the consumer movement. He gave it an institutional voice through the creation of the Consumers Advisory Board (CAB) as part of the National Recovery Administration. However, as Lizabeth Cohen (2003) and Glickman (2006) note, in practice the influence of the CAB was quite limited.
- “We Buy Dollars with Merchandise,” Chain Store Magazine 3, no. 6 (July 1931): pp. 3–9.
- Although Hamilton’s essay was written over eighty years ago, it remains the most widely cited historical analysis of the development of the legal principle of caveat emptor prior to the twentieth century.
- At the same time, many states outlawed “as is” clause exceptions.
- During the war, enormous levels of public spending required to fuel the military effort resulted in high inflation. The OPA then had the role of intervening to set prices at levels deemed reasonable.
- Max Freedman, “Mr. Kennedy Champions the Consumer,” The Guardian, March 16, 1962, p. 13; Joseph A. Loftus, “Kennedy Submits Broad Program to Aid Consumer,” special to New York Times, March 16, 1962, p. 1.
c h a pt e r 8 : pr o d u c t t e st i n g a n d pr o d u c t r e g u l a r i z a t i o n
- Although, given how vague normative notions of satisfactory product quality were, it is not at all clear what it would take for expectations to be met.
- Of course, product testing was not just about ensuring product quality. It was also an important part of the process of the standardization of products, to ensure that products met specifications. As we have seen, standardization was the application of science to production, and clearly product testing was a manifestation of this (Noble 1977).
- The insurance industry was heavily involved in the early movement to use testing as a basis for standardized products. Underwriters Laboratories, an organization that promoted standards and conducted research on behalf of the insurance industry, sought to make construction more insurable by applying labels to wires and fixtures certifying their resistance to fire (Silbur 1983). Other independent testing laboratories also emerged in the early part of the twentieth century to serve firms too small to be able to aford their own facilities.
- Good Housekeeping established a prototype laboratory, named the “Experimental Station” in 1900.
- “Sign of the Times,” Journal of Home Economics 29, no. 4 (April 1937): p. 248.
- Editorial, Journal of Home Economics 19, no. 4 (April 1927): p. 207.
- “Plan to Cut Cost of Sales to Nation,” New York Times, November 19, 1922, p. 44.
- Stuart Chase and F. J. Schlink, “A Few Billion for Consumers,” New Republic, December 30, 1925, pp. 153–55.
- Ibid.
- “Standards Bureau to Curtail Testing,” Washington Post, November 16, 1924, p. EF7.
- “Standards Bureau Tests Are Doubled,” Washington Post, November 22, 1927, p. 12.
- “Inferior Goods Meet Obstacle,” Los Angeles Times, December 26, 1928, p. 15.
- “Standards Bureau Facilitating Plant,” Washington Post, December 31, 1931, p. DC3.
Notes to Pages 191–203
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