The CHAIRMAN. Wouldn't the price distinguish it? You wouldn't expect to get silk for rayon prices, would you?

Mrs. BELESTER. Well, that is very hard to judge, too. Some of the stores can sell a rayon dress for a silk dress.

The CHAIRMAN. The advertisement you presented here was for a $2 garment.

The CHAIRMAN. You wouldn't be under any misapprehension when you saw that garment, whether it was silk or rayon, would you!

Mrs. BELESTER. No; but I would like to mention an instance of a dress that was advertised that looked similar to a dress that was selling for $4. It didn't tell the description of the goods; it was very

similar to the one I am showing you now. This person went to the store and discovered the dress was a cotton dress, where hers was a rayon dress a very good-looking dress, the same style. She went down there in order to see whether she was really getting gyped, in plain words, on $3, and she was going to go back to the store and tell them, but she found that the advertised dress was a cotton dress, where hers was rayon and cotton, a mixture.

So you see you can't very well judge by advertisements.

Dr. LUBIN. Mrs. Belester, in your experience as a shopper do you find that the sales girl has the information that you would like to have in most instances?

Mrs. BELESTER. No; I don't think she has, yet many times I have bought because of her decision and the information she has given me. I don't believe she has. In fact, many times I have found it wasn't what the sales clerk told me it was.

Dr. LUBIN. She wouldn't know whether it was new wool in a dress, or reworked, or virgin wool, or what?

Mrs. BELESTER. I don't see how she could, unless there was a tag describing the dress.

Mr. HENDERSON. Some years ago I know the Better Business Bureaus throughout the country had a great deal of difficulty with the advertising of dresses as silk that were actually rayon. Do you know whether they are still having that same difficulty? Do you still find rayon dresses advertised as silk?

Mrs. BELESTER. Not being in the market for dresses of late, I haven't watched them very carefully, but I have been told through some of the women that I am connected with that they have purchased rayon dresses for silk dresses.

Mr. MONTGOMERY. Let's go down through some of these other expenditures in your budget. How much did you spend for coal during the year?

Mrs. BELESTER. $113.20.

Mr. MONTGOMERY. How about all the utilities-gas, electricity, water, and so forth?

Mrs. BELESTER. $121.75.

Mr. MONTGOMERY. What was the cost for medical care during the year?

Mrs. BELESTER. The total cost was $107.10, and that was an essential. My husband took very ill last year and he had to go to the hospital. I had to borrow money in order to get my husband out of the hospital. That is an essential bill that must be paid when leaving the hospital. My doctor only received $15. I still owe the doctor $45.

Mr. MONTGOMERY. How much did you spend during the year for automobiles and transportation?

Mrs. BELESTER. For transportation I spent $18, and on the automobile we spent $73. That seemed to be a very large amount, but my husband-it is necessary that he has his car. He takes his tools along with him and his ladders, and oftentimes he has to bring furniture home to do some extra work when he possibly can find it. It really is necessary for us to have a car; although it is a 1927 model Buick, it gets around.

The CHAIRMAN. I think the Buick people would want to delete the word "although."

124491-39-pt. 8

Mr. MONTGOMERY. Do you know what you spent for life insurance during the year?

Mrs. BELESTER. $22.32.

Mr. MONTGOMERY. When you add up all these things we have mentioned so far, expenditures on the home, food, clothing, fuel, utilities, medical care, auto and transportation and life insurance, how much was the remaining expenditure that you had in your total budget?

Mrs. BELESTER. I had $55.73 left.

Mr. MONTGOMERY. Which included a variety of miscellaneous things, I suppose?

Mrs. BELESTER. Yes; some necessities and some incidentals of different amounts.

Mr. MONTGOMERY. What are some of the items included in there? Mrs. BELESTER. I had to buy some linens which were greatly needed in the home.

Mr. MONTGOMERY. How much did you spend for that?

Mrs. BELESTER. I spent $9.83.

Mr. MONTGOMERY. Tell us some of those items you bought under that expenditure.

Mrs. BELESTER. I needed dish towels; I bought some curtain goods, and I bought some sheets that I badly needed."

I was mending my old sheets and I turned them into pillowcases, the best part I could possibly get out of them. Not buying any since 1932, they were pretty well worn out.

Mr. MONTGOMERY. That is the first time since 1932 you had spent money on sheets?

Mrs. BELESTER. Yes.

Mr. MONTGOMERY. How much did you spend for sheets last year? Mrs. BELESTER. Last year the bill came to $4.86, I believe, on the sheets, and these I bought at a sale at a new store that just opened up.

Mr. MONTGOMERY. How did you determine what sheets to buy? Mrs. BELESTER. Well, I couldn't very well tell. I just took a chance on the sheets I bought last year. I have a little ticket here with me yet. I still have one of the new ones. The only description is "torn size, 81 by 90," so I took a chance in buying the sheets.

Mr. MONTGOMERY. Did it have the brand name on the ticket? Has the sheet a brand name?

Mrs. BELESTER. This is the 1938 brand that I bought, a Midwood, unadvertised. I never heard of the sheet before.

Mr. MONTGOMERY. You didn't know what that name meant?

Mrs. BELESTER. No; I never heard of it before.

Mr. MONTGOMERY. What kind of sheets did you buy in 1932? Mrs. BELESTER. I bought Fruit of the Loom in 1932. They were widely advertised, and I was informed they were of good quality. I paid $1 and a few cents for those sheets a pair, or each, rather. The sheet that I bought last year I paid 69 cents for.

Mr. MONTGOMERY. So I understand in 1932 you selected the sheets by buying a brand that was familiar to you, a name that you had heard; and this year you went out and bought on the basis of price, buying from a retailer you didn't know, a new store, and buying a brand you never heard of?

Mrs. BELESTER. I had to, because I had a limited amount to spend.

Mr. MONTGOMERY. In which year do you think you got the better value for your money?

Mrs. BELESTER. Well, as a matter of fact, Mr. Montgomery, I couldn't very well judge. The sheets I bought in 1932 may have been a better quality, but I won't be able to tell until a few years later, when the quality of the sheets I purchased last year will show their wear.

Mr. MONTGOMERY. Weren't you given any facts in either case which would indicate what the sheet was made of, how long it would wear, and so forth?

Mrs. BELESTER. No; neither one of them showed anything pertaining to the grade of the sheet.

Mr. MONTGOMERY. Where, in general, do you look for information? What do you have to rely upon when you go out to spend your money for these things you can only buy once, say, in every 6 years?

Mrs. BELESTER. Well, I look up the papers, as I have mentioned previously, because sometimes I can judge if it is a brand that is well known, and also look on the labels. Being a cautious buyer, I try to make a good choice. Sometimes I do; sometimes I don't. It is just taking a chance. I also ask the sales clerks, because they are familiar with the goods.

Mr. MONTGOMERY. How much help do you get from all that?
Mrs. BELESTER. I get very little help from the advertisements.

Mr. MONTGOMERY. You brought some advertisements down. Will you briefly point to each of those and give an idea of what it means to you or doesn't mean to you? Before you talk about each one, will you identify it?

(The advertisement referred to was marked "Exhibit No. 506" and appears on p. 3296.)

Mrs. BELESTER. Here, for instance, is a shirt. When I go to purchase a shirt for my husband, which I know many housewives do, I usually look for the style of the shirt, a good-looking shirt, but I also want to know whether it is a good grade and if it will last. Here is this shirt. It tells you it is a special white broadcloth, collar attached, neckband style shirt, sold regularly at $2.50 and $3. I look for a bargain, but I would also like to get better information; for instance, the fabric of the shirt, and what the thread counts are. The CHAIRMAN. It says "broadcloth."

Mrs. BELESTER. Yes; but we have a variety of grades in broadcloth.

Mr. MONTGOMERY. Will you show the next ad you brought? What is that?

(The advertisement referred to was marked "Exhibit No. 507" and appears on p. 3297.)

Mr. MONTGOMERY. What does that ad show?

Mrs. BELESTER. Here is a vacuum cleaner. It is something the housewife buys very rarely and we have to be very careful. This ad shows you a streamlined vacuum cleaner, and it tells you that it keeps the colors fresh, and it tells you that that springtime look in your house after housecleaning is fresh, clean color of new rugs, of new drapes. "If this new color is worth having, it is worth keeping." It also goes on to tell you about the dog:

If you have a dog, you love dogs, but you don't love dog hairs, and you find this vacuum cleaner is yours and Cocky's best friend. It is the one sure way to keep the dog and get rid of the hair.