Page:Adventures in Thrift (1916).djvu/192

This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.

throws away the cork, then they lose the flavor or the goods become dusty, precisely as if you bought them in bulk.

"Train your servants to understand that containers are designed to keep out dust and to protect the flavor of the goods.

"Now for the crackers. Here are two cartons of soda crackers, moisture proof, sold at five cents each. And here is ten cents' worth of the same soda crackers in bulk. We will now count the actual crackers in the carton and in the sack."

Mr. Benton's interested circle drew closer.

The moisture-proof cartons yielded up forty-eight whole fresh, crisp crackers. When the bulk crackers were turned carefully into a large plate, it was found practically impossible to count them. More than a third had been broken in carriage, and there was a heavy sprinkling of cracker dust. Nor were the bulk crackers crisp or fresh in flavor. In graham crackers the difference was more pronounced. A ten-cent, moisture-proof package contained thirty unbroken crackers. A pound of bulk graham crackers, at nine cents, yielded twenty-three