It is not uncommon practice for a family baker who runs short of bread to obtain some from a fellow-baker to tide him over in an emergency. An instance of this came to our notice a few days ago, and it was not necessary for the fact to be pointed out to us. In place of the excellent and appetising bread usually on sale, we saw a few good loaves and a considerable number of loaves that were nearly as hard as bullets and dead-looking; loaves of which no good baker could have pretended to be proud. We felt sorry for the customers who paid their money and took their choice and wondered whether they could fail to notice the difference between the bread to which they were accustomed and that which they were about to eat.

So the problem is: Should one shut up the shop as soon as one’s own supply is exhausted or turn to a baker friend, whose bread one knows is inferior?