The Indianapolis daily herald., 1865-11-04
The COST OF LIVING.

Prom the London Literary Review.
The bitter groan recently sent up by the Times
correspondent in New York. at the enormous
cost OF every kind of accom- mediation in that city
Is worth noticing The correspondent cannot
ill every letter with reasons why Mr.. Jefferson
Davis should be igno niniously executed. and at
the present season people are IN mood TO be less
Interested In the grsvest political diff ;ultes than
in those tepd discussions upon prices and incomes
and rents which usually make their appearance
about this time oi the year. To be really enjoy
able. the discussion should be confined to the
question Of prices and rents in St Johns Wood
or Bayswater, or South Kensngton, or some
similar quarters AZ home. Bot "a the people who
write autumnal letters on such matters have not
yet brought the subject up, the American CORES
pendent makes himself useful by talking about
the state Of things IN New York But simply
aud pointedY. the expenses OF living IN that city
are. lin truth. enough TO ruin any man of mode
rate means" IL would seem TO be fair INFER
ence from this that there is no class in New
York which has moderate means Everybody
i either very rich or miserably poor. spending
a fortune or sunk in squalor Aud all
New Workers OF moderate means are sure to be
ruined. tor the same reason no stranger has any
business TO visit New York with any ideas OF
economy about him. On coming 10 the few de-
tails by which this assertion is supported "a CLEAN
of comfort enters the mind OF anybody who
means to Witt New York. aud, at the same time.
TO take his ideas OF economy along with him
Beef. il seems. cannot be GOT tit to eat under
Is I'd, nor mutton un0er Is. a pound. The
only difference between New York aud Lopdon
IN this respect IS that here YOU may give almost
the same price for beet and mutton which il not
ht 70 eat Spring chickens are from Is ID To
6s I'D. a pair. they are fully half as much again
in London.) and champagne tit 10 drink is L
per bottle But is it usual for men OF moderate
means TO live on spring chickens aud champagne,
So. when told that the charge fos a We
hice less convenient than a London hanson is
as much as los. sd hour, it is to be remem-
bered that an American OF moderate means would
never dream of hiring one OF these vehicles any
more than LoBdoner OF moderate means woul
dream OF driving about all day in a hired broug
ham with pair OF horses
The truth H. that all over the world the enor-
nous increase of wealth is placing the whole OF
the class who do not Immediately participate in
1t IN a novel. and by no means improved condi
ton. In New York, for example, the cores
pendent tells us, that. according 10 the income
tar list. which, by the way, is regularly published
IN the newspapers, It appears that many mer
chants IN that city return their incomes as over
t2O. 600 year. while one actually makes a re-
turn of EGO 900 year. A city where men can
AFFORD the outlay in personal expenditure implied
IN such incomes as these. ia obviously a place
where man of moderate means is at certain dis
advantage. But the correspondents groau from
New ork Il only the echo of what NAV be heard
IN London, AMI 10 a less extent in Manchester,
or Any other city where there is a large CONNER
eial class thriving and amassing great wealth,
~ we'll as another large class who are not 10
The wealth producing groove. There is proos
oily no CITY in the world where the groan is so
bitter as u il in London. because there is no
other city in which both the wealthy class and
the educated-but not wealthy-class are 30
numerous. where the wealthy have SO much |
money to spend. aud the educated so many e1-
pensIye tastes which they would like to CRAFTY
There are few more curious things about the |
stage which social arrangements have now
reached than the increasing gull between the
incomes of the people who are immersed 10 |
commerce aud the incomes OF those who follow |
professions and still occupy precisely the sa ufe
general Level IN society as merchants and CAPT |
hlists. The man With moderate means. which |
be IL never likely to raise to anything more than
moderate, simply because his calling precludes |
that rapid turning over OF money and those large
PROFITS which are the secret of the merchants
opalenee, hnds himself more and more behind |
hand The traders income seems TO 20 on grow
ing in a geometrcal ratio, while his own advance
never gets beyond the arthmetical even If bis
income does not. at certain point, cease grow
ing altogether, and remain stationary The er-
ample of rich frieads has an inevitable tendency
70 tempt anybody who i not rich, and Who be-
sides having little money. has less wit. into
manner OF living that is beyond bis IL
ne sees man, who perhaps came from she same
town and vas brought up at the same school with
himself. feeding on spring chickens and cham
payne, aud driving about in fy at sixteen
shillings and eight pence an hour. be is apt to
wonder Why be too should not do the same, or
81 least as nearly the same as funds 10 hands and
credit combined will permit
OF course wise man sees through the soph-
isms BY which extrsvsgant people excuse their
exuavAgance. . he great principle. that the
coat should be cut according 10 the cloth. repre-
sents 70 him 3 perfectly satisfactory Law OF the
universe That people should not spend what
they have not got nor. indeed, all that they
have got, is TO the philosopher a. simple and
unobjectionable rule of conduct that they
should not knock Their heads against stone walls
or throw themselves down precipicss But then
there are a great many persons Who look upon
life from an altogether loiUef ground They
base their whole SET Of views on the sublime
idea OF natural justice. and believe that, as ma
ture has provided spring chickens, there Is no
reason Why one man ans more than another
should forbear 10 eat them. The matter Of the
four shiliugs and tWopenee, or six shiliings and
fOUrpence. II not the point The spring chick
ems are 10 TIE MARKET aho thet would relish
spring chickens. 80 they bay them The same
ingenious argument would, u Is obvious. be an
equally potent apology for burglary or embez-
element. or for any other form Of cutting your
coat out OF your neighbors cloth. But the
shrek VI the insoyent spendthrift. powerul as l.
the abstract reasoning by which be has defended
bis exusvsganse. does rot excite much compass
sion. The seualor into which man OF refine
Rent and Intellectual culture subsiies through
neglect Of suea an ignoble matter as weekly
bills 10 . melancholy spectacle enough. Any