Every buyer then determines in some degree the direction of industry. The market is a democracy where every penny gives a right of vote. It is the thought of the society called "The Consumers' League" that through purchases, pressure may be brought to bear upon the employer to provide better conditions of work. The members of The Consumers' League refuse to buy goods not made under sanitary conditions. Undoubtedly there is here a great economic force which an enlightened public opinion, even without a formal association, can make in large measure effective. Every individual may organize a consumer's league, leaguing himself with the powers of righteousness. Will he read a yellow journal or a pink or a white one? A nickel or two will buy either. He has a dollar; will he go to the theater or buy ten dishes of ice-cream? He decides to buy a book, and more type and paper are made, and more printers are employed; he subscribes to foreign missions and Christian workers penetrate farther into Africa. Every purchase has far-reaching consequences. You may spend your monthly allowance as an agent of iniquity or of truth. You cannot escape a choice even by burying the money, for that is either a demand for gold or a gift to the issuer of paper currency. § II. REACTION UPON THE EFFICIENCY OF THE WORKERS [Sidenote: Instinctive choice as related to welfare] 1. _All consumption works some temporary change in the consumer, making him a more or less efficient producer._ Most consumption goods are used to gratify a wish of the moment. Many actions are governed by impulse rather than by reason; but in general this impulse is in harmony with the interests of efficiency. In primitive society instinct and appetite must generally have been safe guides. Food not merely appeased hunger and gratified the palate, but it gave strength. Sensations of cold, hunger, and thirst were developed by nature to stimulate men to do the things that helped them to survive. In primitive societies there are few chances to seek pleasures that are not favorable to efficiency. In the struggle for existence the more efficient tribes survive, and those that develop many abnormal tastes must perish. But the conditions of modern life are more complex, and temptations beset men on every side. Tastes are pampered and appetite is gratified at the expense of later welfare. [Sidenote: Choice of foods]