A CONSUMERS' LEAGUE SIR, —Do we not need a Consumers' League?
There are so many things, not merely commodities of all kinds, but public and other services, trans- port, broadcasting, &c., in which the suppliers, employers and employees, officials and others, are strongly and efficiently organised, whilst the general public as " consumers " are just an amorphous, unorganised, ineffectively grumbling mass. True, we have Parliament and the Press, both formid- able when they get to work on some outstanding public grievance, but there are many occasions when the man or woman in the street or queue could make his or her weight felt directly and effectively, and with economy of effort, if a Consumers' League, with local branches, were alert to represent the public's interests. The very existence of such a body would probably result in a wary eye being kept lifted on possible public reactions to doubtful courses or deficiencies. There was little use in such action during the war, but the public has been very long-suffering in many directions, and in the period now before us a little stimulus and corrective of this kind, besides relieving all our feelings, might have a sur- prising effect, preventive as well as remedial. There have been consumers' movements in the United States, but conditions are not comparable, and we must acquire our own experience. An active and watchful Consumers' Council, with, say, a million members behind them at a nominal subscrip- tion, might be a good investment from the national as well as individual
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