The CHAIRMAN (interposing). Let me get that clear. In that last column you have 215 brands. Mrs. ROLLER. That is right. The CHAIRMAN. Does the column indicate that those 215 brands were all of the same grade? Mrs. ROLLER. Yes. - The CHAIRMAN. On the second chart you have 474 cans, and they were all of the same grade? Mrs. ROLLER. That's right. The CHAIRMAN. But you don't indicate how many different brands there were among those. EXHIBIT No. 512 VARIATIONS IN QUALITY OF CANNED FRUITS AND VEGETABLES SOLD UNDER THE RESULTS OF GRADING DISTRIBUTED BY NUMBER OF GRADES AND CANS SAMPLED BASED ON: REPORT OF THE FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION RELATIVE TO QUALITY OF CANNED Summarizing the results of the same survey by number of cans, it is found that for almost Mr. MONTGOMERY. It is the same sample, Mr. Chairman. Mrs. ROLLER. The interesting thing here is the percentages. When you consider the percentages and consider it by can, you find you have 48.5 percent that classified in two or more grades. When you consider brand, you find that you have only 28.8 percent that showed a variation. Do you get that? The CHAIRMAN. Yes; I hear what you say. Now what is your conclusion from that? Mrs. ROLLER. I think it is really bad to draw a conclusion, because I don't believe enough cans were sampled, and enough brands. The CHAIRMAN. You are telling us to pay no attention to the charts which you have brought before us? Mrs. ROLLER. I want to be very careful in what I say, and I don't want anyone to think that I am an extremist in any way. The CHAIRMAN. You do have a conclusion, don't you? Mrs. ROLLER. The conclusion that I have to make is that this shows a tendency. The tendency is that the greater the number of cans per sample, the greater the number of cans per brand that are tested, the greater the variation you find of grade in the brand. Somebody doesn't get it, so I would like to say it again. The CHAIRMAN. Proceed, then. Mrs. ROLLER. There are certain grades that have been set up; A, B, C, and Substandard. When these cans were tested they fell into different grades. They fell into A, B, or C, or Substandard. Now, when 226 brands were studied, it was found that 196 brands, or 86.7 percent of the brands, fell into one grade. That means that the two samples for each of these brands, each of these 196 brands, rated the same. For instance, Smith Co.'s brand, two of the samples both fell into the same grade. Thirty brands, or 13.3 percent of the number that were tested, showed a variation. Two cans were tested, one of them fell into one grade and one of them fell into another, so that you didn't have a consistency of grade. The CHAIRMAN. So that the more cans you tested the more variation there was? Mrs. ROLLER. Yes. Mr. MONTGOMERY. I don't think it is necessary to go through all those figures again. Your fourth column shows what? Mrs. ROLLER. The fourth column shows that when 10 or more samples were taken of 11 brands, you have a 100 percent variation. Mr. MONTGOMERY. That is, on no brand was there uniform grade? Mrs. ROLLER. Exactly. Dr. LUBIN. Does this mean if anybody wants to buy any of the canned products that you covered there, the chances are that no two cans necessarily will be alike, even though you pay the same price for the contents? Mrs. ROLLER. Yes; I think that is true. Mr. MONTGOMERY. Now, what is the package that you had there, Mrs. Roller. Tell us what that is. Mrs. ROLLER. This package is a package of cans that is available to home-economics people and to homemakers. It is sent out by one of the large canners in the country. This exhibit shows that you can have one name and one slogan on more than one grade, and it is a very difficult thing for the consumer to tell which grade she is buying. This chart comes with this little display, and explains to the person who has the display just how to read the labels. The chart says that anything packed under the black label is "Fancy." This canner labels his cans. Now, when the consumer goes into the store and wants to buy a "Fancy" product or grade A, she is supposed to know that this black band on the can means "Fancy." In other words, when we go out we need this chart to help us buy the grade. This can doesn't have that little black mark, otherwise the label is the same. You see this blue triangle and the name of the packer. This chart says that what is packed under the blue and white label is either "Choice" or "Deluxe." There is a difference in size in the "Choice" product and the "Deluxe," but of course we have no way of telling that, because they haven't put another bar on here to show that. Mr. MONTGOMERY. Are the "Choice" and "Deluxe" products of the same grade? Mrs. ROLLER. "Choice" and "Deluxe" are the same grade, but they are not as good a grade, according to this, as the "Fancy." Incidentally, the can says, on this can of pears, which is either choice or de luxe Mr. MONTGOMERY (interposing). Second grade, according to the chart? Mrs. ROLLER. Second grade, according to the chart. Can I read the names of the brands? Well, it is not necessary [reading from the label] "The brand is also your guarantee of receiving our highest quality," and "highest quality" is in larger type. That leads you to believe that this is the highest quality, and, of course, this isn't the highest quality, because it doesn't have the black bar. So that if we buy by brands we have to go out with charts and tables to help us buy the grade that we happen to need. The CHAIRMAN. Who makes the chart available? Mrs. ROLLER. The chart is available to anyone. I wrote a letter and received one free. The CHAIRMAN. Sent out by the packer? Mrs. ROLLER. Yes; sent out by the packer. You write to the packer's home economics department. The CHAIRMAN. And any consumer may obtain this chart? Mrs. ROLLER. Yes. Incidentally I have had this chart for some time and I still haven't learned all I am supposed to know according to this. up, Mr. MONTGOMERY. You have sample exhibits of towels you made Mrs. Roller. Will you show us those? Mrs. ROLLER. Yes. This exhibit is a picture of what faces the consumer when she goes into a store to buy towels. We see all these towels on the counter with all these different prices and that is all that we know about the quality. We have no way of telling whether one quality is any better than the other, or just how much better. Mr. MONTGOMERY. Do they have a brand on them? Mrs. ROLLER. They all have a brand on them and they all have the same brand. This is a case of one brand putting out a product of many qualities. Mr. MONTGOMERY. To get that into the record, will you state what the price variations are within a single brand? Mrs. ROLLER. One brand is shown on this upper part of the chart. The prices are 38 cents, 50 cents, 59 cents, 75 cents, and $1-all these towels were the same size. Here we have another brand; all the labels are identical and they don't say anything except the name of the brand, and in a few cases "color guaranteed fast." In the lower part of the chart the prices are 14 cents, 15 cents, cents, 39 cents, 50 cents, and $1. 25 Now, it is very difficult for a consumer to buy towels, for a number of reasons. First of all, there are no facts of quality on the label and the sales person doesn't usually know the facts of quality herself. I was interested in this problem and spoke to people in the textile division of the Bureau of Home Economics, and they told me that one of the best ways to tell the quality of a towel is to cut a strip from it. Now, just how consumers are going to buy by cutting strips is more than I can see, but that is the only way that we can tell quality today. Mr. MONTGOMERY. What information did you get from the Bureau of Home Economics about the variation of quality under a given brand? Mrs. ROLLER. I have a chart on that. Mr. MONTGOMERY. Will you show us that? (The chart referred to was marked "Exhibit No. 513" and appears on p. 3321.) Mrs. ROLLER. This chart shows the variations in construction and weights of two brands of cotton Turkish towels purchased on the Washington retail market during 1934. From here to here we have a list of brand A. All these towels were in one brand [referring to left column in top section]. They ranged in price from 14 cents to $1.00; 14 cents, 23 cents, 25 cents. 29 cents, 50 cents, 79 cents Mr. MONTGOMERY (interposing). Don't go into the details. Mrs. ROLLFR. These towels were tested by the Bureau of Home Economics and they found that there is a difference in the construction of these towels, that the thread count, which means the number of threads per square inch, varies all the way down the line. You can have any place from 23 to 41 threads, 42 threads in the ground, and a variety of numbers of threads in the pile, and in the filling. The more threads that you have, of course the better the towel. They showed me that the type of ply-the ply means this thread that runs down through the length of the towel-can be either single ply or double ply. Double ply means that two threads have been wound closely together and are used as one thread. When you have a double ply you have a better towel. When the consumer goes out to buy a towel she has no way of telling whether the towel is double ply or single ply, or what the thread count is. In other words, we have no way of telling what the construction is, and so have no way of making an intelligent purchase. Mr. MONTGOMERY. What is the last column? Mrs. ROLLER. The last column is weight per square yard, and that is a very important column because the heavier a towel is the more absorbent a towel is. EXHIBIT No. 513 VARIATIONS IN CONSTRUCTION AND WEIGHTS OF 2 BRANDS OF COTTON These two examples illustrate that the brand name on a towel is not a designation of quality. For each brand there is a wide range of price, thread count, and weight per square yard (which measures the capacity of a towel to absorb water). |