Show Family Weekly June ts 1968 CAN DO ABOUT Guarantees Mem to be paid too much Too many people have too much trouble ret- ting insurance at a decent price There is discrimination against special groups such as returning vet- erans clergymen doctors divorcees young people and minority groups Nobody knows yet what the solution to the problem will be but one auggestion that has been made is to make auto insurance more like fire insurance If your house burns down you don't have to find the fire bug and sue him or his insurance company Instead you carry your own protection auto-insuran- tUtaL WTO Ml Mess lof iMsrs VUVM SIM WITW piw ss srs besiness- dishonest? rmr today am I really cant say because I wasn’t working in this field say 20 years ago But the market price ia a great deal more complicated than it used to be Though the frauds are often what make the headlines my office is concerned with more than that We’re trying to make the market place a simpler place to deal in Take the question of fabrics It used to be that if you bought a dress you could tell by just looking what it was made of— wool cotton or ailk — and then you knew how to clean and care for it Today there are so many synthetic fabrics that you cant tell what anything is made of Under Esther Peterson my predecessor a Fabrics Commission was set up to compile a glossary and guide for the care of an these fabrics This information has been simplified and coded into labels that could be permanently sewn into every garment Now the question is: will the apparel people use these labels on a voluntary basis? How safe are lb fish aad poultry I bay There's no wsy of knowing but a certain percentage is below standard Fish is hardly inspected at all and IS percent of the total poultry ia not Federally inspected That's 16 billion pounds which can add up to quite a stomach ache Where there is state inspection often only the plants are inspected not the poultry itself We’d like Congress to pass a bill Hidden Interest Etc making fish and poultry as safe as meat and such a bin is now in the hearing stage In the meantime you’re probably safer sticking to the major distributors You might ask your supermarket manager where he buys Ms poultry If he gets it from out of state then you know it has been Federally inspected Who's to blame for Ibe giasery gap Ihe difference between what the farmer gets and what I spend at the store? I don’t know who the rascal is — or if there is one But the farmers are not getting a fair price and the consumer certainly is paying enough We need a faster more efficient way to get food to the consumer How coa I pretest myself against die- - Nowadays it’s hard to find any repairman much less a competent one You have to hope that you find someone you like or who comes recommended by a friend There is not so much fraud but rather too few people in this field And that means room for incompetence We are not considering legislation in this ares so much as trying to help industry serve the public better know that a fie emotional Wafer Safety bill has boea proposed Dees this hove to have a lire ass to aw drive aiy own beat? I It We won’t know that until our study in this srea is completed But it is now all too easy to get in trouble with a boat Anybody can get behind a wheel and so we do need some safety regulations Beyond this we also need programs to remove dangerous debris from our lakes and rivers safety patrols and inspections and better testing of boats and safety equipment A friend of mine fed up with the space his lifesaving equipment took tossed it sll overboard —and it sank immediately I mod Hint seam color to sols give off radiation Tmo? Am sash sots still amend ia the stores? It was found that certain color tv sets did give off radiation from the bottom of the set The manufacturers recalled the sets but did not get all of them back And when the sets were sdjuated it was then found that the radiation came out of the sides of the sets instead In adjusting certain color sets it seems that when you push up the voltage on one of the "gismos” it gives off radiation How dangerous is this? It’s hard to say If a child is sitting in front of one of these sets today we might have to wait 20 years to know what the eventual damage is Of course we don’t want to wait There should be standards to eliminate this threat The President has asked Congress to pass the Haiardous Radiation Act which would give the Secretary of Health Education and Welfare the power to set and enforce standards of safety and to require manufacturers to recall bad equipment hsA& Sa pniHf m iwwwfwi jwwmfffVfiT long? I don’t think so In all cases the government would prefer that industry solve its own problems It’s only where industry falls down on that the the job of government has to step in Where possible it should be left to the city and state governments’ on but there are some things only the Federal government seems able to handle Take the Wholesome Meat Act that was passed last year It came some 60 years after Upton Sinclair first exposed the conditions in the meat plants in his b "The Jungle” The industry and the states had all that time to take action but they didn’t How da yoo self mgalallea? woHk with baslaess fa We meet with them constantly We might say "We fed is a problem what do you think you can do about it?” They are more than willing to talk becauae busineM ia inordinately opposed to Federal legislation So they win talk and I believe they are making an effort in many casea to set up the needed reforms and standards by themselves such-and-su- ch Vka BggslJanfi koa Lsai a Cnnsvnisrs lawyer Hew will his office ape rale? The job is so new that it hasn’t taken ahape yet But two of the vital wiU do is to represent the consumer in front of regulatory agencies and also to file suits on behalf of the consumer things he In sofegaardlng his dollar whet Ihe ce newer do? am Be careful Take time when you shop get educated about the market place Food is always the focal point of the consumer’s annoyance because it’s so constant You might buy a ear and pay $200 more just because you like one better than the other You make the decision only once But think how many decisions you have to make to save 6200 on food You’re a long time comparing labels to do that You've got to be sensible Some flow bock a graap of boose wives weal oa strike against a eepor-nmrhNew seccessfwl was fhal? It was successful but not in the expected The its prices for a while but then it went right back up But the housewivea let the food people know they were paying attention and watching them closely That’s important way the housewives supermarket did reduce As yea began year eb aad storied sorprleed yea nsesl? When I began I was a better oho per than I was given credit for being So there weren't many surprises The biggest surprise were the number and variety of problems in the field and the size and complexity of the market place Dees Ibe eld slogan enaoa aaptor (lot the boyar beware') still held? What shliyqtion da I have as a ceaseaser to bo Informed? You have to do the best you can You should pay attention to what- ever information you’re given Read the instructions carefully and try to understand what the product will and won’t da Most importantly you should give your business to the people who give you the best break That’s the name of the whole game If you reward better practices better service and better information then you’re using your dollars where they count the most Family Weakly Jana MS IBM f |