SIXPENCE TILE .HALF.POUND.
ITHE power of suggestion is no longer scoffed at even by the most sceptical. The subconscious self is being recognized as a. person in practise if not in theory—a person whom it is the business of the retail trader to persuade, whether or no its existence is susceptible of logical proof. Indeed, to put it shortly, the trader is just now very seriously occupied in gauging the gullibility of this hypothetical entity, well knowing that upon the success of his efforts the weight of his purse must depend. The selling of fruit by the half-pound upon stalls and in ostensibly cheap shops is a small case in point. No one is exactly cheated by the new trick, but we are attracted to look at the.goods by this method of advertising them. We -see the little "half" inset into 'the large-printed "pound" quite plainly. It is the large print, however, which catches our eyes, and as we stop in front of the little placard something -like the following process of reasoning goes through our minds. " Cheap ! " we exclaim to ourselves ; " or rather-it would 'be itthe price really referred to the pound. Almost a pre-war price," we go on meditatively murmuring—and then we buy the cherries. Our subconscious self has taken no notice of our reasoning. He, she, or it was impressed by our -first thought. " Cheap ! " .says the simple-minded submerged equation in an authoritative undertone—and the bargain is clinched.
How much further will this trick be carried, we wonder 1 It is so very easy to alter the unit in such a manner as to make an instantaneous, and in a fair percentage of cases an indelible, false impression. The difficulty is of course to hit in the case of each article upon the right unit. The simple halving of the pound of fruit does not provide us with a practical scale of charges. The passer-by who longs for cherries can satisfy his appetite, or at least appease the intensity of it, with half the quantity which he would like to consume. Half-a-pound will leave him no longer famished 'for fruit. He has, so to speak, made do with half the quantity suggested to his mind by the price-ticket. On the other hand, if he goes to buy cloth for a suit, or she goes to buy flannel to clothe the baby, the garment required cannot be• made with half the amount formerly con- sidered necessary. It would be no use to advertise cloth or flannel or linen or silk at so much the half-yard. The effect of such a suggestion would be laughter or ranger. As well -advertise shoes at so much each ! Some like device might, however, answer if a yard could be honestly made to measure rather less than thirty-six inches. The Flemish ell, for instance, whioh was for long much used as a measure in England, is shorter than our yard by several inches. So much " a yard (Flemish) " might impress the subconscious mind of the public and induce them to make spare to the extent of a few inches, befog them a little as to the number of feet of a given material requisite for their purpose, or at least induce them for the sake of imaginary advantage to try a new cut. Again, take the question of coal. It would never do to sell it to the small consumer at so much the half-ton or hundredweight. But a fashion might arise for selling by the sack, and the normal sack-might be-a little reduced, not of course in a manner to deceive the intelligent mind, but in such a half-open way as to mislead the subconscious self. Where rent is concerned, however, there is no hope of bamboozling
even the silliest subconsciousness. Weeks and years change for no man. Not even a mass meeting of coal-miners could modify them.
Whether in countries in which the mile is a little longer than ours a distance of four or five so-called miles is more tiring to
the pedestrian we do not know. The Scots and Irish miles are a little longer than the English. Is theeubconscious self in these countries able to deceive English legs ? We wonder. The subconscious self has always thought that thero was a-great deal in a name.
A good-many people are still not able to realize—where others are concerned—what their reason tells them every day with regard to themselves. They still speak of wages as increased by a ratio which does not take the depreciation of the currency into account. This suggestive delusion could not of course be maintained if certain expenses—rent, for instance--did not remain unchanged. To put it colloquially, the subconscious self (which believes, in spite of all that can be said by reason to the contrary, that persons in a lower social position are -not subject to the terrible rise in the price of necessaries which has afflicted the better off) is not altogether a fool. It must be left with an argumentative leg to stand on. The Daylight Saving Aot has almost persuaded us all that summer days are longer than they were. Those who still object to it are less -moved by their cows, or their individual convenience, or by any obstacle they bring forward than by a matter-of-'fact dislike to what they regard as the politic childishness which allows itself to be legislated into a pleasant pretence.
It is almost impossible to say why certain people receive a different impression.from the different ways of 'stating a simple arithmetical fact. Take the question of percentages. Fifty per cent. does not make upon some minds quite the same impression as half. It seems rather more. Subconscieusly we suppose they 'are in the same state -as they were as children when they did not know what a percentage meant. " Nearly half the voters -know nothing about the question," says some one. " The matter is familiar to at least fifty per cent. of those qualified to vote," says -another. The impressions created are so much at variance that the speakers appear to be arguing upon opposite sides.
We cannot help hoping that the financiers of the future will not study psychology to quite as good purpose as the costes- mongers of fruit. Imagine such a knowledge of human nature coupled with great economic learning and applied to the decep- tion of the world at large. Some psychological trick may be played upon us as may cause us cheerfully to comply with any
taxation and to fall smiling victims to any master of the art of suggestion. This new necromancy would be terribly powerful
because it would have no secret to guard. The costermonger sets his net in the sight of the bird. The bird sees how it is done and yet he 'falls into it ! The method of deception is scientific. We have called it a trick, but it is really much more
like the application of a law. The victims can-get up no moral indignation. If their money is wiled out of their -pockets 'they
have themselves to thank. Certainly the men who during this July have called " Cherry ripe " in the London streets offer an object-lesson both to the politician and the publics.
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