Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 6.djvu/781

 WORK AND PROBLEMS OF CONSUMERS' LEAGUE 767

bringing to bear upon the producing part of society the influence of the consumer. The idea is great, it is tremendous, it is powerful. When one thinks of the thousands of consumers (for every person is a consumer, and the great body of laboring men are interested in increasing the purchasing power), there seems to be no limit to the development of the movement from the consumer's point of view. In the past the producer and the dis- tributor have been permitted to interpret the laws made by the legislature and to regulate their enforcement. But undoubtedly the day has gone by when the consumer will remain nothing more than a mere negative factor in the distribution of com- modities. One great reason why consumers as a body have not influenced more the production of commodities has been the varied interests of these same persons, and further the fact that the ethical side of production has never been called to their attention in a systematic way. It remains true, nevertheless, that every purchase that a man or woman makes today must bring to bear a double influence, one on the individual, the other on the community.

The individual who purchases today does so on the condition that he may secure the largest possible amount of commodities for the smallest amount of money. He gives the method of production no particular thought and remains satisfied if the quantity of goods purchased are of the texture and kind that he wishes. But his purchase has a social effect. After he has helped create a demand for that particular kind of goods, he sanctions its manufacture and helps to establish that method as possibly the most satisfactory way of securing such commodities. Thus he has it within his power to maintain a social condition which will affect many workers and in turn many producers. If he has been making any purchases of commodities manufactured in sweat-shops, he has in a certain sense, in his neglect to inform himself, made it possible for individuals to pay low wages, to compel workers to labor long hours, and at the same time endangered the life of consumers by the sale of unsanitary gar- ments. The results of such action on his part do not cease with merely creating low wages and long hours ; they reduce vitality