Page:Adventures in Thrift (1916).djvu/215

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housewives—for you housekeepers ought to know that your greengrocer makes but a small profit on what you buy.

"Among those to whom we shipped, we found seven speculators, men who never handled or saw the goods. One man sold immediately to another firm, which proved to be his wife; another man secured three commissions by selling produce to the greengrocers through two other 'firms'—one was his wife, the other his nine-year-old son. You see, in case of any trouble he could actually show two sales.

"We found men who had no offices, who had no bank account for their business, who had no clerks, who had absolutely no expenses, but who were making big money off the producer and the consumer. One man had an elegant home in Brooklyn and a beautiful summer place in Maine. He owned a steam yacht and three automobiles, but he did not contribute one single cent to the upkeep of New York City, in which he did his business, nor to New York State. He was not even paying a license as an ordinary peddler would have to do. He did not have to file any statement of his financial re-