I had thought of a great idea to profit by agitation against the high cost of living. The idea had come to me when reading a story in a business paper which had said that it was not high cost of living we were suffering from, but cost of high living, and, instead of buying things in bulk as we used to do, we bought in packages and had to pay a whole lot of money for the package--and the advertising of them. It had said also that the modern housewife was lazy and would not _do_ things for herself if she could get them done by some one else, and that she thought more of tango teas than toting baby carriages. The article had finished up by saying: "How many housewives do _you_ know, Mr. Reader, who will make their own soap, do their own washing, bake their own bread, and such like housewifely accomplishments which our parents and grandparents took pride in performing?" Now, it hadn't seemed to me that that was quite fair to the housewives. Betty, for one, was no tango-trotter. Well, my brilliant foozle of an idea had been to make a splurge on bread mixers. I had always carried one or two in stock, but never had done much with them. So I ordered three dozen as a starter, that is, two cases, and I got a really good price on them. Then I ran an ad. in the paper, saying that it had been said the modern housewife preferred to have things done for her rather than to do them herself, but that I felt it was not so, and that, just to show that the modern woman could do as well as the previous generation, I had started a bread-making contest. I used a slogan: "You can make bread better than mother by using the Plintex Bread mixer." I then asked every one to buy a bread mixer, bake a loaf of bread with its aid, and leave it at the store. I also stated that I would turn all the bread baked over to the hospital, and I offered an electric chafing dish for the best loaf baked. I concluded by saying that three prominent citizens would be the judges. I had determined to surprise every one by this stunt, but when it came out no one was quite so surprised as I was at its reception. When I took the ad. to the newspaper office the fellow grinned as I handed it to him. "Good idea, isn't it?" I said. "Some idea all right, Mr. Black," said he. Next morning, when I arrived at the store, Charlie Martin was waiting for me with a paper in his hand. Said he, "Mr. Black, did you put this in?" "Sure," I answered. "I thought perhaps Stigler was trying to get at you in some way," said Charlie. I went hot and cold all over, for I felt right then and there that I had made a big mistake. "Who's your committee of three prominent citizens?" he then asked. "I have not picked them yet," I said rather sheepishly.