EXPENSIVE: War time causes shortages, which in turn, cause prices to rise. In 1917, an Era writer told his opinion on why it was such an expensive time to live.
“One of the reasons the cost of living is so high is that modern man has become the slave of a great many conventional trappings, not necessary to his comfort or happiness, mere appendages of expense tacked on the things which he really wants.
“An example: If you want to buy pearl buttons you cannot buy them alone. You pay 60 cents a dozen for medium-sized pearl buttons carefully sewed on a printed card, with its edges artistically finished, you pay for a piece of tinfoil pasted upon the card. You pay for the sewing on of 12 buttons.
“You do not need the card, nor the tinfoil, nor the labor spent in sewing the buttons on. A good part of the expensiveness of life today consists of elaborate containers, packages, ribbons, delivery services, glitter and display.
“The merchandiser should give us a chance to save by offering us a choice between buying things we want unadorned and buying them decked out in paraphernalia.”
We think this writer would be pleased with the generic brands and discount stores of today, not to mention thrift stores and resale shops.
We remember having “button tins” in the kitchen — usually an old cookie or flour container, or a Mason jar or a coffee can, filled with loose buttons. When it came time for a clothing item to be relegated to the rag bin, we remember sitting patiently on the floor, cutting buttons off old clothes to add them to the button tin.
That’s probably not something seen in a lot of modern kitchens, but we’re betting a lot of our readers still have them.
Here’s a question for readers — do you find yourselves holding on to metal tins? Coffee cans with lids, or the tins cookies come in at Christmas time? How about old potato chip cans? They sure can be useful, especially in garages, where little parts tend to be easily lost.
We had a collection of glass baby food jars years ago to hold thumbtacks, paper clips and safety pins. Old family photos are stored in cookie tins. The concept of “reduce, reuse and recycle” certainly isn’t a new one.
