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Show I WHEN' SHOPPING o I BY LUCILLE DAUDBT. I I belong to some such organlza- B tlon as a Consumers' league," H a young matron confessed to me. "But It is hard to live up to the pledges that you make. NOW, I really believe that all of these movements which H aim to better the conditions of the working girl are splendid. In theory H and even in the payment of dues, I subscribe to all they try to accom- pllsh. But when I am shopping, it H takes a lot of moral strength o act B UP to them. I see a pretty undr- garment marked at a low price, and I am Just about to buy it. with the satisfied feeling that I have secured H a bargain Then I suddenly romera- ber to look for the label, which will guarantee that it has been manufac-H manufac-H tured under healthful conditions. Alas. the prettier the gown and the lower H the price, the more certain am I not fl to find such an assurance. So for the H money I have to spend I must becon- h tent to buy a much plainer piece." H "Naturally," I told her, "If you do not pay the price somebody else ha? H to. It remains for you to decide H whether you will allow the poor H sweatshop or factory worker to pay H It for you with her ruined eyesight or overworked system. Really, you H know It is you and I, who buy the things manufactured, who are at bot-H bot-H torn responsible for the condition of H the worker. Because the things we j P find for sale are exactly those thing? j the manufacturer bus discovered to bp the article? which satisfy our desires. H And the price on them is the highest 1 he finds that we will pay. I was once tempted and bought a nightgown at a H hargain price without a label on It. But it gave me no pleasure to look at H the extra rows of lace on it. Nor at the carefully headed seams. While it made a dainty covering for me as I lay In bed. I had a vivid picture of H the weary girl who sewed on It, kept H from her bed In the wee hours of the H morning to put In the fine stitches." In answer to the question as to Hj what women can do to alleviate the H conditions of the women who work, V the vice-president of the National J Consumers' league says "If all the J women who spend would demand that H their garments, their household fnr- nishings, and their food supplies are . H made under wholesome conditions H wholesome to the producer as well H as the consumer and if through unlt- H ed action they would make their de-, J mands sufficiently strong, the mer- H chants would insist upon the manu- I factnrers complying wit li it. and the : H latter would be obliged to do so to 1 find a market for their goods." J E)cauti Repairs -As: yy)s If sz-jiry Ar so WjrAS&lA . O SfrOr or A 7& re I |