
Mrs. Larry's lap.
"You see, my dear, I have an old friend liv-
ing in Carthage, Missouri, where once a very
successful cooperative kitchen flourished. He
and his wife were stockholders but dropped out.
I asked him to tell me why, and here is the
letter in reply."
"No, it's from his wife, and, oh, what pains
she has taken ! Just listen :
"My Dear Mr. and Mrs. Larry:
"It is so nice to have an excuse to write to
one of my husband's old classmates and to his
wife. So let us talk together as if you were
ADVENTURES IN THRIFT 147
here in our living-room instead of several thou-
sand miles away.
"If you were to ask any one who was a mem-
ber of the defunct Carthage Cooperative
Kitchen why it failed, he or she would imme-
diately answer, 'Why it never failed!' It was
a great success, yet it was discontinued because
it was not possible to find enough members to
keep the cost of the operative expense within
the means of the members who still wished to
continue the kitchen.
"Of the fifteen families who joined when it
was organized, five families dropped out be-
cause they could no longer afford to belong.
Two families dropped out because they grew
tired of walking such a distance to their meals.
One couple left because an invalid mother came
to live with them. Another because they wish-
ed to set a better table than the kitchen's. This
couple frankly said they could afford luxuries,
but did not expect the kitchen to furnish them,
as the others could not. It was true, and no
one minded, especially as this couple were very
hospitable. You see, in, no case was it dissatis-
148 ADVENTURES IN THRIFT
faction with the cooperative kitchen manage-
ment that caused the withdrawal of members.
"If the cost of provisions had remained what
it was when the kitchen opened, doubtless the
kitchen would have become a permanent in-
stitution. But the price of foodstuffs in-
creased so rapidly that the second year found
the kitchen facing this question : Shall we cut
down our table or increase the price of board?
There were some who could not afford to spend
more on food. These left and, presumably, at
home did without some of the things that some
of the kitchen members had considered neces-
sary. No one has ever claimed to live cheaper
in his own home and keep a maid.
"When the price of board was increased to
three dollars and fifty cents, then to four dol-
lars, per member per week, it was more diffi-
cult to get members. In a town like Carthage
there are many families that can afford three
dollars per member table board. There are
fewer that can afford four dollars per member.
And it became difficult to find fifteen families
living in the same neighborhood who could af-
ADVENTURES IN THRIFT 149
ford it. In a town that does not have a local
street railway one wants to live within a short
distance of the house that serves breakfast.
"Besides, as the membership decreased, the
expense per member increased, so more families
dropped out.
"In order to be successful, a kitchen must be
located in a neighborhood where at least twelve
families have the same standard of living, the
same tastes and are able to spend the same
amount on their table. This may be in a very
small town or in a city. In a town like Carth-
age, where the scale runs from a millionaire to
a mail carrier in the same block, it is difficult
to pick that neighborhood.
"It is interesting to note that not one of the
things so freely prophesied contributed to the
discontinuance of the kitchen. Never once was
there disagreement over menus or payments.
Never once was there trouble over children, or
complaint of unfairness, or gossip, or fault-
finding.
"To-day the members of the Cooperative
Kitchen are close friends, and we unite in prais-
ing the ability and the tact of the manager !"
150 ADVENTURES IN THRIFT
Mrs. Larry laid down the letter and looked at
her husband with dancing eyes.
"And so, you see, after all, this matter of co-
operative cooking and living practically resolves
itself into the question of lemon meringue pie
or Brown Betty, according to your individual
finances. And to-morrow you get Brown Betty,
because Lena, having picked up a bargain in
apples, has laid in a stock which must be used."
"Lena !" exclaimed the astonished Mr. Larry.
"Yes. Lena, too, is studying short cuts in
economy and having little adventures of her
own. She has developed a good-sized bump of
responsibility since I have been making these
trips, and she is alone with the children. She
takes great pride in saving pennies. To-day
she bought the apples from a huckster at three
cents less a quart than we pay at Dahlgren's.
"To insure solid fruit, she insisted upon pick-
ing out each apple with her own hands."
Mr. Larry, who had been opening his evening
paper, laid it down, turned to his wife and
spoke seriously.
"You know, little woman, when I hear your
ADVENTURES IN THRIFT 151
friends roasting their help for carelessness and
extravagance, I often wonder where the fault
really lies. If the mistress buys supplies in
small quantities, or if she is extravagant, how
can she expect the maid to fight her bad man-
agement with thrift? The girl is far more apt
to say, 'Oh, what's the use for me to save what
my mistress will waste in the end?'
"I have been watching Lena since you com-
menced your investigations in thrift, and, in
her stolid way, she is tremendously impressed.
She attacks her work in a more businesslike
fashion, and she certainly regards you with in-
creased respect."
At the last word Mrs. Larry shook her head.
"I'm not so sure about that. Sometimes she
questions my marketing abilities. Do you re-
member the other morning when we were start-
ing for Montclair, she asked, 'What is the use
of paying more for rice in package than in bulk
if they both have to be washed?' "
Mr. Larry's eyes twinkled.
"Yes, she had you fussed for a minute."
"And she gave me something to think about *
152 ADVENTURES IN THRIFT
is the habit of buying package goods economical
or extravagant?"
"Why don't you find out? Buy both kinds
and see which has the better flavor. Weigh,
measure and compare."
"I will," said Mrs. Larry firmly. "I'll start
to-morrow morning. And here's an adventure
in thrift which Claire must make with me. I'll
telephone her this minute."
But she paused with her hand on the re-
ceiver
"I remembered just in time to save five cents.
Claire is going to the Bryant dance."
At that very instant the bell rang and Claire
came in, a vision in coral tulle.
"How'de, everybody!" She paused, in sud-
den embarrassment, the color mounting to her
softly waved black hair.
Mr. Larry studied her with approving glance.
"Stunning, Claire. Whether it cost fifty dol-
lars or five hundred."
"Less than fifty. Oh, I'm learning," she said
with a happy little laugh.
"It was awfully good of you to let me see it
ADVENTURES IN THRIFT 153
before you had danced some of the freshness
out of it," said Mrs. Larry.
"Oh, I just had to come. You see " She
stopped and again the beautiful color flooded
her face.
"Of course," said Mrs. Larry, as, sensing the
need of greater privacy, she slipped her hand
through Claire's arm and led her down to the
guest room. "But first, let me catch up your
hair a bit."
Mr. Larry, all unconscious that the spirit of
romance had tripped into the apartment with
the coral-tinted vision, buried himself in his
paper. Safe on the other side of the guest
room door, Mrs. Larry held the radiant girl a
little closer.
"Claire, dear, what has come over you?"
"This," answered Claire in a voice that trem-
bled with happiness. She held out her hand,
and in the soft light from a silk-shaded electro-
lier Mrs. Larry caught the gleam of the dia-
mond which had traveled to Kansas City and
back.
"Is Jimmy here ?" she asked.
"No, no. He sent it with a most wonderful
154 ADVENTURES IN THRIFT
letter. Just a few lines but oh! To-mor-
row's my birthday. He asked me to take this
back for a birthday remembrance, because it
was impossible for him to think of my hand
without it. I was to think of it as his birthday
message and not as binding me to any prom-
ise given in the past. Just as if I don't want to
be bound!"
She pressed the stone against her lips.
Mrs. Larry laughed a trifle uncertainly.
"A man's way of admitting he was wrong
and saying he's sorry."
"But why do you suppose he did it? How
did he know that I wouldn't send it straight
back to him?"
"Oh, a man will usually take a chance and
he loves you, which is the most important thing,
after all," affirmed Mrs. Larry, as she recalled
certain letters in the farthest drawer of Aunt
Abigail's old secretary. "Do you think you'll
be able to do some investigating with me to-
morrow? I want to look into the cost of gro-
ceries, but, perhaps after the dance, you'll be
too tired "
"Tired? I don't think I can ever be tired
ADVENTURES IN THRIFT 155
again. And I'll be here at eight in the morn-
ing."
"No, you won't," said Mrs. Larry positively.
"I can't be ready that early. Make it nine."
"All right," said Claire, as she drew her wrap
over her shoulders. Then she kissed Mrs. Lar-
ry good night and flitted off.
CHAPTER VII
"Ignorance in the housewife causes dishonest
prices in the grocery"- H. c. OF L. PROVERB
NO. 7.
MRS. LARRY and Claire really meant to
be on their way to Dorlon's by nine
o'clock, but there were various delays. Lisbeth,
coquetting in her bath, lured them for ten
minutes. Mrs. Larry recalled that she must
telephone her dressmaker. Claire remembered
an unacknowledged dinner invitation and
stopped to dash off a note. It was ten o'clock
when their adventure in thrift landed them at
Dorlon's high-class grocery store.
Mr. Benton, the suave manager of the store,
recognizing Mrs. Larry as a customer in good
standing, looked a trifle anxious as he rose at
his desk to receive them. What employee had
been remiss, he wondered? Or had the cashier
made a mistake? For truly the pathway of a
store manager is strewn with complaints !
156
ADVENTURES IN THRIFT 157
Mrs. Larry flung him one of her prettiest
smiles and plunged into the subject of their call.
"I don't suppose it's good business to tell your
customers how to spend less money, but that is
exactly what I have come for," she explained.
"I have just wakened to the realization that
while I am head of the purchasing department
in our home, I know very little about food
values. And I want to know more about the
goods I buy in your store how I can buy to
best advantage. Would you mind giving me
some pointers?"
Mr. Benton was plainly relieved.
"Indeed, I'll be very glad to give you all the
information I can. If more women studied how
to buy, we would have less complaints about
overcharges and high prices. But I am afraid
I can't give you much time this morning. Our
busy hour is at hand. If you had come in be-
tween eight and nine, I could have taken you
over the store and shown you how the wheels
go round. In ten minutes our rush will set in,
and last until one o'clock. Practically all of our
customers crowd their marketing into those
hours."
158 ADVENTURES IN THRIFT
"How odd!" said Claire.
"I don't think it's odd," said Mrs. Larry. "I
suppose every woman does just what we did
this morning stops to tie loose ends in the
home, before starting to market."
"More telephone, I imagine," said Claire.
Mr. Benton nodded his head briskly.
"Right there you have struck one funda-
mental cause of the high cost of living serv-
ice ! We employ five men to take orders in your
home; one man to answer telephone calls, and
a dozen delivery men. I am not criticizing the
efforts of this firm to give its customers the best
and promptest service. I am merely stating
the cold facts when I say that order, telephone
and delivery service is added to the cost of
everything you buy.
"If the women of America would band to-
gether for the purpose of ordering efficiently,
and thereby reduce the cost of delivery, they
would enable grocers to sell at lower prices.
Let me make this clear with an illustration :
"Mrs. A. is busy getting the children off to
school when the order boy calls at her door. So
she tells him to send her a pound of butter, a
"If the women of America would band together"
ADVENTURES IN THRIFT 159
package of crackers and a dozen of oranges
whatever she happens to remember in the haste
of the moment. She starts to get lunch and
finds that there is no vinegar for the salad
dressing, no rice for the soup. So she tele-
phones to have these articles delivered 'special/
Her first order is already on the way by our
first regular delivery. The 'special' wagon or
boy is rushed around with her second order.
During the afternoon she makes an apple pie
for her husband's dinner, and discovers that
the cheese box is empty. So she telephones
again, and a second messenger or special wagon
is dispatched to her home. Now, no matter how
closely we may price butter or rice or cheese,
this woman undoes our efforts to give her low
prices by her inefficient system of ordering.
She has spent ten cents in telephones, and she
has made it necessary for us to keep extra help
for her special orders.
"Each one of these belated orders is a small
item in itself, but when I tell you that some of
our customers order groceries from four to six
times a day, you will understand what extra
service amounts to, And when I add that on
160 ADVENTURES IN THRIFT
busy days, like Saturday or the day before
Christmas, we send out anywhere from a thou-
sand to fifteen hundred orders, you will have a
better idea of what delivery service costs the
housewives of America.
"Housewives could cut down this particular
expense, which adds so greatly to the high cost
of living, by marketing in a more systematic
way. It is the poorest economy to buy in small
quantities and at frequent intervals. To reduce
your grocery bill, keep tabs on your pantry
shelves ; keep up your stock of staple groceries,
just as a merchant must keep in stock the things
you will want to buy. Make it a rule never to
order more than once a day, and to avoid extra
orders by telephone.
"Don't you think it's rather inconsistent for
a woman to complain of the price we charge for
eggs, when she deliberately adds five cents to
the cost of a dozen by telephoning for them?
Of course, in towns where the telephone service
is unlimited, this is not such a big item. But
unlimited telephone service is becoming less
common each year.
"Another important factor in reducing the
ADVENTURES IN THRIFT 161
cost of groceries is explicit ordering. Do not
tell the boy to bring you a box of sweet crack-
ers, a package of raisins and a dozen good
oranges. Be more definite. Name the brand and
the size of the box in ordering crackers. The
smaller the box the more you pay for crackers.
Make it clear whether you want cooking raisins
or table raisins. Stipulate the price per dozen
for oranges. The order clerk who reads the
slip, 'a package of wafers, a box of raisins and
a dozen good oranges,' does not know your in-
come, and doesn't care what it is. He will send
you goods that will bring the firm the highest
profit. And in this he is entirely justified.
There is no reason why he should practise thrift
for you.
"If possible, buy your groceries at the store
in person. And come as early as you can. There
are several good reasons for this advice. In
the morning the clerks are fresh and interested
in their work. They can help you in the selec-
tion of goods. During or after the day's rush
they are too driven or tired to give the best serv-
ice. Then, if you buy in person, you can see
the size of the containers, and you will fincl
162 ADVENTURES IN THRIFT
there is a big saving in buying larger packages.
Take the item of olives, for instance : You or-
der by telephone a small bottle of olives. The
clerk sends you a bottle selling for thirty cents.
In a few days you order another thirty-cent bot-
tle sixty cents for two bottles of olives. For
fifty-five cents you can get one large bottle, con-
taining as much as the two smaller ones. More-
over, if you do not specify that you want queen
olives, but leave the order to the discretion of
the clerk, he will send you mammouth queen
olives at thirty-eight cents, when you could buy
the smaller queen olives for thirty cents. There
is no difference in flavor, only in size, and as
the larger olives can not be packed so closely,
you really get less for your money.
"Moreover, if you come to the store, you see
articles offered at 'special' prices, legitimate
sales, due to the fact that the modern grocer of
a chain of stores like the Dorlon stores has op-
portunities to buy at cut prices for cash. No
delivery clerk has time to tell you about the
'specials' offered in the store each morning, and
such information is not given over the tele-
phone. But it is announced on placards all over
ADVENTURES IN THBIPT 163
the store, so that you will not miss it if you
come in."
Mr. Benton glanced over Mrs. Larry's smart-
ly tailored hat to the front of the store, which
was rapidly filling up.
"I'm afraid I've talked too long. Perhaps I
have bored you?"
"Not a bit," exclaimed Mrs. Larry. "I feel
as if we had only glimpsed the real possibili-
ties of reducing the cost of living by grocery
knowledge. I wish our club could hear you
talk."
"What sort of a club is it?" inquired Mr.
Benton.
"Oh, it's not an organization and it has no
name. It's just a few neighbors who are inves-
tigating the high cost of living husbands and
wives we women investigate and our husbands
help us to draw conclusions. I am sure the hus-
bands would like to hear you talk. But I sup-
pose you're always busy evenings?"
"Never too busy to be of service to my firm
or to my customers."
"Then you will meet with us some evening'?"
asked Mrs. Larry eagerly.
164 ADVENTURES IN THRIFT
"If you will tell me what you want me to talk
about yes."
"Oh, there is so much we want to know," said
Mrs. Larry. "The comparative cost of package
and bulk goods, for instance."
"And adulteration," suggested Claire.
"Substitution is quite as important," added
Mr. Benton.
"Oh, will you?" said Mrs. Larry.
"Yes, any night except Thursday. And, if
you like, I'll bring a small exhibit with me."
"That will be splendid!" said Mrs. Larry.
"Let's make it next Wednesday night. And
now, I intend to put some of your policies into
practise. I'm going to look up your 'specials.'
My goodness gracious!" she added, conscience-
stricken, "every word you say is true. I have
not been in this store for more than a month."
Mr. Benton smiled and crooked his finger at
a passing clerk.
"Show Mrs. Hall our specials for to-day. I
think she'll be interested."
Claire and Mrs. Larry followed the clerk from
counter to stand.
"This morning we are selling best eggs at
ADVENTURES IN THRIFT 165
thirty-seven cents a dozen. Yesterday you paid
forty-one cents a dozen for the same eggs. To-
morrow you may pay it again. To-day's drop
in price is due to a glutted market. Those eggs
are perfectly fresh, and will keep in your re-
frigerator for a week. Here are hams at nine-
teen cents a pound, ordinarily sold afc twenty-
two. This cut is due to the fact that our firm
bought a carload direct from the packer. To-
day you can buy a basket of sweet potatoes for
nineteen cents. To-morrow they may be twenty
or twenty-two."
Just at this moment an order boy called out :
"Mrs. Blank, one quart of sweets."
"What do they cost a quart?" asked Claire.
"Ten cents," answered the clerk.
"And how much does the basket hold ?"
"Five quarts."
Mrs. Larry looked startled.
"Then a customer pays ten cents for one
quart, and nineteen cents for five quarts?
Think of paying ten cents a quart when I could
get them for four cents ! I have been buying
them by the quart because they don't keep well."
"Keep your sweet potatoes in a cool place and
166 ADVENTURES IN THRIFT
pick them over every day. When they show
spots, boil them in their jackets, set them away
in the refrigerator, and they will keep indefi-
nitely after they are boiled," advised the clerk.
"We are having a special on certain brands
of canned goods to-day peas, tomatoes, apri-
cots and sliced pineapple. Probably some can-
ner found himself overloaded with certain vege-
tables and fruits, and our firm took advantage
of the fact. If you can use a dozen cans, you
will save thirty cents on the dozen, nearly three
cents on each can. And you can mix your order
in any way you like three of this, four of that,
two of another, etc."
"And you have 'specials' like this every day?"
asked Mrs. Larry.
"Yes, sometimes the specials run a week.
Others are only for one day."
"I am through with telephoning. Hereafter
I shall order my groceries in person," announced
Mrs. Larry.
Wednesday evening found the Nortons, the
Moores and Claire Pierce waiting in Mrs. Lar-
ADVENTURES IN THRIFT 167
ry's living-room for Mr. Benton, manager of
the Dorlon store. On the reading table, Lena,
fairly bristling with importance, was arranging
the exhibit which had arrived from the store.
This included two brands of canned peaches,
cartons of rice, tea, sugar, crackers and flavor-
ing extracts and various packages of irregular
shape.
"Looks like a private pure food exhibit,"
commented Mr. Norton.
Mr. Benton proved an interesting and inter-
ested talker.
"Personal investigation and experimentation
on the part of the housewife are desired by all
conscientious tradespeople. In the case of the
Dorlon Company, which operates a chain of
thirty stores in Greater New York, the buyers
desire to give customers the benefit of every
possible price-saving. The managers of the
stores are equally desirous of keeping custom-
ers posted on price changes and market values,
but we can not force customers to take a lively
interest in saving money, when they prefer to
follow the line of least trouble and least resist-
168 ADVENTURES IN THRIFT
ance. Therefore, I am very glad to give you a
few pointers on the subject of buying gro-
ceries.
"The principal topics in which housewives
are interested are these: package versus bulk
goods ; cold storage versus fresh goods ; adult-
eration versus substitution; honest and dis-
honest labels; premiums.
"To those of us who are in the business, the
argument against package goods as increasing
the cost of living is absurd. Goods must be
prepared for delivery, either in the factory or
in the store. The factory, with its labor-saving
machinery, can do up dry groceries more rap-
idly and less expensively than our fastest clerks
in the store. Perhaps there was a time when
the housekeeper paid extra for containers. To-
day she can buy certain package goods as rea-
sonably, and sometimes more cheaply, than bulk
goods.
"For instance, to-day we are selling three and
a half pounds of the best granulated sugar in
packages at twenty-four cents a package. Loose,
you would pay eight cents a pound, or twenty-
eight cents for three and one-half pounds. Ex-
ADVENTURES IN THRIFT 169
actly the same grade of coffee that we sell
ground or pulverized in an air-proof package
at thirty-three cents a pound would cost you
thirty-five cents in bulk from the bin.
"Of course, there are some exceptions to this
rule. For instance, I have here a package of
rice at twelve cents and exactly the same rice
in the bulk for ten cents a pound. You can save
two cents on the pound, if when the bulk rice
is delivered in your kitchen you pour it into a
container which prevents waste. Rice or any
other cereal in a paper sack usually represents
waste in the pantry because the sack is torn,
and the cereal spills over the shelf.
"Here is a two-pound package of oatmeal at
twelve cents. I can sell you the same oatmeal
in bulk at five cents a pound. Here is a pack-
age of split peas, two pounds for twenty-four
cents. The same peas loose sell at ten cents a
pound.
"In such cases the superiority of the package
goods depends entirely upon the way your serv-
ant handles the package. If she opens it care-
lessly, destroys the pasteboard top, or, in case
of bottle goods like pickles, relishes, etc., she
170 ADVENTURES IN THRIFT
throws away the cork, then they lose the flavor
or the goods become dusty, precisely as if you
bought them in bulk.
"Train your servants to understand that con-
tainers are designed to keep out dust and to
protect the flavor of the goods.
"Now for the crackers. Here are two cartons
of soda crackers, moisture proof, sold at five
cents each. And here is ten cents' worth of the
same soda crackers in bulk. We will now count
the actual crackers in the carton and in the
sack."
Mr. Benton's interested circle drew closer.
The moisture-proof cartons yielded up forty-
eight whole fresh, crisp crackers. When the
bulk crackers were turned carefully into a large
plate, it was found practically impossible to
count them. More than a third had been brokon
in carriage, and there was a heavy sprinkling
of cracker dust. Nor were the bulk crackers
crisp or fresh in flavor. In graham crackers the
difference was more pronounced. A ten-cent,
moisture-proof package contained thirty un-
broken crackers. A pound of bulk graham
crackers, at nine cents, yielded twenty-three
ADVENTURES IN THRIFT 171
whole crackers and two broken ones. The dif-
ference in the flavor was marked.
"Understand," said Mr. Benton, "that the
cartons or package crackers will not retain their
flavor unless the housekeeper insists upon their
being opened properly and kept tightly covered.
For this reason the small tins of crackers are
in the end most economical.
"Now for cold storage versus fresh goods.
Meats, butter, eggs, fruits, etc., which were in
A-l condition when placed in cold storage are
wholesome. But they should be used promptly
after being taken out of storage. Housekeep-
ers waste money when they pay the price of
fresh goods for cold storage products. Last
week absolutely fresh certified eggs were sell-
ing at seventy-two cents a dozen. Cold storage
eggs should have sold at retail for thirty-four
cents. I stepped into a rival grocery store on
my way to business and found that a clerk had
picked over the cold storage eggs and arranged
all the large white ones attractively in a basket.
These were marked, 'Special fresh eggs, 50 cents
a dozen.' At the other end of the counter was
a crate of brown eggs, with the placard, 'Cold
172 ADVENTURES IN THRIFT
storage eggs, 3 a cents a dozen.' There was ab-
solutely no difference between these two lots of
eggs, except the coloring. No grocer could sell
fresh eggs at fifty cents a dozen. This man
did not have a certified egg in his store, and the
customer who paid fifty cents a dozen for the
white eggs wasted seventeen cents.
"Don't pay the price of fresh goods for cold
storage products. Every grocer who sells cold
storage products must hang in his store a pla-
card to that effect, and if he misrepresents cold
storage products as fresh, he can be prosecuted.
Train him to tell you the truth.
"Adulteration is, to-day, less of a menace to
the housewife than substitution. I will con-
sider adulteration later, in connection with hon-
est and dishonest labels.
"These two cans of peaches represent the
dangers of substitution. You see, they are the
same size, with equally attractive labels. This
can, 'California Fruits/ sells for twenty-three
cents. The other can, Table Fruits/ sells at
seventeen cents. The difference lies in the
flavor and richness of the sirup. The twenty-
three-cent can has a heavy sirup and the fruit
ADVENTURES IN THRIFT 173
tastes a little like the preserves your mother
used to make. The seventeen-cent can has a
lighter sirup, and the fruit tastes more like
fresh fruit stewed instead of preserved.
The fruit was in equally good condition when
canned. The difference is in the size of the
peaches and the amount of sugar used only.
The housekeeper gets exactly the same nutri-
tive value for seventeen cents that she does for
twenty-three cents the difference is in the
flavor.
"The cheaper peaches belong in the class of
canned goods commonly known to housekeep-
ers as 'seconds.' They are sold by unscrupulous
grocers as A-l goods, 'specially reduced/ And
when a can of fruit which ought to sell for sev-
enteen cents is 'specially priced' at twenty, the
housekeeper wastes three cents. The same is
true of canned vegetables, pickles, preserves,
meats, soups, puddings, etc.
"When you ask for a standard brand of
goods, and the dealer tells you he is out of that
brand, but can give you something just as good
make sure that it is just as good. Test its
weight, if it is package goods, or its flavor. If
174 ADVENTURES IN THRIFT
you have several similar experiences with the
same man, regard him with suspicion. He is
not carrying standard goods.
"Now for the vexed question of labels. Un-
der the Pure Food and Drug Act, a manufac-
turer must set forth certain facts on his label,
the percentage of preservatives and coloring
matter employed, etc. A certain percentage of
preservative is not harmful, and certain color-
ing materials are not injurious. Authorities
differ as to the exact amounts, but I would ad-
vise no housewife to purchase highly colored
preserves, condiments, relishes, pickles, etc.,
without studying the label carefully.
"A high-grade ketchup, for instance, carries
this label: 'Tomato ketchup, preserved with
one-tenth of one per cent, of benzoate of soda.'
"The housewife who buys this gets her
money's worth.
"Here is a tricky label :
" 'Ketchup
" 'Made from portions of Tomato and Apple.
Contains one-tenth of one per cent, benzoate of
ADVENTURES IN THRIFT 175
soda, one-hundredth per cent, color, and one-
hundredth per cent, saccharine.'
"Note that it is called 'Ketchup,' not Tomato
Ketchup.' The portions of tomato and apples
used are the very refuse of the canning factory;
skins, cores, rotten portions and trimmings,
unfit for human consumption. Add to this sin,
the manufacturer does not supply a single bal-
ancing pure and nutritious substance in his
product. For sugar he substitutes saccharine.
He colors the unwholesome mixture with a coal-
tar preparation, and winds up by preserving it
with benzoate of soda. This label tells the
whole truth, and it should condemn his product
in the eyes of every housewife who takes time
to read the label.
"Study your labels on potted meats, flavoring
extracts, canned vegetables and cheese boxes.
Don't pay the same price for cheese when the
label reads 'Camembert Type' as you would pay
for genuine imported Camembert. If you buy
sausage in the package, look out for the phrase,
'prepared with cereal' or 'Cereal, five per cent.'
The maker who introduces a starchy or cereal
176 ADVENTURES IN THRIFT
factor increases the water-holding capacity of
the meat. The housekeeper who buys sausage
of this sort at the price of pure meat sausage
loses money in water and cereal.
"The difference between high-grade and low-
grade flavoring extracts is not in the size of the
bottle, but in the quality or flavor. In order to
flavor her custard or icing, a housewife must
use twice as much adulterated extract as pure.
"I would advise every housekeeper who buys
goods in bulk to possess a pair of reliable scales.
Weigh your bulk goods. If you use three and
a half pounds of sugar a week, and a careless
clerk gives you only three and a quarter or less,
in fifty-two weeks you have been cheated out of
thirteen pounds of sugar. Buy your apples,
potatoes, etc., by weight. We weigh every bas-
ket of potatoes that leaves our store. They
must run sixty pounds to the basket in medium-
sized potatoes, like I have here. A basket is
supposed to hold four pecks. The grocer on the
block where I live fills his baskets with large
potatoes and gives in actual quantity only three
pecks to the basket.
"Finally, the question of premiums. In mod-
ADVENTURES IN THRIFT 177
ern business methods we merchants never give
something for nothing. If you receive premi-
ums for buying 1 a certain quantity of groceries,
you must pay in the weight or the quality of
the groceries. In a certain chain of stores in
this city they sell what they call 'Our Own
Blend' coffee, which they advertise as pure
Mocha and Java. It is sold at thirty-four cents
a pound, with a cup and saucer for a premium.
Have this coffee analyzed, and you will find that
instead of pure Mocha and Java, the blend con-
sists of Mocha, Java and Rio coffee, with chic-
ory, which can be sold at a profit for twenty-
five cents. Instead of getting the cup and sau-
cer for nothing, the housekeeper is paying nine
cents for them. Now understand, some house-
keepers prefer Rio coffee at eighteen or twenty
cents a pound, to Mocha and Java at thirty-
four. The question at issue is not the flavor of
the coffee, but the fact that every housekeeper
must pay in some way for the premium 'pre-
sented' to her.
"I would advise all housekeepers to read the
market reports of foodstuffs. Through these
reports they can learn when the market is glut-
178 ADVENTURES IN THRIFT
ted with certain articles, like tomatoes, melons,
apples, or oranges, when the price of potatoes
is up and the price of eggs is down. As soon
as a grocer discovers that a customer reads the
market reports he will know better than to at-
tempt any sharp practise in his dealings with
her."
As Mr. Benton sat down, the other men
glanced at one another significantly.
"This," said Mr. Moore, "is what I call an
evening spent to good advantage."
And the three housekeepers, to say nothing
of Miss Housekeeper-to-be, agreed enthusiastic-
ally, and beamed on Mr. Benton.
CHAPTER VIII
"Living on less is only a question of Individ'
ual methods." H. c. OP L. PROVERB NO. 8.
441k yfRS. MARTIN'S magneta dress stood
jTy I out like a beauty-patch on a sallow
tomplexion," commented Mrs. Larry, threading
a fresh needle with embroidery silk.
"A woman of her coloring and eyes should
wear gray-greens and dull blues," replied Claire,
as she picked up the wee sacque which Mrs.
Larry was embroidering for Lisbeth.
"A-hem!" interrupted Mr. Larry, lowering
his evening paper to study with amused eyes
the two pretty women seated on the other side
of the living-room table. "In real estate notes,
there is a paragraph to the effect that rents in
Kansas City have advanced ten per cent."
Claire tossed the bit of French flannel back
into Mrs. Larry's lap.
"Wh what's that? Ten per cent.? Good-
ness gracious "
179
180 ADVENTURES IN THRIFT
"If they try it in New York, we'll simply have
to move we're paying every cent for rent that
we can spare this minute."
"Who said anything about apartment-house
rents ?" demanded Mr. Larry. "This is an arti-
cle on lofts and warehouses."
"Brute !" cried Mrs. Larry, glancing at Claire,
who flushed furiously.
"I hope that gave you great satisfaction, Lar-
ry Hall," she said severely, even as she flung
him a dazzling smile.
"Well, it accomplished its purpose it check-
ed an impending 1 avalanche of colors, materials
and hats. When two women begin to talk
clothes, a man must use drastic measures, or
silently steal away. Now, of course, if you
like, I'll"
He half rose from his easy chair and fairly
challenged Mrs. Larry with his glance.
"Indeed, you shan't go ! We'll talk about any-
thing that suits the tired business man, or start
the Victrola, or go to see moving pictures "
They laughed together, these three who had
come to have so many pleasant hours together.
Claire Pierce had fallen into the habit of spend-
ADVENTURES IN THRIFT 181
ing with Mr. and Mrs. Larry most of the eve-
nings when she was free from social engage-
ments. She felt the need of their unspoken
sympathy and understanding attitude.
The interests closest to her heart these days
found little response in her own home. Mrs.
Pierce belonged to a number of advanced organ-
izations, contributed liberally to the cause of
suffrage and prated much of individual rights.
But in matters matrimonial she still believed
that a daughter should bow to the maternal will
and be practical. She considered marriage be-
tween Claire and Jimmy Graves a direct defi-
ance of her wishes, and altogether impractical.
She had been more relieved than sympathetic
when Claire and Jimmy had quarreled. And
when the small inconspicuous solitaire had re-
appeared on Claire's finger and letters from
Kansas City arrived with their old-time regu-
larity, she was tolerant, but not congratulatory.
Mrs. Pierce's idea of the proverbial cottage in
which love should thrive among roses, was a
Colonial mansion on a Long Island estate,
reached by a high-powered motor-car.
In the house of Larry, Claire found not only
182 ADVENTURES IN THRIFT
the sympathy she needed in her lover's absence,
but help in her absorbing task of studies in
household economics. Somehow, too, the con-
tentment in her friends' simply appointed home
made her own way seem easier. One could be
happy on a small income, if she made the most
of little joys.
So it happened that when the evening mail
brought a postcard depicting vegetables printed
in brilliant hues, Claire was quite as interested
as her two friends.
"Looks like an advertisement for southern
California real estate," suggested Mr. Larry.
Mrs. Larry held up the card for all to see, as
she read the message:
"Home hampers delivered at your door, like
this, for one dollar and fifty cents."
"Direct communication between producer and
consumer," commented Mr. Larry, as he took
a closer look at the card.
"What do you mean by that?" inquired Claire.
"Simply what so many economists are dis-
cussing to-day the elimination of middlemen
with their commissions, and direct dealing be-
tween the farmer and the housewife. This
ADVENTURES IN THRIFT 183
probably comes from a group or organization
of farmers on Long Island/'
"I wonder why Teresa Moore never told us
about it," said Mrs. Larry.
"Perhaps because she does not know about
it," suggested Claire dryly.
The two women exchanged significant glances
which were lost on Mr. Larry. His wife rose
briskly.
"I think 1*11 ask her over the phone. We have
no particular adventure in thrift planned just
now. And it does sound so nice and fresh and
inviting 'Home Hampers.' "
She returned from the telephone, wearing the
expression commonly attributed to the cat that
has just consumed a canary.
"Think for the first time since we started
these adventures in thrift, I have been able to
give Teresa Moore a tip. I do feel that puffed
up."
She seated herself on the arm of her hus-
band's chair and laid the picture postal on the
table.
"And I heard you ask in the most casual way:
'Teresa, do you think it would pay us to inves-
184 ADVENTURES IN THRIFT
tigate the Long Island Home Hamper?' just as
if you had known about it for five months in-
stead of five minutes," commented Mr. Larry,
pinching his wife's cheek.
"You really can't blame her," said Claire.
"Teresa is so horribly wise; and she has made
us feel so inferior!"
"Not that she meant to," added kindly Mrs.
Larry, "but I have had to follow her lead so
long and I well, I did enjoy handing her a
bit of information."
"No doubt," laughed Mr. Larry, drawing her
close. "And now that you have unearthed the
Long Island Hamper, what do you propose to
do with it?"
"Find out what it is worth."
"My dear, you certainly are gaining in direct-
ness."
"Oh, Larry, what an inviting collection of
fresh green things! Do you suppose it could
taste half as good as it looks? See those are
really, truly new potatoes that show pink
through their skins."
"Looks as if the hose had been turned on
them."
ADVENTURES IN THRIFT 185
"And corn, lima beans, summer squash "
"What is the thing that looks like cabbage
gone to seed?"
"Kohl-rabi, silly! And cucumbers, onions,
cabbage and beets. I couldn't buy them at
Dahlgren's for less than three dollars. Yet this
postcard says we can have such a hamper de-
livered at our door every week for one dollar
and fifty cents. I think I will order one. Ad-
dress Medford Demonstration Farm, Medford,
Long Island."
She reached for her pen, but her husband
stretched out a detaining hand.
"Why not run down to the farm and learn all
about it in the interest of economy?"
"Because it would not be economical. It costs
money to ride one hundred miles on the Long
Island railroad."
"I wasn't thinking of a railway trip. We
might go by motor. Burrows, our company
lawyer, left for San Francisco Tuesday, and
he told me that if I would like to use his car
some Sunday or week-end, to telephone his
chauffeur, who'd probably be joy-riding, if I
didn't."
186 ADVENTURES IN THRIFT
"Oh, Larry, a real motor! Just as if it was
our own?"
Claire felt a little pang of regret as she stud-
ied Mrs. Larry's radiant face. How much this
friend had done for her, yet she could not place
the family car at her disposal. It was rarely
used for such unselfish purposes, but must be
always at the command of her mother and sis-
ters for calls, shopping and the briefest er-
rands. She suddenly realized that Mrs. Larry
was addressing her personally.
"Think of it, Claire a whole perfect day in
the country, with everything coming out of the
soft brown earth to find the sunlight. It may
not mean so much to you, for all your friends
have machines. But you'll go with us because
the trip may prove profitable. And I'll take the
babies, and, yes, Lena she has been so faith-
ful, and is it a seven-passenger car, Larry?"
"It is, but it won't hold the entire block."
"No-o only Teresa Moore."
"Teresa goes. This is your party!"
So it happened that the next Sunday morning
Mrs. Larry, with eyes shining, carried her
"thrift party" off on the most delightful excur-
ADVENTURES IN THRIFT 187
sion so far undertaken. Even the Burrows'
chauffeur relaxed at sight of her happiness and
enthusiasm, and forgave the early start, for at
eight-thirty they were spinning over Queens-
boro Bridge. Behind them lay the city, for the
most part asleep, as New York generally is after
its Saturday night gaieties.
"We early birds will have the famous Mer-
rick Road practically to ourselves," said Mr.
Larry, as they swept through Astoria. On they
went, now through little towns, now past state-
ly homes, now between rolling truck farms,
green with corn, gray-blue with cabbage, spat-
tered with the scarlet of tomatoes. It seemed
as if all Long Island was yielding a bountiful
store of fresh things, enough to feed three cit-
ies like New York.
"And yet," sighed Teresa Moore, "we pay ab-
surdly high prices for vegetables, which, though
raised within an hour's motor run of our doors,
reach us withered and pithy."
"Well, we'll know why very soon," said Mrs.
Larry. Then she turned to her husband. "Who
did you say owns this farm ?"
"The Long Island Railroad. The president of
188 ADVENTURES IN THRIFT
the road, Mr. Ralph Peters, found on investiga-
tion that his road ran through territory which
was without value, as the average American
sees it without lumber, without coal or miner-
als, without any great water power, without
any opportunities for developing industrial
plants of any sort. Half of this territory, lying
within fifty or sixty miles of New York City,
was a howling wilderness, selling at three or
possibly six dollars an acre, and no one buy-
ing it.
"In 1905 he decided that the one hope of this
part of Long Island lay in agricultural develop-
ment. In the offices of his railroad was a man
named H. B. Fullerton, who was in charge of
the general advertising, taking photographs,
issuing booklets of scenery, and so on. Such
work had taken Mr. Fullerton practically all
over the railroad's territory. Also, Mr. Fuller-
ton had traveled all over America, and he said
that the Long Island land showed the same un-
dergrowth as he had seen in Cuba, New Mexico
and sections of South America, where vegeta-
bles grow luxuriantly. He believed that Long
Island could grow beans, asparagus, peas, po-
ADVENTURES IN THRIFT 189
tatoes, cauliflower and other vegetables, instead
of loblolly pines. The upshot of this discussion
was that the Long Island Railroad Company
bought ten acres of scrub oak waste, practically
considered the worst land in middle Long Is-
land, with the avowed intention of providing
the fresh food for which New York City had
been starving, from the countryman's point of
view.
"In September, 1905, Fullerton and his hands
dynamited out the first scrub oak stump. The
next year they raised three hundred and eighty-
one varieties of food on the poorest land of
Long Island."
"And that is the man we are to meet?" asked
Claire.
"Yes, together with his wife and daughters."
Just beyond the Medford railway station the
motor road cut its clean way through the arbor
leading from the railroad to the farmhouse of
the Demonstration Farm. Three concrete steps
afforded the only "station" for railway passen-
gers. The framework of the arbor was hidden
by grape-vines and banked on either side by
masses of garder flowers.
190 ADVENTURES IN THRIFT
Beyond the farmhouse, a two-story, wide-
porched bungalow, lay the barns and outbuild-
ings and the cottages of the farm hands.
Mr. and Mrs. Fullerton, who had been ad-
vised of Mrs. Larry's adventures in thrift,
were more than hospitable, and after a tour of
the grounds, they explained to their interested
visitors many phases of merchandising in food-
stuffs which are a mystery to the average city
dweller.
"Our experience as farmers started about
fifteen years ago. I had been a sailor and was
a rolling stone," explained Mr. Fullerton. "My
wife was born and raised in the heart of Brook-
lyn. We moved to the country because we
thought the country was the best place to raise
our children. We started a garden because we
had so much trouble buying fresh food. What
little was raised on the farms around us was
shipped to New York, then brought back to our
little town of Hollis, and sold to us at city prices
by our village merchants.
"We bought a two-acre place at Huntington,
thirty-five miles from Brooklyn, and we raised
all of our own vegetables, because we preferred
ADVENTURES IN THRIFT 191
fresh vegetables to stale ones. The potatoes we
raised cost us seventeen cents a bushel, when
our neighbors were paying the village grocer
from one dollar and fifty cents to two dollars
a bushel. Corn that cost us from eight to ten
cents a dozen ears in our garden cost our neigh-
bors thirty cents in the stores. Our two acres,
worked almost entirely by my wife and an oc-
casional helper, with what assistance I could
give outside my office hours, cut down our cost
of living more than half. Any family in a small
town can do the same, but the city housekeeper
is up against a different proposition, and we
found that out when we took hold of this dem-
onstration farm.
"We were here for a definite purpose to
prove that Long Island men could raise garden
stuff to market in Greater New York, and that
men who bought Long Island land could run
truck farms at a good profit. The first part of
the proposition was easy enough. The first year
we raised more than three hundred varieties
of vegetables, herbs and fruits.
"The second half of the proposition was not
so easily solved. When we shipped out produce
192 ADVENTURES IN THRIFT
to the New York commission merchants, we
soon found that the returns were less than the
cost of the boxes in which it was shipped.
"As an example, we received six or eight
cents a bushel for tomatoes, the very best ripe
tomatoes. The box in which we shipped them
cost us fourteen cents; then came express and
freight. Of course, the Long Island Railroad,
which was employing us, would have franked
all our produce, but that was not what Mr.
Peters wanted. He wanted us to find out ex-
actly how a farmer would handle his produce,
so we paid the charges and had a record of
what everything cost.
"We faced this situation : With the best of
tomatoes to sell, we could show no profit on
them; instead, our books would show a loss.
What were we to do ? We did the natural thing,
we went to New York to see why. At the end
of three days we knew the truth.
"That three-day investigation proved to us
that the commission men of New York had the
Standard Oil Company and the Meat Trust beat-
en a thousand miles. We were all paying trib-
ute to them, big farmers and little, grocers and
ADVENTURES IN THRIFT 193
housewives for you housekeepers ought to
know that your greengrocer makes but a small
profit on what you buy.
"Among those to whom we shipped, we found
seven speculators, men who never handled or
saw the goods. One man sold immediately to
another firm, which proved to be his wife ; an-
other man secured three commissions by selling
produce to the greengrocers through two other
'firms' one was his wife, the other his nine-
year-old son. You see, in case of any trouble he
could actually show two sales.
"We found men who had no offices, who had
no bank account for their business, who had no
clerks, who had absolutely no expenses, but
who were making big money off the producer
and the consumer. One man had an elegant
home in Brooklyn and a beautiful summer place
in Maine. He owned a steam yacht and three
automobiles, but he did not contribute one sin-
gle cent to the upkeep of New York City, in
which he did his business, nor to New York
State. He was not even paying a license as an
ordinary pedler would have to do. He did not
have to file any statement of his financial re-
194 ADVENTURES IN THRIFT
turns with the state treasurer, as other busi-
ness concerns do yet he was getting enor-
mously rich on his commissions. He was one
of the men who had promised us to sell at the
best prices which grocers were paying, minus
the commission. And our returns were six or
eight cents a bushel for tomatoes !
"To see produce come in from various outly-
ing states and to watch it handled on the docks,
we had to stay up nights, but we got what we
wanted reliable figures and data. We knew
then that there was no money for the Long
Island farmer whose produce was handled by
the New York commission merchant. He could
sell it better in any other city.
"The next proposition was to do away with
the commission man and reach the consumer
direct. Mrs. Fullerton and I happened to run
across a package or carrier which held six four-
quart boxes. We decided that we would fill one
box with potatoes, one with tomatoes, one with
sweet corn, one with lima beans, one with beets.
The remaining box should hold a combination
parsley, radishes, asparagus, and later in the
season, cantaloupe, raspberries, strawberries or
ADVENTURES IN THRIFT 195
other fruits. Then we christened the 'Home
Hamper/
"We picked out seven New York men, each
of whom we knew to have families. To each of
these went a hamper, with a letter something
like this i
" 'We are sending you a Home Hamper to-
day by express. It is full of fresh stuff, and we
hope you will get it in time for dinner. We
should like to have your opinion of it, and, in-
cidentally, if you think it is worth $1.50, we
would be glad to have the $1.50. If you do not,
please accept it with our compliments and no
harm done!'
"Then we waited for returns. Every one of
the seven sent us the dollar fifty and several
customers besides. For each hamper we sent
out first, we received three and a half custom-
ers in return and the cash came with each or-
der. Apparently we were filling a long-felt want.
"Here was a business started in one day.
Within three years we were able to sell all that
was raised on two of the company's farms.
196 ADVENTURES IN THRIFT
After eight years other Long Island farmers
took it up, and truck raisers around such cities
as Chicago, Philadelphia and St. Louis."
"How did you figure your profits?" inquired
Mr. Larry.
"That was easy/' answered Mr. Fullerton.
"The express company got twenty-five cents out
of the dollar and fifty cents. Boxes, nails, tags
and green paraffin paper, to keep out dust dur-
ing shipment, amounted to twenty-seven cents
more. The. vegetables, therefore, brought
ninety-eight cents. In order to learn exactly
what we gained by using the Home Hamper
over the regular commission channel, we re-
ceived for an equal amount of vegetables ship-
ped in bulk, and of the same- quality, from four
cents to eight cents an average of six cents
through the commission man, as against ninety-
eight cents from the consumer.
"And do you mean to say that all of your cus-
tomers are satisfied?" asked Teresa Moore.
Mr. Fullerton's eyes twinkled.
"Well hardly. If a woman didn't want caul-
iflower or kohl-rabi she would write as if we
had committed an unpardonable crime in send-
ADVENTURES IN THRIFT 197
ing her any. Again, some city folks were so
used to hard dry vegetables, like peas and
beans, that they thought there wasn't much to
our tender juicy vegetables. But most of them
appreciated the freshness of the green stuff,
packed in the morning and received by them
before night. The lettuce still had the morning
dew on it; tomatoes and melons were ripened
on the vine, peaches on the tree, instead of be-
ing picked green and ripened in a car during a
three- or five-day railroad trip.
"As to the saving for the consumer by
checking up on our correspondence, we find that
it ranged from sixty-five cents to three dollars
a hamper, according to the markets formerly
patronized by our customers, and also according
to their ability as marketers.
"During the summer, of course, the consumer
receives the vegetables fresh from the garden ;
during the winter, the hardier vegetables, which
are stored in the farmer's cellar.
"The passage of years has proved this to be
a practical plan for both producer and con-
sumer. The producer makes a fair profit, and
the consumer a considerable saving. It is a
198 ADVENTURES IN THRIFT
proposition practical in all cities with outlying
truck farms. Fanners are corresponding with
me all over the country. Any group of women
can communicate with the nearest grange or
agricultural society and arrange for the ship-
ment of these hampers the year around. I ad-
mit this will work a hardship on the small mer-
chant, but until that merchant evolves a plan of
dealing directly with the producer, instead of
through a commission man, the housewife is
justified in protecting herself.
"A housewife who knows how to utilize all
sorts of vegetables, and who will buy directly
from the producer in this way, can cut the cost
of her table fifty per cent. Take the single item
of eggs. When the better stores of New York
were selling eggs anywhere from fifty to seven-
ty-five cents a dozen, the commission men were
paying the farmers around here seventeen
cents. You can see who got the profits the
middleman. We sell eggs direct to the con-
sumer at thirty-five cents a dozen, thereby re-
ceiving eighteen cents more than do our neigh-
bors, who sell to the commission men, while the
ADVENTURES IN THRIFT 199
consumer saves anywhere from fifteen to forty
cents."
"I notice that you speak of making your ship-
ments by express. Do you never use parcel
post?"
"For fresh vegetables, eggs and so forth, I
prefer express, because it is quicker, because
there is no fee for the return of carrier, and
because our hamper is too bulky for parcel
post."
"Oh, yes !" exclaimed Mrs. Larry. "I remem-
ber Uncle George (you know he is assistant
postmaster at ) says almost the same thing,
that parcel post would not spell bigger profits
for the producer and worth-while saving for
the consumer until what he called 'empties'
would be returned by the United States Post-
office Department, free of charge."
"Nevertheless," said Mr. Fullerton, "a great
many Long Island farmers, especially those who
ship in small lots, are making good use of the
parcel post. I would advise you to interview
Mr. Kelley, Brooklyn's postmaster, on the sub-
ject. His was one of the last group of city post-
200 ADVENTURES IN THRIFT
offices selected by the authorities at Washington
in their test of practical value of parcel-post
shipment to producer and consumer."
"Dear me," exclaimed Mrs. Larry, as she sank
back with luxurious enjoyment in the Burrows
car, "it really doesn't seem possible that we have
been engaged on so prosaic a mission as inves-
tigating the 'High Cost of Living.' It was just
a beautiful hour among growing things and
charming, intelligent people."
Mr. Larry smiled over his shoulder.
"There is no reason why a woman should not
take the same satisfaction in a businesslike
management of her home as her husband takes
in the management of his store or office. The
mistake we men make is depreciating or taking
for granted good household management on the
part of our wives. Perhaps if we were a little
more sympathetic or appreciative, women would
find thrift a joy and not a burden. And just
to show you that I've had my little lesson as
your partner in reducing the high cost of liv-
ing, I'll make the trip to Brooklyn for you
within the next day or so, and present the re-
sult of my interview with Postmaster Kelley at
ADVENTURES IN THRIFT 201
a sort of Thrift Celebration, to which Mr. and
Mrs. Moore, Mr. and Mrs. Norton and Claire
will be duly invited."
"What a lovely idea !" exclaimed Mrs. Larry.
"I've been keeping a diary; so with our coffee
and cheese, some one shall read a little sum-
mary of our 'Adventures in Thrift/ Of
course," she continued, with a suggestion of
contrition, "I started these investigations, and
I'm willing to look into parcel-post economy
but well My wardrobe's getting in a shock-
ing state, so if you go to Broolyn, Til go shop-
ping."
"And I'll go with you," said Teresa.
Mr. Larry chuckled.
"Perhaps you might even find the way to
thrift in department-store buying."
"No," said Mrs. Moore decidedly. "I don't
believe in bargain counters or sales."
"If not, why not? I propose that you add to
this quest the problem : 'When is a bargain not
a bargain ?' Is there such a thing as standard-
ization in fabrics and wearing apparel?"
"Larry, Larry !" cried his wife. "Haven't we
had trouble enough with the food proposition?
202 ADVENTURES IN THRIFT
And now you're asking us to shatter the last
illusion of shopping the bargain."
"Nothing of the sort," retorted her husband,
"I was just thinking if you know half as much
about drygoods as you do about foodstuffs, we'll
soon own a car like this just see if we don't!"
CHAPTER IX
"Chasing the penny to its lair is the house-
wife's favorite indoor sport." H. c. OF L. PRO-
VERB NO. 9.
A REFRESHING breeze floated into the
dining-room window of Mr. and Mrs.
Larry's apartment. It passed Teresa Moore's
competent square shoulders and touched Mrs.
Norton's sleek hair and Claire's pale clear skin.
It played on Mrs. Larry's sparkling face. It
made the men, including Jimmy Graves, who
had come all the way from Kansas City for the
great occasion, sit up a little straighter. It
quickened Lena's steps, as, with crisp little cap
and apron gleaming white in the dim room, she
brought in the coffee service.
"For winding up adventures in thrift, I
should like to remark that it was some dinner,"
said Mr. Moore, smiling at his hostess.
"I was thinking the same thing," comment-
ed Mr. Norton, "and wondering whether Mrs.
203
204 ADVENTURES IN THRIFT
Larry has spent at one fell swoop all she has
been saving in the last few months."
"Well," said Mrs. Larry, "I'm going to tell
you what it cost. Four months ago this dinner
would have made a shocking dent in my house-
keeping allowance. Now, let me tell you the
difference in prices :
"First course, iced melons, three for a quar-
ter, if I had bought them at Dahlgren's Store.
In the 'Home Hamper,' three for ten. Saving,
fifteen cents.
"Cold consomme ; a ten-cent can of soup and
enough gelatine to make it quiver. In the old
days I would have bought a soup bone at fifteen
cents, soup greens, five cents, and used gas for
the slow process of simmering. Of course, this
process would yield more stock, but in hot
weather it might not keep. So we'll say at least
ten cents saved and just as delicious, too. I'm
learning how to utilize standard, factory-made
food.
"Chicken, four and a half pounds, at twenty-
two cents, including parcel post. I used to pay
Dahlgren twenty-seven cents, so saved on four
and one-half pounds, twenty-two cents. We
ADVENTURES IN THRIFT 205
three women have made arrangements with a
certain farmer in Connecticut to supply us the
year around with eggs, chickens and ducks. We
have agreed to take a definite quantity each.
He receives a little more than he would from
the commission men, and we pay a little less
than we would at the market.
"These fine new potatoes were bought by the
bushel, enough to last the three pf us for the
year. The farmer keeps them for us in his
cellar and ships them, a barrel at a time. We
paid him cash for our year's supply of potatoes,
at a dollar a bushel. We've been buying them
here in New York at the rate of two dollars a
bushel. So I saved fifty per cent, on the pota-
toes you ate.
"Corn, at Dahlgren's, sells at three ears for
ten cents. Figuring up the contents of this
week's hamper, the corn I served to-night cost
only a cent and a half an ear.
"The tomatoes, lettuce, parsley and peaches
all came out of the Home Hamper at half the
price asked at a city market. Even those stuffed
dates represent thrift. I used to pay eighty
cents a pound for them at Dorlin's. Lena
206 ADVENTURES IN THRIFT
stuffed these, and they are just as good. A
pound of dates at ten cents, the same value of
nuts, and a little powdered sugar.
"Summing up the menu, it cost at least one-
third less than it would have cost before I made
my investigations. We must take into consider-
ation, also, the better food value given for the
money expended. There is absolutely no waste
to the vegetables, which come directly from the
truck garden to our table. Every leaf of lettuce
counts ; every bean, every pod of peas. In ad-
dition to the waste in fruit and vegetables,
which lie from twenty-four to seventy-two hours
on the docks or in commission houses, dry with-
ered vegetables are not so valuable to the human
system as the fresh vegetables. I am receiving
two hampers a week now, and serving less
meat, because Doctor Davis says that we do not
need so much meat in warm weather, and we
ought to make the most of the fresh vegetables
and fruits while they are in season.
"Twice a week Mrs. Norton, Teresa and I
go to the city fish market very early and buy
enough fish that has been caught during the
ADVENTURES IN THRIFT 207
night and brought up the bay to serve for
two meals; first, boiled, fried or broiled, and
then for luncheon or breakfast the next day,
creamed or baked au gratin. When I buy meat
I now know the economical cuts, how to get the
most proteids for my money, so to speak. Just
by knowing how meat is cut up, I have reduced
my meat bill one-third.
"These are actual figures. For nearly a
month I have been transferring money from
the envelope marked 'Food' to the envelope
marked 'Recreation and Improvement.' I have
charged up all the car fare, postage, etc., inci-
dental to our adventures in thrift, and still have
a good balance in favor of the investigation."
"Then what do you consider the secret of
thrift in food buying?" asked Mr. Moore.
Mrs. Larry shook her head.
"I can't tell you that until Larry has reported
his interview with the postmaster of Brooklyn,
on the parcel-post system."
"All right, Lena, bring on the last course,"
said Mr. Larry.
And Lena brought from the living-room a
208 ADVENTURES IN THRIFT
great sheaf of pamphlets, newspaper clippings
and illustrated circulars, which she placed be-
fore the master of the house.
"Exhibits A, B and C," explained their host,
as their guests looked with interest at the col-
lection.
"All that about parcel post?" inquired Mr.
Norton respectfully.
"I felt the same way when I left Postmaster
Kelley's office," said Mr. Larry, as he sorted the
collection. "I don't suppose one-tenth of the
practical housekeepers in America realize what
Uncle Sam is trying to do to reduce the high
cost of living. And it should be most important
to the wives of men like ourselves, in moder-
ately prosperous circumstances, who know the
importance of good food to family health and
who, therefore, deprive themselves of many ad-
vantages and pleasures that their families shall
have wholesome meals. These are the women
who resent most deeply the rise in food prices ;
they pass resolutions in their clubs; they de-
mand that we men legislate when they ought
to appoint practical committees to investigate
ADVENTURES IN THRIFT 209
and work out direct connection between pro-
ducer and consumer."
"Hear, hear!" cried Teresa Moore. "You'll
be talking before the Federated Clubs next !"
"Well, if I do," said Mr. Larry, "I will first
tell them what a clever wife I have.
"The parcel-post system is democratic. It
was designed largely to meet the needs of the
farmer or producer. To ship by freight or ex-
press, he must go to the nearest town. For
parcel-post shipment, Uncle Sam, in the form of
rural free delivery, passes his door each day,
sometimes twice a day.
"But the government soon discovered that it
must educate both the producer and consumer
if the value of parcel post was to be raised to
the nth power.
"So, in March, 1914, the Post-Office Depart-
ment at Washington started a campaign of
farm-to-table investigation and education. It
selected certain cities for its experiment
Washington, St. Louis, Boston, Baltimore,
Atlanta, Birmingham, San Francisco, Rock Is-
land (Illinois), Lynn (Massachusetts), La-
210 ADVENTURES IN THRIFT
Crosse (Wisconsin). The reports of post-
masters in these cities have just been received
and present some interesting facts.
"In spite of the fact that much perishable
material was carried, damage to shipments in
transit is reported as less than one-tenth of one
per cent., due almost entirely to improper pack-
ing. The shipment of butter, dressed poultry
and other perishable things fell off during hot
weather because of lack of refrigerating facili-
ties. This is now being met partly by cheap
containers devised on the line of thermos bot-
tles, while in the larger post-offices ice boxes are
being installed to hold perishable shipments
that must be kept overnight.
"Postmaster Boiling H. Jones, of Atlanta, co-
operated with the Office of Markets of Agricul-
ture, which sent out Guy B. Fitzpatrick to our
contributary territory with rural mail carriers.
He met the farmers personally, and gave them
and their wives practical demonstrations in
proper methods of packing the articles most
in demand among city buyers.
"In the neighborhood of Washington, four
hundred and forty-five farmers sent their
ADVENTURES IN THRIFT 211
names to be placed upon the list of producers
which the postmaster circulated among Wash-
ington consumers. Of this number, three hun-
dred and thirty-four farmers offered eggs ; one
hundred and seventy-six, butter; one hundred
and eighty-nine, poultry ; two hundred and two,
vegetables and fruit.
"E. C. Marshall, the retiring postmaster of
Boston, offers a comment worth reading." Mr.
Larry picked up a clipping:
" 'One of the striking features which has
come to my attention in making this campaign
to bring the producers and consumers together
is the fact that some farmers have been charg-
ing top prices for their products. It was as-
sumed when the plan was first broached that
the consumer would get the benefit of low prices
as a means of reducing the cost of living, and
that the producer, by sending direct by parcel
post, could afford to sell at rock-bottom prices.
This, however, has not proved generally to be
so, and if the plan for bringing the producers
directly in touch with consumers is found to be
unsuccessful, it will be due largely to this fact.'
"In the smaller cities, like LaCrosse, Rock
212 ADVENTURES IN THRIFT
Island, etc., the parcel post shipment from
farm-to-table were proportionately smaller, be-
cause the truck gardeners quite generally drive
to such cities and sell their produce either at a
public market or by peddling from door to door
to regular customers.
"The post-office authorities then selected
other representative cities in different sections
of the country in which to continue their in-
vestigations. Brooklyn was included in this
second list, and the most interesting corner of
the big post-office I visited the other day was
that in which parcel-post shipments are
handled.
"On November first of last year, the postmas-
ter of Brooklyn issued two pamphlets. Ore, a
Parcel Post Informatiton circular, was sent to
every farmer on Long Island whose name could
be secured. The other, a list of Long Island
farmers, was mailed to fifty thousand residents
of Brooklyn. The farmers were urged to notify
the post-office in Brooklyn as to the products
they wished to market by parcel post. The resi-
dents of Brooklyn were urged to communicate
directly with the farmer.
ADVENTURES IN THRIFT 213
"Within twenty days after the service was
established many farmers had written to Post-
master Kelley that they had made from forty
to fifty or sixty dollars on eggs, poultry and
Brussels sprouts sold directly to consumers.
"Next, Postmaster Kelley opened an exhibit
of containers, which are a vital factor in the
success of the plan. I found this exhibit most
interesting. It ranged from a hammock egg
carrier for a dozen eggs to steel-crated boxes,
with ice box attachment, for shipping butter,
poultry, fruit and vegetables. Postmaster Kel-
ley invited all the farmers whose names were
on his list to visit this exhibit, and the postmas-
ters in all Long Island towns were asked to
notify the farmers in their section. The result
of this educational campaign is a daily increase
in the volume of business done by parcel post,
and Postmaster Kelley considers it a feasible
method for reducing the cost of living.
"The point on which I could not satisfy my-
self, however, was this: Does the farmer de-
mand the top notch prices asked by the high-
grade city grocer and poultry dealer, thereby
forcing the consumer to pay the full rate of
214 ADVENTURES IN THRIFT
commission charged by the commission mer-
chant, or is he willing to split this commission
with the consumer i If the latter is done, then
parcel post will reduce the cost of living for
the consumer, and still pay the producer a bet-
ter profit, by eliminating the middleman. But,
unquestionably, the individual consumer must
have some understanding with the farmer she
patronizes. Moreover, the government will
have to follow the express companies in the cus-
tom of returning containers free.
"There is no doubt in my mind that when
the government has followed up these investi-
gations with practical improvements in the
service, and with parcel-post education for pro-
ducer and consumer, we will find parcel post a
big factor in thrift for the housewife. At pres-
ent, in almost any of the large cities, the house-
keeper can secure a list of farmers in her terri-
tory who will supply her with produce by parcel
post, if she will apply to the local post-office.
She must then drive her own bargain with the
farmer, and study producers as carefully as she
ptudies her city markets.
"Aside from the saving in price, you must
ADVENTURES IN THRIFT 215
consider, as Mrs. Larry said a few moments
ago, the superior freshness and nutritive value
of the food bought in this way."
"To sum up the situation," said Mr. Norton,
"yu do not consider that parcel post to date is
a big aid to economy in marketing?"
"That's about it," assented Mr. Larry, "and
it will not be until the farmer and the house-
wife establish an amicable understanding as to
prices."
"And now, Teresa, for our department-store
experiences," said Mrs. Larry.
"Our first lesson in department-store sleuth-
ing was the fact that the bargain counter is the
natural enemy to thrift; the second, that the
woman who buys, not for to-day alone, but for
next week, next month, next year, must demand
standardized goods.
"First, as to bargain sales: If a merchant
announces silk gloves at seventy-nine cents,
formerly sold for one dollar, one of two condi-
tions exists either he overcharged his custom-
ers when he sold the gloves for one dollar, or
he is losing money on the gloves at seventy-nine
cents. Men are not in business to lose money.
216 ADVENTURES IN THRIFT
We, therefore, conclude that the gloves at one
dollar were overpriced, so we are getting no
bargain at seventy-nine cents. None of the
prices in such a store are, therefore, reliable.
"Next we trailed a ribbon sale. Here we
found one lot of ribbons offered at twenty-one
cents, usual price twenty-five cents ; and another
lot at eleven cents, usual price fifteen and sev-
enteen cents. We secured samples of both lots
and then sleuthed. We found that the same
quality and design employed in the twenty-one-
cent lot was actually to be bought at the regular
counter at twenty-five cents a yard, but with
this difference the bargain-counter ribbon was
three inches wide, the ribbon at the regular
counter about four inches wide. In other words,
the bargain-counter ribbon was priced at just
what it was worth twenty-one cents. It was
not worth twenty-five cents, because at the reg-
ular counter the twenty-five-cent ribbon was
nearly an inch wider.
"The ribbon at eleven cents was such in name
only. It was the flimsiest sort of cotton, almost
transparent, wiry and highly mercerized. We
duplicated it at a near-by five and ten-cent store
ADVENTURES IN THRIFT 217
for ten cents a yard, one cent cheaper than it
was offered at the big department store.
"The lure of such bargains lies in the clever-
ly worded signs, fancy articles beautifully made
up from the ribbon by women expert in secur-
ing effects, and in the wonderful mass of blend-
ed colors which blind women to quality.
"At another store we saw a crowd of women
buying upholstery goods, specially priced and
heavily advertised. The sale included couch
covers, fabrics by the yard, and squares for
cushion tops. The couch covers, marked as hav-
ing been sold at eleven dollars, now reduced to
five-ninety-eight, were worth just that, five-
ninety-eight. The really good values had evi-
dently been used for window display and were
faded in streaks by the sun. The fresher cov-
ers were in fabrics and designs now out of
style. The firm was either unloading for itself
or for some jobbing house a lot of couch covers
that were out of date.
"Among the cushion tops we picked up three
real bargains, evidently odd pieces that had sold
in the piece at a much higher rate. But mixed
in with these desirable squares were hundreds
218 ADVENTURES IN THRIFT
of others, plainly cut off the bolts we saw later
in the regular department, and priced higher
than they could be bought at the counter, by
the yard."
"Isn't that universally true," asked Mr. Nor-
ton, "that merchants cut off unsalable stuff and
offer it as 'remnants' when it does not sell from
the bolt?"
"Not always," replied Teresa Moore. "Many
sales are bona-fide. A jobber or manufacturer
overloads with certain fabrics or products, and
is forced to raise cash. He prefers to get rid
of his entire overproduction at cost, than to lose
in the long run. The merchant who secures
these big lots for cash can give his customers
the benefit of a bona-fide sale, and he does this
in a legitimate way entirely satisfactory to the
customer."
"Which means that a woman must know what
she is buying," added Mrs. Norton. "I saw two
women fairly quarreling over some shirts which
each wanted to buy for her husband. The
woman who finally won on the score that she
had picked them up first, was opening her purse,
when she gave a little cry: 'Oh, I can't take
ADVENTURES IN THRIFT
them. I don't know his number.' The other
woman did know her husband's shirt size and
carried them off in triumph."
When the laughter had subsided, Mrs. Moore
continued her story.
"At another bargain counter we looked at
silver-plated breakfast knives, as I needed to
renew my set. Half a dozen knives put up in
a fancy box, lined with cheap, cotton-back satin,
were offered to us at one dollar and ninety-
eight cents. I looked at the mark, 'Superfine,
triple-plate/ That was all. In the regular
silver department, we asked for and were
shown, at three dollars and ninety-eight cents
per half dozen, breakfast knives made by a re-
sponsible firm which spends hundreds of thou-
sands of dollars every year advertising its
wares. There was no fancy box, no showy silk,
but a trademark. The salesgirl explained that,
while no actual guarantee went with the knives,
they were supposed to last fifteen to twenty
years, with reasonable treatment. If within a
few years after the date of purchase the cus-
tomer returned a knife in bad condition, and
could prove that she had not used scouring
220 ADVENTURES IN THRIFT
soap or strong cleansers in polishing it, the
damaged knife would be made good by the
manufacturers. The difference in price of two
dollars no doubt represents the better wearing
value of the standard metal, and at least it
protects the purchaser.
"In our shopping investigations, which cov-
ered four mornings, we found that almost in-
variably the goods pushed by the salespeople or
shown most prominently were not standardized
wares ; they were imitations of standard goods,
often so flimsy as to betray the adulteration.
By asking for standardized goods, we could se-
cure them. Now there must be a reason for the
prominence given the unstandardized goods,
and we have decided that the stores make a
bigger profit on them, even though the price is
less, than on the standardized goods. There-
fore, we are not getting so much for our
money."
"Just what do you mean by standardized
goods?" asked Mr. Norton.
"In fabrics, those which have the name of
the maker woven in the border, or printed
plainly on the board or carton in which the ma-
ADVENTURES IN THRIFT 221
terials are offered; in china, cut glass, silver-
ware and writing paper, a trade mark blown,
stamped or woven in the article; in hosiery,
underwear, corsets, shields, ready-to-wear
garments of all sorts, the stamp of the maker.
To sum up, generally speaking, wares that are
made by a well known concern willing to put
its name on them and thus to stand back of
them."
"But how can you be sure, even with a trade
mark, that these goods will wear satisfactor-
ily?" asked Mr. Larry.
"We don't know anything," said Mrs. Larry,
"but it stands to reason that a man who spends
thousands to make his goods known to us wo-
men will not give us a chance to say to our
neighbors that what he guarantees is unreliable.
In every case where the goods were made by
a reputable firm and bore their trade mark, the
salespeople told us we could bring them back
if they were not satisfactory. This, because
the merchant knows that he can hold the manu-
facturer for any faulty output of the factory.
"Take, for instance, dress shields; if they
bear no firm name and go to pieces in the first
222 ADVENTURES IN THRIFT
washing, they must be thrown away, but a
washable dress shield, bearing the name of the
manufacturer, can be taken to the store and
exchanged for a perfect pair, without any ques-
tion as to where it was bought or what price
was paid for it.
"Adulterated, unstandardized drygoods rep-
resent the same waste in the household budget
as unstandardized, unlabeled canned goods."
"This is all very well for you women who live
in the city and can pick and choose among
stores, but how about the small city or town
woman?" said Mr. Norton.
"She is quite as independent as we are," re-
plied Teresa Moore. "Consider, as an example,
the small town or suburban woman and her
corset. She has been to the large city store
and found a corset made by a standard firm,
which suits her figure. She need never wear
any other kind; she can order it by mail, or
she can insist that the local shopkeeper handle
that make of corset or lose her trade. This
is true of any other standard article that she
wants.
"You sometimes hear people say that when
ADVENTURES IN THRIFT 223
articles are so much advertised the consumer
must pay the price of the advertising. This
is ridiculous. My cousin, Wilbur Stanley, who
is an expert in such matters, says that it has
been proved over and over again that adver-
tised goods cost less than the unadvertised
goods, because the selling expense of unadver-
tised goods per unit is higher than the selling
expense of advertised goods; because adver-
tising increases the sales so much more than
they can be increased by any other method of
selling that the cost of advertising in reality
pays for itself by the economies it effects.
"As for gloves, hosiery, underwear, sheet-
ing*, pillow casing, etc., we can buy them label-
ed or unlabeled, just as we choose to give time
and thought to our shopping.
"Substitutes are seldom if ever as good as
the trade-marked, advertised brands. When
you buy reliable branded goods, you are guar-
anteed satisfaction. Many substitutes that are
offered the purchaser as 'just as good' do not
carry any manufacturer's label, so if you do
not like the goods, there is no known person
from whom you can demand satisfaction. If
224 ADVENTURES IN THRIFT
you do like the goods you have no way of know-
ing how to reorder and be sure of getting the
same quality. Goods that do not carry the name
of a reputable manufacturer are often 'seconds'
gathered from various sources by jobbers. They
have no steady dependable quality, since no
one person or firm is responsible for them."
"An interesting report," said Mr. Norton,
"and it reminds me of a little experience which
bears out your theory. I lost my fountain pen
last week, picked up an unknown make at a
shop in our arcade, and promptly soaked one
of my pockets with ink. When I stopped in
with my complaint, there was nothing doing.
The pen carried no guarantee. Two dollars
wasted!"
"And now," said Mrs. Larry, "for the sum-
ming up of our experiences. Thrift for the
home-maker to-day means, first, knowing how
to buy, and then how to utilize to best advan-
tage what she has bought. In our grandmoth-
er's day the housewife was not a purchaser.
Her husband raised and supplied what was
needed for the family; her economy consisted
ADVENTURES IN THRIFT 225
of using the supplies to best advantage. To-
day she spends the family income and kitchen
economy is without value unless she knows her
market.
"I would, therefore, say that the housewife
must know food and fabric values what goes
farthest in the home. Second, knowing these
values, she must seek the markets where they
are offered at the lowest figure. She will make
her biggest saving in cooperative buying. I
believe that in time every community will have
its association like the Housewives' League of
New York, and the National Housewives' Co-
operative League in Cincinnati, or its coop-
erative store, such as we saw in Montclair, New
Jersey. This will save on groceries alone at
least ten per cent.
"Next in importance to cooperative buying
is the establishment of "direct communication
between the producer and the consumer through
the parcel post. We know that if the house-
wife gives the farmer to understand very clear-
ly that she expects to split the middleman's
commission with him, she will save ten per
226 ADVENTURES IN THRIFT
cent, on her poultry, eggs, vegetables and fruit,
and have better food on her table in the bar-
gain.
"Third, she must consider the wearing qual-
ities of drygoods first, and their attractive-
ness second. As to telephone ordering, that's
largely a question of the intelligence of the
housewife and the honesty of the butcher and
grocer. Many a woman can get what she wants
at the right prices, simply by using her mind
a bit before she gives her order. Also she
must check up her bills afterward. If sugar
or coffee or smoked meats are cheap, as the re-
sult of certain wholesale conditions, she will
know this by reading reports of the papers or
by inquiry at her store or market. If she finds
that her tradespeople are dishonest or careless,
she can change. The woman who is firm and
intelligent can, without haggling, get full value
for her money, whether she orders in person
or by phone.
"Before I undertook adventures in thrift I
expended all my energy trying to stretch as far
as possible the groceries and fresh provisions
which I bought extravagantly through the or-
ADVENTURES IN THRIFT 227
der clerk or telephone. Now I concentrate on
buying intelligently, and I have reduced our
table expenses thirty-three and a third per cent
by cooperative buying, farm-to-table market-
ing, and the personal purchase of daily supplies.
I do not think I am less intelligent than the
average wife of a salaried man, and I hope, by
becoming more and more familiar with market
conditions, to reduce the cost of setting this
table and buying our clothing even further. My
goal is fifty per cent. But I realize that I can
not accomplish this without unremitting effort
and concentration on my duties as the head of
the purchasing department of the House of
Larry."
Teresa Moore spoke quickly.
"I know you all feel like crying Three
cheers for the House of Larry and more power
to it/ but do not be misled by Mrs. Larry's
practical way of summing up the situation.
She has not mentioned what these investiga-
tions have represented to her personally. She
has been their real inspiration, our unfailing,
unflagging and ever sympathetic leader. If the
rest of us have less anxieties and more luxuries
228 ADVENTURES IN THRIFT
through the year to come, we will owe it to the
little woman who never would admit discour-
agement or exhaustion."
Gay applause swept round the candle-lighted
Circle. Mrs. Larry sat with her hands clasped
tightly in her lap, her lips quivering and some-
thing very like moisture blurring her vision.
Why she had never dreamed And what in
the world was Jimmy Graves trying to say?
He was looking at her too !
"The rest pf you men may feel a debt to Mrs.
Larry for leading your wives to the well of
thrift, but my debt is one that can not be voiced
in mere words. Mrs. Larry has made it pos-
sible for me to claim the greatest happiness
within the reach of man. Claire and I were
married this afternoon in the Little Church
Around the Corner. Mrs. Larry, all unknow-
ingly, has supplied our wedding feast."
On the amazed silence which followed this
unexpected announcement, Mrs. Larry sprang
to her feet, flashed round the table and clasped
Claire in her arms.
"Oh, my dear my dear " was all she could
say. "And I expected to be matron of honor !"
ADVENTURES IN THRIFT 229
"And so you should have been, if you hadn't
been so busy with this dinner," whispered
Claire. "I hadn't the heart to interrupt and
it was all so sudden. Why should we ask
mother, who did not entirely approve, to have
a gorgeous wedding that we did not want? And
why should I ask my lonely man to wait when
in all things essential I was prepared?"
"Well," exclaimed Mr. Larry, his hand grip-
ping that of Jimmy Graves, "who would ex-
pect adventures in thrift to lead to the altar
where they usually start?"
"I think," said Teresa Moore very gently,
"that Claire has chosen the better way she
has learned first. She takes no chance with
love."
THE END
THIS BOOK IS DUE ON THE LAST DATE
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WILL INCREASE TO SO CENTS ON THE FOURTH
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15 1935
LD 21-100m-8,'34
UN,VERS,TY OF CALIFORN.A UBRARV
