YOUR MONEY'S WORTH

...Anahist is tying its pill directly to the Digest article in radio and TV spots, newspaper and magazine and train card ads...

...Judging from the President's failure to ask for control authority all last summer and fall, and the inadequacies of the freeze orders when they did come, "the typical American family can only conclude it has been the victim of a gigantic swindle...

...With some 50 antihistamine products on the market, this is a good way to keep up drug store sales but a long and expensive shopping bout for the customer...

...In an editorial on the negative results of the tests, the Journal of Medicine said: "It must be concluded that none of the carefully controlled studies carried out by competent and reliable investigations have yielded any evidence to justify the claims of manufacturers and advertisers that the antihistamines either prevent or cure the common cold or in any way alter the character, severity and duration of its symptoms...

...J. D. Ratcliff, in the Woman's Home Companion, has recommended consumer shopping-around among the over-the-counter drugs until you find one "best suited" to your needs...

...If you can't find it in stores, it can be ordered from Coast Paint and Chemical Co., 1507 Grande Vista Ave., Los Angeles 23, Calif...

...25 was like trying to stop a car going fast (when you put on the brakes, you knew it would be a while before you could stop), the cynics might have added that stops had been signalled so often that all-who-wanted-to-profi-teer (or hoard, for that matter) knew what was coming...

...The beat-the-shortage buying has been heaviest in farm equipment, sugar, refrigerators, radios, radio-phono-graphs, home freezers, TV sets, and cars...

...With the "unfreezing" of the prices of clothes, furniture', and housewares, many of us will be forced into buying only what we need...

...Maybe, as Di Salle has predicted, the control system will tighten up as it goes along, but the initial reality of the freeze was: prices as usual...

...Consumers' interests have not been protected as they should," the report adds, recommending "vigilance" by the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission to stop "conspiracies or monopolies if they exist...

...Why should not the currently exempted foods be brought under price control so long as the farmer enjoys a fair share of the national income...

...The evidence for that biting comment is that prices were not halted until after they were permitted to reach the highest point in history...

...Ironically, at the time Paul de Kruif's article, "Science Vindicates Antihistamines," appeared in the February issue of The Reader's Digest, two Boston medical school researchers reported in the New England Journal of Medicine that the three main types of antihistamines are as worthless as sugar pills (placebos) in treating the common cold—and a third report, this one in The International Archives of Allergy and Immunology, cited favorable results in combating mild colds with an antihistamine combined with aspirin, phenacetin, and caffeine...

...The high prices of men's suits and the gloomy future predicted for wool makes two Government pamphlets timely for reference...

...Notes Pulling cloth window shades at night and keeping them half drawn in daytime reduces window heat loss as much as 42%, according to the Armour Research Foundation...

...Anticipating shortages, we have been stocking up, as well as indulging in luxuries we planned to get around to in a year or so...

...But while the formula aims to express the relationship between the prices of the things the farmer buys and the things he sells, parity when applied to all farm products may give agriculture an above-parity status...

...A double basket of rust-proof heavy gauge wire, with handles, can be used for washing salad green or spinach or grapes, or storing eggs...

...In recommended dosages," however, is what a good many antihistamine critics argue the public won't take...

...Tough words, those, indicating that consumers have spent millions of dollars, for relief from common colds, in vain...

...As for dangerous results, de Kruif claims there has been "no death or serious illness" from over-the-counter antihistamines taken in recommended dosages...

...When Price Administrator Michael Di Salle told his home town Toledo audience that the price freeze of Jan...

...Antihistamines: Good or Bad...

...where cold symptoms were 48 or more hours older, the percentage of those geting relief was 67...

...ing over the counter...

...Pertinent Pamphlets When is a bargain a good buy...

...Add to them the storage space in the big freezer units of many postwar refrigerators and the five million frozen food lockers, and there is where some of the heavy meat purchases have been going . . . Dr...

...Only when it satisfies a need of the buyer, pointedly advises Getting Your Money's Worth, a pamphlet on wise buying...

...1 a bottle...

...Tips for your protection when you buy a used car are collected in a helpful 15-page booklet...

...diligent tooth brushing after eating...

...10 cents from Better Homes Bureau, West-inghouse Electric Corp., Pittsburgh 30, Pa...

...Pride, is S. C. Johnson's home version of its auto wax, Car-Plate, with the same feature of no rubbing...

...A 1.38:605) is a 23-page illustrated guide to easy repairs on men's and boys' clothing, and Buying Men's Suits (Misc...

...Looking like a can of beer, Hero is a new pressurized fire extinguisher which can be hung in an unobstrusive spot in the kitchen or easily stored in a car or boat for emergency use...

...they mean you are allergic to the drugs and shouldn't use them...

...A commercially-sponsored pamphlet, Electrical Living—and How to Have It, includes information on details to look for in a well-wired house and suggestions on the best arrangement of electrical appliances in kitchens and bathrooms...

...Farmers and Processors The farmer, says the Department of Agriculture, gets about 51 cents out of every dollar consumers spend for food, compared with 46 cents before the Korean war and 54 cents in 1945...

...can and mounting bracket, at department and hardware stores...

...For individual consumers, the picture is not bright...

...District Attorney" and "Break the Bank...

...1.95 from Inland Steel Products Co., Milwaukee 1, Wis...

...When basic farm prices dropped 20-30% in 1949, wholesale prices dropped only 10%, cites the report, and the consumer's average food price saving was only about 3...

...And when the clamp went on, everyday foods which have not yet reached farm parity prices were exempted: poultry, butter, eggs, milk, sugar, and almost all fruits and vegetables...

...A 100-foot roll costs $1.87, and two rolls should be enough for the windows and doors of a small house...

...Earlier, Di Salle, in stressing the need for a genuine price freeze, said, "My father used to say the way to cut off a bobcat's tail was all at once and close to the body...

...Called The Little Golden Decorative Paper (the manufacturer is Katzenbach & Warren), two varieties of these colorful illustrations are available in rolls 72 inches long and two feet wide, at 90 cents a roll...

...The Boston tests were made with prophendyridamine, pyranisamine maleate, and thonzylamine hydrochloride, three antihistamine types most commonly sold under brand names at drugstores...

...The new furiture polish...

...Consumers Union's medical adviser takes an extremely dim view of Hauser's competence, in general, as a medical spokesman and his glowing claims, in particular, for yogurt and blackstrap molasses...

...Maybe it would be less expensive and safer, in the long run, to get a doctor's advice before buy...

...Probably the best advice for most of us is one New York retailers' admonition to stick to the middle price lines and to stop anticipating shortages...

...A tight-fitting shade provides insulation by creating a dead air space between shade and window . . . There is a devastating criticism of Gaye-lord Hauser's Look Younger, Live Longer in the February issue of Consumer Reports...

...Free from Institute of Life Insurance, 488 Madison Ave., New York, N. Y. New Products A new wall paper for children's rooms uses 30 of the actual color illustrations in the popular Little Golden Books...

...The lower price lines will decline...

...688) suggests qualities to look for (like tight-woven fabrics of gabardine, serge, and sharkskin for long wear) when purchasing...

...Congress is apparently in no mood to hurry on the Administration's tax proposal, which calls for a four billion dollar increase in individual income taxes—with a flat increase dis-proportionally hardest on middle and lower incomes—a three billion dollar hike in corporation income taxes, and a three billion dollar lift in excise (sales) taxes on goods like automobiles, gasoline, television and radio sets, cigarets, and liquor...

...50 cents for a 5-oz...

...Kesel, known for his research with ammoniated dentifrices, recommends these steps for reducing decay: moderation of sugar-containing foods...

...tube, or $1 a quart, from Goop, 6945 Mitchell Ave., St...

...Mending Men's Suits (Catalog No...

...At least two brands, Anahist and Resistab, have leaped to take advertising advantage of the Digest piece...

...If you try to do it an inch at a time, you get a sore tail and a mad cat...

...Robert G. Kesel of the University of Illinois college of dentistry reminds us that there is no effortless way to control dental decay...

...Side-effects were mild...

...Reaching millions more consumers than the two medical journals, de Kruif's article is primarily a defense of the Digest's December, 1949, favorable report on the antihistamines (a report which Anahist told druggists "gave the druggists of America at least $10,000,000 in new sales volume...

...The pamphlets are 15 cents each from the Superintendent of Documents, Washington 25, D. C. A booklet, What's in Your Life Insurance Policy?, aims to explain various types of policies and puzzling clauses...

...Louis, Mo...

...Louis Post-Dispatch said recently...

...A hand cleaner with the peculiar name of Goop is tough enough to remove paint, grease, or other bad stains on hands but is gentle on the skin because of lanolin...

...It reports that climbing food prices since Korea have provided "little or no increase" in prices for most of the farmers producing food staples...

...No one with the imagination to put himself in Di Salle's place could doubt the enormity of the responsibility—and the headaches...

...Anahist and Resistab—both composed of the same drug, Neohetra-mine—Inhiston (a trade name for Trimeton), Coricidin, Theoplorin, Hydrillin, Caubren Compound are specific antihistamines cited by de Kruif as successful in relieving the symptoms of early colds...

...The idea back of farm parity is reasonable enough: the farmer is entitled to a fair share of the national income...

...So, asks the Post-Dispatch, "Why should not the standard be the actual status of farm income in general, rather than the particular status of particular prices...

...It costs a nickel from the National Better Business Bureau, Inc., 405 Lexington Ave., New York 17, N.Y...

...Discomforting side-effects of dizziness or drowsiness, de Kruif says, occur "in only a minority of cases...

...No matter how meager or extensive the controls, they won't mean a thing unless they're enforced...

...use of a sodium fluoride solution and of an ammoniated dentifrice . . . The cost of owning and operating a car has gone up about 6% in the last 18 months, according to a Chicago business firm specializing in auto expense allowances...

...1 from Damar, 22 Treat Place, Newark, N. J. A Gardener's Tool Rack that can be hung up in the basement or garage holds six long and five short-handled tools...

...In building a dam against inflation, Marriner S. Eccles of the Federal Reserve Board has warned that controls alone aren't enough ("an over-all price freeze would just sugar-coat inflation") and that selective controls must be bolstered with a pay-as-you-go tax program, wage and salary ceilings, and higher federal bond interest rates...

...It's free from the Extension Service, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis 14, Minn, Ask for their Extension Pamphlet 175...

...An easy-to-apply wool-felt, waterproof weatherstripping tape called Pro-Seal can be sealed on with a pressure of the fingers, requiring no nails or tools...

...Telegraphing the Punches Week after week of warnings gave those eager to make a quick profit signals for action...

...The 6% figure soon may go up "sharply...

...Where do the various tests leave the person who pays at the drug counters...

...That increase, agriculture officials add, means that prices of farm products have risen more in the last seven months than margins made by food processors and distributors...

...elimination of between-meal snacks...

...The report in the technical allergy journal, citing tests made by medical directors of four large industrial concerns with the antihistamine chlo-prophenpyridamine maleate (I hope it's reduced to "Chlo" when it's packaged for the general public) combined with the above drugs, showed that when the pill was taken within an hour of cold symptoms, 85.4% of people tested got relief...

...Facts You Should Know About Buying Used Cars...

...It's good to hear that message, and alert consumers will look for action on it with the same concern they will look for enforcement of controls...

...On declining markets the food processors have failed to lower their prices in accordance with lower costs of raw materials but, on advancing commodity markets, are quick to raise prices to reflect not only the rise but in many cases to justify even higher prices...

...A dissenting opinion comes from the Senate agriculture sub-committee investigating the spread between foods and their ultimate prices...

...Despite the current credit restrictions, the figures show that we have been spending as much as our savings accounts and credit could stand...

...As Di Salle has remarked, it takes two to make a black market...

...This convenient safety product costs $1.29 for a 16-oz...

...Resistab is puffing its Digest mention on its radio and TV shows ("Mr...

...De Kruif reports (an item that individual brands won't be tooting) that "the leading antihistamines vary only slightly in cold-stopping power...

...low-cost dresses and children's clothes, furnishings, and household goods will decrease in supply...

...Hauser's book has been on the best seller lists for a year and was condensed in The Reader's Digest . . . As much as a billion pounds of meat are stored in three million home freezers, estimates the Department of Agriculture...