v^ 
 
 a> 
 
 yjV 
 
 THE 
 FAMILY INCOME 
 
 By 
 
 W. H. BLACK 
 
 Adveriismg Manager of The Delineator 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
Zbc jFamil^ Ifncome 
 
THE 
 FAMILY INCOME 
 
 BY 
 
 W. H. Black 
 
 Advertising Manager of The Delineator 
 
 NEW YORK 
 

 LIBRARY at CONGRESS 
 One Gopy rteceived 
 
 MAY 20 1^/ 
 
 iConjfrient tiitry 
 
 (^ASS CC XXC. No 
 
 COPY B. 
 
 Copyright, 1907, 
 
 BY 
 
 W. H. Black 
 
 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 
 

 \o^ 
 
 DEDICATED 
 
 Reputable Manufacturer, the Square 
 Dealer and the Intelligent Buyer 
 
 The Friends and Supporters of Trade 
 Integrity, and the Three Factors, Who, 
 by Honest Production, Honorable 
 Methods and the Recognition of Right, 
 Encourage the Best and Raise the 
 Average of the Common Good. 
 
 VII 
 
INDEX 
 
 The Makers op Quality 1 
 
 The Substitution Evil ... .... 8 
 
 The Value of the Trade-Mark 16 
 
 Fixing the Standards 21 
 
 The Dealers in Quality 27 
 
 The Family Income .... .... 33 
 
PREFACE 
 
 IT may be too much to expect that this Uttle book will 
 strike a new note in the trade of our busy world, but 
 the hope is ventured that it will catch and interpret 
 for you the better spirit that has come into our 
 dealings with one another. 
 
 To-day the finest fact in our nation's life is that it has 
 added quahty to quantity. For more than a century 
 we boasted of our country's bigness, of its exhaustless 
 natural resources and of its money totals. That was 
 the broad — and sound — basis of our development. On 
 this basis our progressive manufacturers have erected 
 new standards — and the best of modern business has 
 adjusted its methods to these standards. But the 
 record is not complete — it seldom is in the affairs of 
 men and especially in the ramifications of merchandiz- 
 ing ; and so it is meet that we take counsel together and 
 find what we can do. 
 
 First we must see that the evils are both within and 
 without. Of five thousand seven hundred and forty- 
 nine samples of imported food products examined by 
 the federal authorities last year one thousand two 
 hundred and forty-six, or more than twenty per cent., 
 were found not to comply with the law. Some of the 
 European countries that have strict laws against adul- 
 teration and substitution make generous exceptions in 
 
 XI 
 
the case of goods manufactured "for export." So 
 much for the dangers from abroad (although a book on 
 the subject might be written). In the United States 
 the maker of standard goods must fight swarms of 
 imitators and this fight is as much in the interest 
 of the consumer as it is of himself. Universal attention 
 has been called to the general conditions by the Pure 
 Food Law which went into effect this year, but as this 
 law is only a regulation of interstate commerce it can 
 affect only a small part of a large division — for pure 
 food is only a division of the much larger subject of 
 Substitution. Our present advantage is that we have 
 come to an era of agitation and inquiry — and thus the 
 buyers are finding out the value of quality, standards 
 and trade-marks. This small volume is a contribution 
 to the cause. 
 
 As the responsible party between the manufacturer 
 and the consumer, the dealer may easily become the 
 target of an unjust cross-fire. There are many 
 thousands of dealers of the very highest character and 
 responsibiUty. To these both the manufacturer and 
 the consumer owe not oiily recognition but unfaltering 
 support. There are thousands more who will improve 
 their methods when they know the facts and realize 
 that the only merchandizing that can be really success- 
 ful must be founded on quality and satisfaction — and 
 these, we hope, will read this book. There are others 
 who may not want to be converted, and perhaps you 
 will see why — if you follow our argument — they 
 should be watched. 
 
 Asked to name the biggest thing in our land, you 
 might reply the national debt of two and a quarter 
 bilhons, or the marvelous revenues of our government, 
 reaching almost a billion a year, or the reputed fortune 
 of our most unpopular plutocrat. Roll them into one 
 
and you would not have the Family Income of America. 
 It is the biggest fact of all history. Beside its tall 
 colimm other totals shrink. 
 
 You have your part in it and of it. And your part is 
 more real and more important to you than all the rest. 
 So your interest in this consideration of certain evils 
 and remedies that concern your pocket-book ought to 
 begin at the opening and keep right on to the end. 
 
 XIII 
 
CHAPTER I 
 
 THE MAKERS OF QUALITY 
 
 What a visitor found seventy years ago — manu- 
 facturing PROGRESS slow AT FIRST — FACTORIES 
 looked more to quantity, but THE ERA OF 
 QUALITY BEGAN — THE WONDERFUL ADVANCE — 
 NOW THERE ARE STANDARD ARTICLES FOR EVERY 
 NEED, STANDARDS NOT ONLY FOR AMERICA BUT 
 FOR THE WORLD. 
 
 IN the first half of the past century there came to 
 America one of the most remarkable young men 
 the world ever knew. He had noble blood in his 
 veins, but his soul was full of the love of liberty. 
 His visit to America was to find out what the people 
 were doing for self-government and human progress. 
 He caught the full spirit of the United States and 
 absorbed aU the facts, and he gave to the world 
 De Toqueville's "Democracy in America," which is more 
 widely read as the years go by. 
 
 In those early days our people did not have at hand 
 all they wanted; so they proceeded to make it. "In 
 America it sometimes happens," observed the visitor, 
 "that the same individual tills his field, builds his 
 dwelling, contrives his tools, makes his shoes and 
 weaves the coarse stuff of which his dress is composed. 
 This circumstance is prejudicial to the excellence of his 
 work, but it powerfully contributes to awaken the 
 inteUigence of the workmen." 
 
THE FAMIL Y INCOME 
 
 That was seventy years ago. The right force was at 
 work, for that which awakens the intelligence of the 
 workmen is the greatest of all powers for future achieve- 
 ment. 
 
 "America is a land of wonders in which everything is 
 in constant motion and every movement seems an 
 improvement," he wrote again. 
 
 First the awakening of intelligence ; then the spirit of 
 motion and improvement, and lastly the enterprise 
 and ambitions as expressed in this prophetic sentence: 
 
 "No natural boundary seems to be set to the efforts 
 of man and what is not yet done is only what he has not 
 attempted to do." 
 
 It would require a dozen volumes as large as an 
 unabridged dictionary to tell what the American has 
 attempted to do — and what he has done — since the 
 first half of the past century. 
 
 Easily the most widely beneficial and most important 
 to the comfort and health of the world has been the 
 work of the American manufacturers. 
 
 We find our heroes among soldiers and our popular 
 idols among statesmen. Let us not quarrel with it — 
 because it is the way of the world — but the man who 
 stands at the head of things in the actual results is the 
 manufacturer. It will be worth your while to read 
 this paragraph taken from a recent address by a dis- 
 tinguished American orator to a great business body: 
 
 "Industry is moved by the spirit of conquest, but its 
 victories are the victories of peace, of prosperity, of 
 enlightenment. Its miracles are without number. 
 It has dismantled the walls of cities, broken down the 
 barriers between nations and made the standing 
 armies relics of a time that is passing. It is supplanting 
 
 2 
 
BOPV TO SPEND IT 
 
 the reign of force ^-ith a rational ci\-ilization. Instead 
 of the nations devoting their energies to conquering 
 each other they are now emulating one another in the 
 struggle to conquer nature. To compel nature to 
 slave for man, to harness her forces in the work of 
 transmuting the resources of the earth into commodities 
 of consumption, to amplify over and over again that 
 geometrical rule of industry that two blades of grass 
 can be made to grow where formerly there was but one, 
 to develop an ever-increasing use of means and methods 
 for cheapening and enlarging production in order to 
 advance the standard of li\ing for a rapidly growing 
 population— that is the world's work to-day. In all 
 the generations of man there has been no greater 
 work." 
 
 Expressed in figures this work is even more eloquent 
 than the language of the orator. Think for a moment 
 that the manufactured products of the United States 
 have increased from less than two billion dollars in 
 1860 to more than seventeen bUlion dollars for 1906! 
 
 In that you have not only a story of bigness but the 
 many higher efforts of manufacturers to produce things 
 of the finest quality to meet every need. 
 
 In fact it is the manufacturer who has given us our 
 high average of prosperity and most of the comforts 
 which we enjoy to-day. 
 
 We have now a population of about eighty-five 
 millions. In another ten years it will be over one 
 hundred millions and in twenty-five years it will be 
 between one hundred and forty millions and one 
 hundred and fifty milhons. Many young men and 
 certainly many boys who read these words will Uve to 
 see the population two hundred millions. How will 
 
THE FAMIL V INCOME 
 
 they get along? How will they hve? Better than we 
 do to-day, for it is the careful calculation of people who 
 have studied such things that the two hundred milHons 
 of 1950 will have more potentiaUty than four hundred 
 millions could accomplish to-day. 
 
 We need not be discouraged, then, for if we look back 
 we may find that our eighty-five millions to-day are 
 doing more than two or three hundred millions of 
 seventy years ago could possibly achieve with the 
 facilities and knowledge of that day. 
 
 It is only by taking these totals and seeing the 
 tremendous differences that we can appreciate the 
 really great things that have come about. It is not 
 so much that wonderful improvements have been 
 wrought but that there has been a constant multi- 
 pUcation of needs which industry and invention had 
 to supply. 
 
 To all these figures add the facts one to another and 
 you will begin to see something of the part that the 
 manufacturer has played in the convenience of your 
 life. 
 
 One of the greatest of these manufacturers has 
 declared that, "It is the innate American characteristic 
 to do and to excel." That characteristic has been at 
 work ever since the visiting Frenchman noted the 
 awakening of intelligence of the workmen two genera- 
 tions ago. 
 
 So it has come about that in every one of the articles 
 needed by the individual and in the home and for the 
 daily requirements of the race there has been some one 
 reaching for and attaining a particular excellence. 
 
 In no respect has America so outdone history as in the 
 number and strength of the standards she has erected. 
 
HOW TO SPEND IT 
 
 And our manufacturers have erected more standards 
 than any other part of our population. 
 
 Not many years ago the staff of Ufe was gathered 
 from the fields and crudely ground. There was no 
 choice. We all had to take practically the same rough 
 product. To-day we have it in a hundred forms, 
 handled with a cleanness and a beauty never dreamed 
 of. It may be a breakfast food or it may be cake, 
 done up in attractive packages. 
 
 Mark this, too ; not only is there an astonishing variety, 
 but for each class there is a product of standard quality. 
 If our grandfathers who wove the coarse stuff of 
 which their dress was composed could visit the cotton 
 and cloth mills to-day, how great would be their 
 wonder! Here is where America has made amazing 
 progress and yet it has only begun to do the work that 
 is marked out for it. The time is coming when American 
 dress materials will be as standard as American foods 
 or American machinery. 
 
 The point is that for every thing you need there are 
 one or more standard articles which have been pro- 
 duced for you by the enterprise and higher intelligence 
 of the progressive manufacturer. 
 
 It is easy for everyone, by the exercise of the right 
 care, to get the full benefit of this best production. 
 The manufacturer who makes a standard is a practi- 
 cal public benefactor. In many instances he faces 
 bankruptcy rather than lower his ideals. He experi- 
 mented with machinery, materials and men and kept 
 on in his work until his product was so superior as to be 
 practically perfect. 
 
 In addition to that, he protected the quality and 
 reputation of his product by constant improvement. 
 
THE FAMIL V INCOME 
 
 He goes ahead of those who produce ordinary goods 
 and he keeps ahead, and while it is to his interest to do 
 so, it is certainly also for the benefit of the consumer- 
 
 In this age excellence does not mean expensivcness. 
 The producer of the best knows that in order to per- 
 manently succeed he must make his price low^just as 
 near to cost as he possibly can. The whole idea of 
 modern manufacture is to secure the profit on the 
 wideness of the sale — a fraction on each article but so 
 many articles sold that the total will represent financial 
 success. 
 
 Thus it happens that the manufacturer of to-day 
 spends his great fortune, his genius and the efforts of 
 his men for you — the person who buys. It may be 
 that the article costs only a nickel or a dime, but behind 
 it are the investments of millions, the work of years and 
 the unceasing efforts of those American workmen whose 
 mtelUgence is always being awakened to larger pur- 
 poses and finer results. 
 
 There is even more in the thoroughness of the care 
 that is thrown around these goods of quality. 
 
 The strength of the chain is its weakest link. The 
 strength of the standard article is its minimum quality. 
 A single consignment of bad goods might wreck an 
 investment of millions. So it can be seen how neces- 
 sary it is for the makers of quality articles to keep up 
 their standards to the highest possible average. They 
 spend fortunes every year in bettering their products. 
 The buyers receive the benefit of all this without 
 additional cost. 
 
 The tendency of standard articles is upward — in 
 everything but price. 
 
 It happens rather curiously that the manufacturer in 
 
HO W TO SPEND IT 
 
 his wonderful enterprise has not only turned to the 
 public good every product and every part of it, but that 
 he has also worked great changes in the relation of 
 things. 
 
 For instance, in the past three or four years all the 
 metals have advanced in usefulness so largely that 
 gold alone has fallen, measuring its price by the power 
 of purchasing other commodities. 
 
 Somewhat in the same way, values have been redis- 
 tributed through the efforts of the manufacturer who 
 has brought within the reach of all the best quality at 
 the fairest price. 
 
CHAPTER II 
 THE SUBSTITUTION EVIL 
 
 How GOOD DEALERS ARE FOOLED AND HOW BAD 
 DEALERS FOOL GOOD CUSTOMERS — MOST WIDE- 
 SPREAD LOSS OF MODERN TIMES — HOWEVER LOW 
 THE PRICE THE SUBSTITUTE GETS THE LARGER 
 PROFIT AND THE BUYER RECEIVES SMALLER VALUE 
 — NO RESPON.SIBILITY OR SATISFACTION — PERIL 
 OF GERMS AND DISEASES IN MATERIALS. 
 
 NEARLY every article made by man for man's 
 use is or has been abased by man for 
 purposes of gain." This statement will be 
 found in one of our most conservative encyclopedias. 
 It is signed by Dr. Cjo-us Edson, who was one 
 of the first authorities on adulteration and similar 
 evils. 
 
 Thus far we have followed the story of the making of 
 the quality products. It has been very pleasant read- 
 ing and we heartily wish there was no darker side, but 
 unhappily, for every standard article produced by the 
 honorable manufacturer and purveyed to the customer 
 by the honest merchant, there are scores of imitations 
 and frauds that seek to steal the good name of the 
 superior product. Thus broadly, we have the sub- 
 stitution evil, which is one of the greatest swindles of 
 the times, and which represents more damage to the 
 family income than all other losses combined. 
 
 First, let us find out how substitution is regarded. 
 
HOW TO SPEND IT 
 
 Under the new law of Congress, any person guilty of 
 adulteration or misbranding within, the reach of the 
 act "shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and for each 
 offense shall, upon conviction thereof, be fined not to 
 exceed five hundred dollars or shaU be sentenced to one 
 year's imprisomnent, in the discretion of the court, and 
 for each subsequent offense and conviction thereof, 
 shall be fined not less than one thousand dollars or 
 sentenced to one year's imprisonment, or both, such 
 fine and imprisonment in the discretion of the court. 
 This settles pretty clearly the criminal responsibility of 
 the person who deals in substitution, for substitution 
 means both adulteration and misbranding. 
 
 In a notable speech in the last Congress Mr. Mann, a 
 leader in pure food legislation, excited the laughter of 
 his colleagues and at the same time produced a pro- 
 found impression by taking from the many adultera- 
 tions and frauds or exhibit there , a particular instance, 
 following it with this comment: , . , i 
 
 "One of the articles upon the table here which has 
 attracted some attention is a sample of honey, m the 
 preparation of which the acumen of man has really 
 reached its highest point. The specimen is composed 
 of glucose, but it still deceives by containing a bug or a 
 bee Who, when looking at the clear amber substance, 
 with a bee floating in it, would suspect that it had never 
 seen the inside of a hive, but only came from the glu- 
 cose factory?" , , 
 
 We take this to illustrate the general instincts of the 
 man who adulterates or who substitutes. Putting a 
 bee in glucose is the same kind of morality as imitating 
 a label or offering something "just as good." 
 
 In the easy tolerations of some people excuse is 
 
THE FAMIL V INCOME 
 
 found for the dealer who knowingly substitutes on the 
 ground that it is his business to sell at the largest profit. 
 
 Make no mistake about his culpability. 
 
 In the law for pure food, substitution for purposes of 
 deception is clearly defined and with honest folks there 
 can never be any question as to what it means. Its 
 effect is not only to deceive the consumer but to rob the 
 producer. "Everywhere," we quote from the proceed- 
 ings of Congress, "the honest manufacturer, the honest 
 dealer, is met with competition more or less keen and 
 dangerous by the use of adulterated or shortweighted 
 goods." 
 
 We find in the official records so many cases that one 
 stands appalled. Here, for instance, are twelve sub- 
 stitutes for cocoa, a half dozen substitutes for pepper, 
 including nut shells and sawdust; eight substitutes for 
 olive oil, and so on down the list. We even find adul- 
 teration in noodles. 
 
 All liquors, from bitters to brandy, are now made 
 without any original liquor in them at all. 
 
 Similar business rascality is practised in clothing 
 materials and building materials, in furnishing and 
 scores of things that aft'ect the health and well-being 
 of the home. In Europe they are making substitution 
 silk out of wood pulp! 
 
 It simply comes to the point that no intelligent 
 person who investigates the subject will risk the use of 
 an article that does not bear upon it the label or the 
 trade-mark of a reputable producer. 
 
 Within the past year two important American com- 
 munities and one leading American school were pros- 
 trated by typhoid fever. In all three cases investiga- 
 tion showed that the milk supply had been adulterated 
 
 10 
 
HO W TO SPEND IT 
 
 and contaminated with surface water. When the milk 
 swindlers decided to cheat their customers they had no 
 conscience about pollution. It is that way with sub- 
 stitutes for standard articles. The water in the milk 
 means disease and suffering — often death. Substitu- 
 tion lets in all the dangers. Some day we shall have 
 drastic laws to punish criminals who put water in milk, 
 and we shall have laws for the swindlers who practise 
 the other kinds of substitution. In the meanwhile be 
 sure of your milkman and of your tradesmen if you 
 would protect the health of your family. 
 
 Substitution covers most of the articles in the list of 
 the day's purchasing. It is in the food you eat, the 
 clothes you wear, the houses you build and furnish. 
 
 For practically every need and purpose there are one 
 or more standard articles guaranteed and protected by 
 trade-marks. These you can purchase with absolute 
 safety. 
 
 For every established trade-mark there are scores of 
 imitators who seek larger profits by inferior wares. 
 
 Expressed in figures this evil means hundreds of mil- 
 lions of dollars in cheap brands and stolen values. 
 
 And the worst of it is that substitution seldom keeps 
 its particular form long enough to be caught. It is 
 constantly changing, with all the cleverness of its kind, 
 and thus behind even the best of it there is no respon- 
 sibility on which the consumer can obtain the shghtest 
 recourse. 
 
 It is a plain proposition that while you have before 
 you the things that are good and dependable, it is wit- 
 less and improvident to take other things that are 
 neither honest nor true. Indeed, it is so very self-evi- 
 dent that one feels a certain superfluity in impressing it. 
 
 11 
 
THE FAMIL V INCOME 
 
 But this paradox has been explained in the previous 
 chapter. It is only in recent years that the manufac- 
 turers and producers have established enough standards 
 in food, raiment and household necessities to make it 
 possible for the consumer to buy practically everything 
 he needs by simply watching the label. 
 
 That condition, however, now exists. The era of 
 quality has arrived. 
 
 Knowing this you should bear in mind always that the 
 fight against substitution is your fight and there is not 
 a solitary argument against it. 
 
 If the substitution dealer tells you that the substi- 
 tute is just as good he speaks falsely. 
 
 If he tells you that the standard article has to charge 
 a higher price because of its advertising expense do not 
 believe him. The advertising expense of any single 
 article you buy is so inconsiderable a part of a penny 
 that it can make no difference whatever in the sum you 
 pay. 
 
 The articles most widely advertised are cheaper 
 because of the advertising, for the simple fact 
 that advertising widens the market and vastly in- 
 creases the sales. Fortunes on standard articles 
 are made on a small fraction profit on the article 
 sold, and on the extension of the trade. The sub- 
 stitution man has to clean up his profit on his im- 
 mediate sale. 
 
 In buying the standard article you always get the 
 worth of your money, and, if by any accident you do 
 not, you have full recourse from a responsible seller. 
 In buying the substitute you never get full value and 
 you have no recovery. 
 
 In buying standard articles you save time and worry. 
 
 12 
 
HO W TO SPEND IT 
 
 You have honest return and satisfaction and you keep 
 on buying and receiving these benefits. In the sub- 
 stitute not only do you obtain less value but you get an 
 uncertainty, and you must fuss and fume over the 
 same old problem of making a proper selection the 
 next time. 
 
 From every point of view it is to your interest to buy 
 the standard article and to see that your dealer keeps it 
 in stock. In a wider sense it is your duty as a good 
 citizen to encourage the best. You should uphold 
 integrity in business as strenuously as you would 
 honesty in government. 
 
 No paternal government, no state censorship, no 
 police regulation can do the particular duty that 
 belongs to you, and all of the forces put together would 
 not protect you from substitution unless you co-operat- 
 ed with them by watching the labels and seeing that 
 you got what you called for. 
 
 You can be your own pure food law, your own 
 quality agent, youi' own best protector, and you can- 
 not delegate these things to any other person or any set 
 of persons. 
 
 And it is not a heavy responsibility. The thing has 
 been wonderfully simplified for you. The standard 
 articles are within reach ; the labels are on them and if 
 you persist your dealer will handle them. 
 
 Thus you can benefit yourself, and, by widening the 
 market of the better qualities, do good to your neigh- 
 bors and advance the moral and material welfare of 
 your community. 
 
 And finally, it is to the women who do most of the 
 buying that we must look for constant watchfulness in 
 this crusade against the makeshifts and counterfeits 
 
 13 
 
THE FAMIL Y INCOME 
 
 contrived to rob their pocket books and injure their 
 homes. 
 
 Bear in mind that the substitute never fills its 
 claims. 
 
 "The great trouble with a pug dog as a professional 
 beauty is that his skin is made to fit a shorter dog." 
 
 14 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 THE VALUE OF THE TRADE MARK 
 
 Its protection to the purchaser — ^The owner 
 must maintain its quality — the good work it 
 has done — how it assures satisfaction — 
 bringing confidence into buying — a good 
 
 trade-mark a benefaction. 
 
 THE trade-mark is a guarantee to the purchasing 
 public. There is no general benefit more fully 
 established. It is a comparatively recent institu- 
 tion, for it was developed in the nineteenth century, 
 and its merits have been adequately recognized only 
 within the past twenty-five years. The office of 
 the trade-mark is to point out distinctively the origin 
 or ownership of the article to which it is affixed. 
 It is the label of quality, and selling under the trade- 
 mark of another is recognized by the law as false 
 representation. 
 
 Justice Bradley used the following in an opinion 
 in the Supreme Court, the highest authority in the 
 land: 
 
 "It is the object of the law relating to trade-marks to 
 prevent one man from unfairly stealing away another's 
 business and good- will. Fair competition in business is 
 legitimate, and promotes the public good; but an imfair 
 appropriation of another's business, by using his name 
 or trade-mark, or an imitation thereof calculated to 
 deceive the pubUc, or in any other way, is justly punish- 
 
 15 
 
THE FAMIL Y INCOME 
 
 able by damages, and will be enjoined by a court of 
 equity." 
 
 Against the trade-mark two charges are made, both 
 equally false and futile. 
 
 The first is that it promotes monopoly. This 
 accusation often impresses those who do not take the 
 trouble to inquire into the facts. The following is the 
 principle of the thing: "No one can claim protection in 
 the exclusive use of a trade-mark which would practi- 
 cally give him a monopoly in the sale of any goods 
 other than those produced or made by himself." If he 
 could the public would be injured rather than protected, 
 for competition would be destroyed. It may be taken 
 for granted, therefore, that the trade-mark does not 
 mean monopoly, but that it does mean a standard 
 erected by enterprise and protected by law, this protec- 
 tion being founded entirely in the powers of the courts 
 to prevent fraud. 
 
 Second, the charge is made that the trade-mark 
 increases the price to the consumer — simply ah un- 
 proved statement which may easily be disproved by 
 countless instances. 
 
 When a dealer uses such an argument, he is seeking 
 a larger profit on an article which he wants to substi- 
 tute for that which bears the trade-mark. This kind of 
 production or salesmanship tells you — either in imita- 
 tion labels or misleading circulars or easy tradesmen — 
 that the substitute contains the same ingredients — 
 even sometimes boasting that it is an improvement 
 upon what it seeks to represent — and that it costs you 
 less because the genuine brand is under the expense of 
 maintaining its trade-mark. The man or firm that 
 establishes a standard article and advertises it widely 
 16 
 
HOW TO SPEND IT 
 
 must maintain its quality. Advertising any article 
 means an invitation to test its merits-or find its 
 demerits. Second-raters do not come into the lime- 
 Ught, but they all watch the big fellow and try to 
 sneak under his coat-tails. , 
 
 The trade-mark is even more for the customers 
 benefit than it is for the man who owns it. 
 
 Millions of dollars have been refused for trade-marks. 
 In most cases the single product was sold to the pubhc 
 for less than twenty-five cents. The value was m the 
 universality of the market. The profit was a fraction 
 of a cent-but the many fractions made the big total. 
 You-the purchaser-got the full benefit of the whole 
 investment; your single article could not be better if all 
 the millions were put solely into its production, ihat 
 is why the trade-mark ought to be your concern- 
 why you should seek to protect it by buying only the 
 goods behind which you know you wiU find both 
 quality and responsibility. ,, u«e 
 
 One who has studied the subject well has 
 aptly expressed the truth and philosophy of it as 
 
 follows: J u-., 
 
 "The manufacturer first puts a mark on his goods by 
 which you can recognize them as his product, ihen 
 he advertises, in order to get the largest possible circle 
 of customers, so that by making his goods m large and 
 steady quantities, he can keep up the quality, while 
 reducing the cost-and thus can feel that no other 
 manufacturer can be able to offer you better value. 
 A well-known article, ten or fifteen years ago, for 
 instance, cost fifteen cents a package. By advertising, 
 the makers increased their customers from thousands to 
 millions. And, owing solely to that increase of business 
 17 
 
THE FAMIL V INCOME 
 
 they were soon able to make and sell that article for 
 ten cents. 
 
 "A trade-mark on an article (especially if the trade- 
 mark is accompanied by the name of the manufacturer 
 who is responsible) gives you assurance that every 
 piece of goods with that mark will give the same 
 satisfaction. If your first purchase of that article was 
 not satisfactory, the trade-mark saves you money 
 because you know what to avoid. If the first purchase 
 was satisfactory, the trade-mark saves you time on 
 every later purchase because you know that goods 
 under that "mark" are uniform, and so you do not have 
 to stop and examine them every time you purchase. 
 It saves you money, too, because if the trade-mark 
 was not there to guide you to good value, you would 
 still have to buy in the dark, and in many a later pur- 
 chase you would get something different — resulting in 
 disappointment and perhaps a total loss. The trade- 
 mark brings confidence into your buying if you will 
 only take thought enough to realize it. 
 
 "Just remember that if a trade-marked article disap- 
 points you a first time, the trade-mark loses more than 
 you do. You have received less value than you 
 expected — but the trade-mark (which might have 
 enjoyed your life-long patronage) has lost its chance 
 forever. The manufacturer knows this too. So there 
 have come to be two divisions of trade-marked articles. 
 The first class is of trade-marks that are put on goods 
 because the manufacturer knows he is giving you good 
 value, and earnestly believes that you will come back 
 again for goods under that mark — in other words, on 
 'standard' goods, or goods which, though new in the 
 market, will become 'standard' in time. 
 
 18 
 
HO W TO SPEND IT 
 
 "The second class of trade-marks are put on the goods 
 without any idea that the goods themselves are 'good 
 value and good enough to win re-order.' The mark is 
 there to make them look like standard goods and help 
 them to sell for the same, or nearly the same, price as 
 standard. In blunt words, they are substitutes, often 
 manufactured and marked deliberately with that 
 purpose." 
 
 A man who builds up a trade-mark by meritorious 
 goods and jucUcious publicity is a benefactor, not only 
 to his town or city, but particularly to the public 
 which wants the best and is willing to pay for it. 
 Consider for a moment the fact that, out of a dozen 
 things you buy during the day, probably the majority 
 are purchased blindly. You pay your money and you 
 don't know what you are getting. In the case of a 
 trade-marked article that is widely advertised, you do 
 know what you are getting, and if there is any fault you 
 can have your money back. The man, therefore, 
 who builds up a trade-mark brings a higher morality 
 into business and a larger safety for all consumers. 
 
 This trade-mark protection extends to the smallest 
 as well as to the largest article you buy. It represents 
 the standard in every kind and class. It is practical 
 insurance of quality and you can no more afford to 
 ignore it than you can to disregard any other of the 
 useful rules of business. 
 
 We have said that the man who establishes a trade- 
 mark is a public benefactor. He brings the best to all. 
 
 This story was told by a friend who was on a walking 
 trip last summer through a country district : While at 
 a cross-roads store two men rode up seeking something 
 to eat. They had lost time by taking a wrong road. 
 
 19 
 
THE FAMIL V INCOME 
 
 One was the head of a great nation and the other was a 
 man famous in diplomacy. Glancing at the comiter 
 they saw a package of food. At once both exclaimed 
 that it was all right. They recognized the label and the 
 brand and knew they would be safe eating it, which they 
 did with evident relish. 
 
 A few minutes after they had gone a pedler and 
 driver came in and bought a similar package, enjoying 
 it quite as much as the more distinguished travelers. 
 
 Here was an incident of the very best supplied to the 
 extremes of society at the same cost, something abso- 
 lutely safe and acceptable provided by a manufacturer 
 who had perfected his product and protected it by a 
 trade-mark. 
 
 That package selling for a few pennies represented 
 the highest efficiency of the plant and organization in 
 which were tens of millions of dollars and the benefits of 
 it was enjoyed equally by ruler and pedler, diplomat 
 and driver. The great worth of standard goods is that 
 the label insures to the people of small or moderate 
 means not only the full value of their investment but 
 personal safety as well. The poor can have the same 
 food as the rich. 
 
 As it is in food so it is in the other things. A good 
 trade-mark is the practical insurance of a square deal to 
 every purchaser. 
 
 20 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 FIXING THE STANDARDS 
 
 How PUBLICITY HAS HELPED — THE ERA OF BIG 
 ADVERTISING — BUT ALL ADVERTISING MUST HAVE 
 MERIT BEHIND IT TO SUCCEED — NO PROFIT FOR 
 POOR PRODUCTS EVEN IN PRODIGAL SPENDING — 
 ADVERTISING FATAL TO THE UNWORTHY — IGNOR- 
 ANCE ABOUT RELATION OF COST OF ADVERTISING 
 TO THE SELLING PRICE OF THE ADVERTISED 
 ARTICLE. 
 
 LONG before the era of large advertising, the 
 greatest philosopher of the world said: "Be 
 not penny- wise; riches have v/ings and some- 
 times they fly away of themselves, sometimes they 
 must be set flying to bring in more." 
 
 This is distinctly the era of big advertising and it 
 may be well for us to clearly understand what we mean 
 by big advertising. Let us start with the knowledge 
 that no advertising is wise or permanently profitable 
 unless it has merit behind it. But having merit behind 
 it the only advertising that wins big is big advertising. 
 It is not as new as it might seem . Every far sighted man 
 who had something to sell and was sure of its quality 
 realized that the quickest and surest way to sell it was 
 to catch the public attention and drive home his inten- 
 tions by bold words. For instance, in 1773 George 
 Washington had certain real estate which he wanted to 
 dispose of. He saw the advantages of advertising as 
 
 21 
 
THE FAMIL V INCOME 
 
 he saw most things in his day and generation — that is 
 more broadly and more intelUgently than any man of 
 his day. So he did not spare his adjectives and in the 
 newspapers of that year he was the largest advertiser 
 not only in space but in the force and meaning of his 
 language. 
 
 If we trace the history of publicity for years back we 
 find that the big winners have invariably been the big 
 advertisers who had meritorious goods for the general 
 market. 
 
 The manufacturer came into the field a httle later 
 than he should, but now he is doing what he can to 
 make up for lost time. 
 
 After the manufacturer had put riches in his quality 
 products he found that something remained to be done. 
 He knew that they were in his shop and believed he 
 could supply the market of the world — but the world 
 did not know. So in order to extend the benefit of his 
 work and to receive profitable returns from his enter- 
 prise he had to give his riches wings and send them as 
 messengers to mankind. 
 
 The average manufacturer did not like to advertise. 
 His objections were natural and easily understood. 
 When he came into the publicity situation he found 
 two extremes. 
 
 One was the deadly dulness of the mere business 
 card, a survival of the days when communities were 
 small and when the important thing was to let people 
 know the address of the advertiser and the cargo of the 
 latest ship from Europe. 
 
 The other extreme was the wild extravagance of the 
 foolish advertisers who fancied they could make a 
 success of mere claim and statement full of vain boast- 
 
 22 
 
HO W TO SPEND IT 
 
 ing and double superlatives and irrespective of the 
 question of merit in the goods which they had to offer. 
 Even to-day we have persons otherwise sane who 
 believe that big advertising can sell anything or make 
 a success of any proposition, whether it have quality 
 or not — which means with such that it has no real 
 quality at all. The shores of pubUcity are strewn with 
 the wi'ecks of this kind of folly. 
 
 Gradually the manufacturer came to see that his sal- 
 vation was in the wise use of this tremenduous means of 
 reaching and stimulating the pubUc interest. He saw 
 because someone else might have misused a good 
 thing was no reason why he should not employ it well 
 and thus make it his chief agency in his work. Thus 
 he began and to-day we find that honest advertising of 
 meritorious goods has not only been profitable in itself 
 but has made the exaggerated advertising of doubtful 
 articles ridiculous. The only advertising that pays is 
 that which has a fact behind every assertion ; that which 
 can make good every pledge, every claim. Whether 
 it fill many pages or a few Unes, the rule holds to the 
 very letter. 
 
 So the men of sense, enterprise and proportion realize 
 that advertising was not a mere circus trick to attract 
 the crowd, but that rightly used, it was as much of an 
 investment as their own manufacturing plants. 
 
 The big manufacturer does not keep running many 
 little plants widely distributed. If he did he would be 
 bankrupt in a year. He concentrates. He runs his 
 plant in a big way — because that is the only economy. 
 It should be the same wdth his advertising. The great 
 loss in publicity to-day is in scattering. It is as foolish 
 as the scattering of small plants instead of concentrating 
 
 23 
 
THE FAMIL V INCOME 
 
 in the big factory. Thus perhaps one may see wherein 
 Ues the wisdom of big advertising done in a big way in 
 the big advertising mediums that concentrate their 
 energies along the profitable lines and that reach further 
 and better and cheaper than any combination or chain 
 of little publications could possibly achieve. 
 
 Another good thing the manufacturer has done has 
 been truth making in advertising. Advertising never 
 could offer and it never can offer anything miraculous. 
 The merit of the thing advertised must justify the 
 public test. Otherwise the extraordinary invitation 
 must be detrimental. Not only would the article 
 without merit fail, but the money spent in advertising 
 would be a total loss. 
 
 The manufacturer got to know these things and he 
 tried the public intelligence by appeals to reason, 
 by frankness of statement, by direct and engaging 
 address and by pleasing illustration. 
 
 In all the advertising he did he kept steadily in view 
 his own responsibility, so that he might stand ready to 
 back to the limit every statement he made. 
 
 Thus the manufacturer more than any other user 
 of pubUcity created public confidence in advertising. 
 Thus several new conditions have come about. The 
 advertising pages of our magazines now excel in interest 
 for most people their literary text. Mr. Gladstone 
 sent back the English editions of American magazines 
 because he wanted the advertising pages. We are 
 told that Mr. Kipling has a similar liking and he has 
 not hesitated to make reference to the advertising 
 pages in his UTitings. 
 
 By judicious advertising the man who has created or 
 produced a standard of excellence for public utility 
 
 24 
 
HO W TO SPEND IT 
 
 and general consumption reaches the whole people at 
 less expense and in the shortest possible time. If he 
 were to employ an army of special representatives he 
 could not reach one-tenth the number and his expenses 
 would be one hundred times as great, not counting the 
 enormous loss of time. 
 
 So when the manufacturer enters upon a big adver- 
 tising campaign, those people who see only surface 
 indications and who think that he is spending money 
 wastefully make a huge mistake. He is in fact practis- 
 ing the wisest economy, for he is doing in the shortest 
 time and at the smallest expense what might otherwise 
 take years to accomplish. 
 
 He finds that this policy brings benefits more certain- 
 ly and far more swiftly than compound interest. Thus 
 we have the enhghtened manufacturers whose adver- 
 tising campaigns, begun modestly decades ago, have 
 increased from year to year, most of this increase being 
 based upon the percentage of their business growth. 
 
 Here indeed is the very gist of the whole question. 
 The advertising forms practically no charge upon the 
 business. By the increase in trade that it brings it pays 
 for itself many times over, so that the advertised article 
 reaches the customer as though it had not been adver- 
 tised at all ; that is to say, the advertising expense, by 
 the extension of the sale, becomes so small as to be 
 practically negUgible. 
 
 It is important to remember this, because the manu- 
 facturer who advertises widely hears constantly the 
 cries of the little fellows that he charges more because 
 he has advertising bills to pay. The proof of his posi- 
 tion is the fact that he gives to the pubhc the best 
 quaUty and the highest satisfaction at the minimum 
 25 
 
THE FAMIL Y INCOME 
 
 cost, while the little fellows get what price they can 
 while seeking to steal his good name. These httle 
 fellows offer no responsibility, no remedy for the perils 
 and losses arising from the inferiority of their products 
 or from their own lack of probity and standing in the 
 business world. 
 
 First of all, everlasting credit must be given to the 
 manufacturer for producing the articles of quality. 
 He has put civilization on a higher plane, made living 
 happier and added to the satisfaction and longevity 
 of the race. 
 
 Second, the spread of his good work has been due 
 to modern advertising. He made the quality and 
 bought judicious pubhcity. He has raised and fixed 
 for public confidence the standards. All this is for 
 the good of the consumer, but it goes further than that, 
 for it marks new advances in the honor and safety 
 of modern merchandize. 
 
 "Be not penny- wise; riches have wings and some- 
 times they fly away of themselves, sometimes they 
 must be set flying to bring in more." 
 
 26 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 THE DEALERS IN QUALITY 
 
 Something about the new type of merchants — 
 the salesman who wins success by taking 
 advantage of sound standards and oppor- 
 tunities — his value to the public — personal 
 responsibility an asset in business — what 
 is good-will? — how to obtain and hold it. 
 
 XFTER the manufacturer has produced his 
 /A standard article and advertised it widely, the 
 merchant comes in, and the co-operation of the 
 two means profit for both. 
 
 It is one of the curiosities of modern merchandizing 
 that there are even in these enlightened days salesmen 
 who look upon advertising as an invasion of their 
 special prerogatives — and some of them actually count 
 liberal advertising as an objection to the recommenda- 
 tion of the article advertised. 
 
 This would be absurd did we not remember that in all 
 progress there has been protest against improvements 
 whose purpose is to save time and advance merit. 
 It seems grotesque, of course, but it is true. Machinery 
 has caused riots. Railroads were going to kill or maim 
 all the live stock. The omnibus rebelled when the 
 street car came. The drivers of the horse cars fought the 
 cable cars and regarded the trolley as their doom — and 
 yet there are ten times as many men employed on 
 electric cars to-day than in the horse-car days, and 
 
 27 
 
THE FAMIL V INCOME 
 
 not only is their work easier but their wages are larger. 
 The potentiality of each new generation almost doubles 
 itself and this is true in the factory that produces the 
 article of quality, the advertiser who announces it to 
 the world and the man who sells it to the consumer. 
 
 In truth the manufacturer and the advertiser work 
 for the benefit of the dealer. 
 
 Nothing better shows the innate good of progress 
 than the elevation of the merchant. In the ancient 
 times, when laws were few and man wanted but little 
 here below, the merchant did not hold a high place. 
 But gradually his part began and it was big with fate. 
 He started the ventures that found new continents and 
 established new colonies. Out of the increasing im- 
 portance of his affairs grew most of the good laws. 
 Thus it went on until even in England, the land of 
 caste and privilege, one of the great writers was enabled 
 to say more than one hundred years ago : "A true bred 
 merchant is the best gentleman in the nation ; in knowl- 
 edge, in manners, in judgment, he outdoes many of the 
 nobility." 
 
 In our own country the good merchant has stood 
 for the best in all the relations of life, and our greatest 
 preacher declared: "There is no class in society who 
 can so ill afford to undermine the conscience of the 
 community, or to set it loose from its moorings in the 
 eternal sphere, as merchants who live upon confidence 
 and credit. Anything which weakens or paralyzes this 
 is taking beams from the foundations of the merchant's 
 own warehouse." 
 
 Gradually through all this advancement we have a 
 new mercantile standard — the standard of one price, of 
 direct responsibility, of no misrepresentation. It is 
 
 28 
 
HOW TO SPEND IT 
 
 right moraUty and it is also good business. A pleased 
 customer is the best advertiser, says the motto, and the 
 only way to hold this customer is to seU standard goods 
 be4ad which are aU the bulwarks of quaUty and re- 
 
 habihty. . . . „, „, 
 
 One of the greatest merchants m Amenca was asked 
 
 about his success. 
 
 "It was as simple as the alphabet," he saad, I read 
 the advertisements, kept informed about the best 
 products of the leading manufacturers and took advan- 
 tage of the very remarkable movement m quahty that 
 has been the most distinguishing fact m our manu- 
 facturing and mercantile Ufe during the last thirty 
 years. By domg this I educated myself m the bes . 
 As a salesman I made no mistake because the goods 
 were aU right and if there happened to be an accident 
 there was a way to rectify the mistake. Thus on the 
 good reputation of others I built my own reputation, 
 and being on a solid basis it has done me good ser^ce 
 and brought me whatever success I may have. _ 
 
 This is the new type of merchant. Under him is the 
 new t>T)e of salesman who ^A\\ be the big merchant of 
 to-morrow. They are students of advertising because 
 through these announcements they find what the pro- 
 ducers of the country are doing in the way of quahty. 
 
 The man who introduces a better article to a cus- 
 tomer not only pleases that customer but estabhshes a 
 confidential relation of the very greatest advantage. 
 A continuation of this poUcy means that the salesman 
 becomes a guide for the pubUc and his value outside 
 of his work in the store is of much importance and con- 
 sequence. So it goes on and his own personal respon- 
 sibihty gets to be an asset in the business of the firm 
 
 29 
 
THE FAMIL V INCOME 
 
 with which he is connected, and it is only a matter of 
 time when he himself will be called upon to a higher 
 and more lucrative station. This is happening every 
 day, every hour in the day. 
 
 The big merchants of to-morrow are the conscientious 
 clerks and salesmen of to-day. 
 
 This brings us to a point which the salesman cannot 
 afford to ignore. Great fortunes have been made in 
 the retail trade. Greater fortunes are yet to be made. 
 But the old days of sharp dealing are past, only some 
 retailers do not know it. They are the ones who try 
 the short cuts — who seek illegitimate profits in substi- 
 tutions and the like, and, although they may prosper 
 for a day, they generally end in bankruptcy. 
 
 No retailer can last who does not comit public 
 confidence first in his list of assets, and he cannot have 
 this confidence unless he sells goods honestly. That 
 means giving to his customers what they ask for and 
 not trying to palm off on them something "just as 
 good." This is the plain truth of the retail situation 
 in America to-day. 
 
 We hear some people complaining that the oppor- 
 tunities are not what they used to be. No, they are 
 bigger and greater — and they are different. Goods are 
 in better form; quality is guaranteed in responsible 
 labels and trade-marks, and the retailer finds his path 
 clearer and smoother than it has ever been. 
 
 The success of any business depends upon the con- 
 tinuation and increase of its patronage. If it does not 
 hold its customers it is not on a safe basis. 
 
 Many years ago Lord El don gave this definition : "The 
 good-will of a trade is nothing more than the probability 
 that the old customers will resort to the old place." 
 
 30 
 
HOW TO SPEND IT 
 
 Success in business is in bringing back the customer. 
 The way to bring him back is to give him satisfaction 
 and satisfaction is to be found only in quahty, and 
 quality is guaranteed only in the standard articles 
 which the reputable manufacturers produce and adver- 
 tise. Thus there is a close and maescapable connection 
 between quahty and success. , . , , 
 
 No merchant with any sense any longer thinks he can 
 prosper by sharp practises. The rule about this is the 
 same as it ever was. The man who practises deceit 
 deprives liimself of "the most important u^trument of 
 action— namely confidence." 
 
 Another important point should be mentioned here. 
 The merchant who is disposed to be more smart than 
 square does not fuUy reahze the risks he is running. 
 His hue of pohcy means demoraUzation for his whole 
 force He may think that he can hire virtue to make 
 up for his own lack of it, but he will be apt to realize the 
 force of the remark of Josh Billings, who declared: 
 
 "If yu undertake to hire a man to be honest, yu will 
 hav to raize hiz wages every morning, and watch him 
 dredfhull cluss besides." 
 
 On the other hand, the merchant of high character 
 who is as standard in his business as he is in the articles 
 he sells, generates among his men a spirit of trust and 
 rehance which not only makes his force of better moral 
 quality, but attracts to his place of business a more 
 profitable patronage. _ 
 
 Bishop Whately has given the psychological reason 
 for this by citing the case of a person who once held 
 office of high importance and of vast difficulty and 
 dehcacy. This man was enabled to say after more 
 than thirty years' experience, though he had been 
 31 
 
THE FAMIL Y INCOME 
 
 obliged to employ many persons in confidential services 
 and to impart to them some most momentous secrets, 
 he had never once had his confidence betrayed. He 
 used his judgment, of course, but the great force was 
 his own belief in the quality standards, and by this he 
 strengthened his men with his own confidence. 
 
 So by sticking to standards, the salesman has every- 
 thing to win and nothing to lose. Through them he is 
 safe; he attracts the right trade; he is in line for promo- 
 tion, and opportunity is watching him. 
 
 32 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 THE FAMILY INCOME 
 
 The large part the consumer plays in the 
 problem of standards — quality products 
 mean safety and economy to the household 
 purse — the question of confidence — saving 
 of time — some interesting instances, 
 
 IN describing a Creole settlement, Washington Irving 
 wrote: "The Almighty Dollar, that great object 
 of universal devotion throughout our land, seems 
 to have no devotees in these pecuhar villages." 
 
 The sentence is valuable as containing the origin of 
 one of the most familiar of American terms. Its 
 fitness and usefulness were recognized from the start 
 and there was much comment, some of it serious, so 
 that later Irving felt compelled to add the following 
 footnote : 
 
 "This phi'ase, used for the first time in this sketch, 
 has since passed into current circulation, and by some 
 has been questioned as savoring of irreverence. The 
 author, therefore, owes it to his orthodoxy to declare 
 that no irreverence was intended, even to the dollar 
 itself, which he is aware is daily becoming more and 
 more an object of worship." 
 
 Ours is the land of the almighty dollar; our wealth 
 per person is more than three times as great as that of 
 the average of the world. We have recently met what 
 has been termed the most extraordinary prosperity 
 
 33 
 
THE FAMIL Y INCOME 
 
 ever known. And yet there is not one family in ten 
 that is not obHged to exercise constant watchfulness in 
 order that its income may not be exhausted by the 
 outgo. With all the unprecedented riches boasted 
 about in reports and Presidential messages, the majori- 
 ty of us must look keenly to our expenditures or our 
 balances will be on the wrong side of the ledger. We 
 may repeat the words of the old song: 
 
 This world is the best that we live in 
 
 To loan, or to spend, or to give in; 
 
 But to beg or to borrow, oi to get a man's own, 
 
 'Tis the very worst world, sir, that ever was known. 
 
 The problem that the most of us have is to get our 
 own, to get value for our money. All this brought down 
 to the last analysis means plain common sense and 
 economy. 
 
 Fortunately, the world has grown better and it is 
 easier for a man to get his own than it ever was. 
 
 Here is where the quality standards serve the average 
 person. First, we have the manufacturer who pro- 
 duces the standard articles, next the advertising which 
 tells us of them, and then the merchant who keeps 
 them — or should keep them — in stock. 
 
 So now the responsibility has reached the individual. 
 
 It is important for all to know that the standard 
 articles represent the maximum of value and safety at 
 the minimum of cost. Realizing that, customers 
 should be sure to ask for the best and should see that 
 they get the best. If their dealers are not yet convert- 
 ed to the principles and practises of quality, the con- 
 sumers should by their insistence make due provision 
 that they are not victims of the ignorance and folly of 
 others. 
 
 34 
 
HO W TO SPEND IT 
 
 This duty falls especially upon the women of the 
 family. They are the spenders of the income. Upon 
 them is the larger responsibility of obtaining one 
 hundred cents worth of value for the dollar spent: 
 Instinctively they seek bargains. Their whole experi- 
 ence has been in that direction. They have never had 
 money enough to be extravagant, so it is perfectly 
 natural for them to yield to temptation in purchasing 
 things whose price may be a httle less. On this con- 
 dition the dealer who does not stick to standards 
 works, and it can be seen that his capacity for mischief 
 is almost limitless. 
 
 A woman said the other day: "I have tried for our 
 home all the reasonable fads and suggestions, all the 
 schemes that promise to make housekeeping easier and 
 to contribute to the comfort of the home. I have 
 made experiments in every direction, none of them too 
 severe to hurt anyone's feelings. And after it all I 
 have come to the conclusion that what my husband 
 and my sons and daughters want, what they are best 
 satisfied with, is good quality in the usual things that 
 make up the list in keeping and feeding the family." 
 
 This, we take it, is also the lesson from other homes. 
 Our food, our dress and our convenience represent the 
 results of the evolution that has been going on in hu- 
 man affairs for many centuries and it is dangerous to 
 attempt any radical innovation or revolution in the 
 settled domestic program. 
 
 Then it follows that the wise course for the house- 
 keeper is to get the best qualities in things needed 
 for the family. Not so many years ago it was neces- 
 sary for her to solve her difficulties only by much im- 
 patient searching and many anxious trials. The 
 35 
 
THE FAMIL Y INCOME 
 
 coming of quality, with standards duly fixed and pro- 
 tected, has been to her a most useful blessing. To-day 
 there is absolutely but one safety and that is to buy the 
 articles which are backed by the names and responsi" 
 bility of firms of established reputation. 
 
 The reputable dealer has these always on hand and 
 if he has them not and seeks excuse for not handling 
 them, the consumer should lose no time in finding 
 another store where satisfaction can be obtained and 
 guaranteed. 
 
 Here is an admirable statement to woman — the one 
 who spends the money for the home — and it should be 
 read carefully: 
 
 "The woman who does her part well cannot escape 
 her share in one of the most important duties of family 
 life — the necessities, or comforts, or refinement that she 
 buys for her family, her husband, or herself. 
 
 "No matter how the family funds come to you, dear 
 madam, they represent the thought and work, the 
 very life-strength, perhaps, of someone who is dear — 
 a husband, or father, or son. It is only money when 
 it comes to your hands — useless to keep, or to wear, or 
 to warm, or entertain, or improve the family life. 
 You are the one who must change it into food and 
 clothing, family improvement and entertainment. 
 Don't think of it merely as 'money.' Remember every 
 moment that in the essence it is the life and energy, 
 care and toil of someone who is dear to you. When 
 you change it for home supplies, each dollar in your 
 purse, whether you spend it for comfort or for necessi- 
 ties, for home improvements or for family enjoyment, 
 must yield the best value and satisfaction you can 
 find. 
 
 36 
 
HOW TO SPEND IT 
 
 "In all the duties of a good woman's life there is none 
 more sacred than this — the duty of Wise Buying. 
 And one of the most grievous wrongs that you could do 
 to your home Hfe or to yourself would be carelessness 
 when exchanging for home needs the money that 
 represents almost the hfe-blood of one who loves you 
 and has done his best. 
 
 "Life, as it grows more complex and more comfort- 
 able, gi'ows busier. It gives you less time for choosing, 
 and requires you to choose and buy a wider range of all 
 kinds of articles. Many of these articles are things 
 that you purchase again and again, week after week. 
 You could not possibly live the life you do if you were 
 forced to examine 'quality', 'quantity' and 'probable 
 satisfaction' of every article you buy, every time you 
 buy it. 
 
 "And when you buy any article — good value or bad 
 — the money you pay is not all that it costs you. 
 Part of the cost is the time that you spend in selecting 
 it, inspecting its quality, quantity and the probable 
 satisfaction it Avill give — in a word, its value. 
 
 "Only a woman who is idle indeed will deny the 
 value of that time, taken from her other occupations 
 and duties. And only a short-sighted woman would 
 be extravagant of her time, while straining for economy 
 with her money. 
 
 "Suppose every time, before you bought oatmeal, or 
 sugar, or thread, or soap, you had to examine every 
 bit of your purchase to make sure that the oatmeal 
 and augar were full weight and free from taint, dirt or 
 adulterant ; to make sure that the soap would really do 
 as much work, do it as easily, as well, and as harmlessly 
 as any other soap you could buy for the money ; and to 
 
 37 
 
THE FAMIL V INCOME 
 
 make sure that the thread would hold wherever you 
 stitched it, without causing loss and extra work by- 
 breaking. Think how all that extra time that you 
 would have to spend on every purchase would add to 
 the cost of articles that you buy every day. 
 
 "When you buy an article, the test of wise buying is 
 seldom in the article itself — almost always the real test 
 is in the service and satisfaction it gives you in com- 
 parison to the money you pay. You would refuse, of 
 course, to buy lettuce if you saw that half the leaves 
 would have to be thrown away, or to buy apples if you 
 saw that the work and waste of discarding defective 
 pieces would make them cost you dearer in the end 
 than if you had bought better fruit, at a higher price. 
 That same wise reasoning must apply to every purchase 
 that you make. Coffee that costs you 'only half as 
 much' is not as good value if you must use twice as 
 much of it to make a cup, and if the cup then gives less 
 satisfaction. It is satisfaction that you are buying in 
 nearly every case. Do not forget that. Remember it 
 whenever you judge the value of any purchase." 
 
 We want to emphasize as strongly as we can your 
 own personal responsibility in the matter of getting the 
 best after you ask for it. 
 
 You know in a general way that Congress passed a 
 pure food law, and you may be thinking that this 
 measure gives you all the protection you need. If so, 
 you had better undeceive yourself. It is only inter- 
 state traffic that the law reaches — and it doesnt reach 
 all of that, for violations are very difficult of detection. 
 It helps you to the extent of reducing the shipping 
 of adulterated and misbranded goods from one state to 
 another, but it doesn't even touch impure foods sold 
 
 38 
 
HO W TO SPEND IT 
 
 in states in wliich they are manufactured or misbrand- 
 ed. Thus, you are still at the mercy of the swindlers of 
 your own state, unless your state happens to have its 
 own laws, and even then you are not even half pro- 
 tected. The truth of the matter is that you must look 
 out for yourself. 
 
 So much is said about purity and impurity of foods 
 that one may forget other goods. But the evils are as 
 bad in these other things as they are in foods. It may 
 be soap, or powder, or varnish, or a mattress, or carpets, 
 or furs, or pianos, or motor cars, or underwear, or 
 furniture, or stoves, or corsets, or toothpowder, or 
 millinery, or any of the hundi-eds of articles in the vast 
 emporium of publicity. There is not one of these 
 things that does not have standards for the customer's 
 protection and benefit. 
 
 END. 
 
MAY 20 1907 
 
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
 014 230 057 6 •