Clearfield Republican. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1851-1937, 1866-11-28
IFrau forney's Press, Nov. l9.l
High Price OF Liring.

IL was expected that, on the return
from the country, TO which (or to the
watering places so many persons
migrated for the summer and early
autumn months, there would be the
great expenditure Of former years.
Not so, however; the price Of mere
living has so much advanced that
people look, not twice, but a dozen
times at five-dollar grcenbaclx before
they change it. Food, in all its va
rieties, is sufficiently abundant. The
harvest, after some misgivings on that
score, turns out 70 be mni,- ..i--.''sasslse-
than usual. But the parties who spec
ulate in provisions Of all kinds, and
the retailers who are loath to sur
render the great profits which they
received during the war, still press
heavy prices upon the community,
and, though wages have risen, keep
their customers-and especially the
working classes-poorer than they
worn at any nreyious time. What
between tbieving high prices on one
hand, and heavy and unequal taxa
tion on the other, it is harder to live
in this great land than it ever was
before and, as the last straw to break
the camel's back, rents have nearly
doubled. The Irish clamor for "ten-
ant rights" we have as just grounds
here to complain. When $500 TO $500
per annum is exacted for a house
which let for s40O five years ago, and
was high-prieed at even that, it is clear
there is cause to murmur. Property
owners may protest that they "cannot
help the rise;" but, saying so, they
insist on it, and pocket the money.
One might as well be plundered on
the highway as robbed in this manner
for downright robbery it is-the
money being lost, at any rate.
When necessary articles ran up in
retail price, we protested against IT,
The price of butchers meat was tre-
bed during the war, owing to the de-
mand for it TO feed the army; but the
war ended nearly two years since, and
the great army was disbanded; never
theless, the price of meat has only
slightly gone down, and that within
the last ten days. Why should we
pay seventeen to eighteen dollars for
a barrel Of -four, which was considered
dear, six years ago, at seven to eight
dollarsg On what ground can the
charge Of seventy cents for a pound of
butter philadelphia market price on
Saturday, be exacted by the farmers
or forestallers who buy up the pro.
ducc 7 Milk, which used TO be four
cents a quart in Philadelphia, now is
sold for ten-including the water used
to dilute it, the chalk to whiten and
the calves brains to thicken the dilu-
tion-and will probably go higher,
seeing that in New York the price has
Just been raised to tlCelre cents quart
for a miserable thin fluid. In the
same way, vegetables are nearly thrice
as costly as they used to be, and as
they ought to be. The result is, who
ever has to market for a household
finds that it takes twelve to fifteen
dollars, at present prices of food, and
that the plaincst. to buy what could
formerly be obtained for five dollars.
Whose income has doubled in proper
! ton
The cattle disease, which caused
such loss in Europe by its ravages,
and especially in England, did not
affect this country. The supply of
horned cattle, by which, indeed, the
price of all animal food is regulated,
has been large and steady all the time,
and the army-consumption of beef and
pork has dwindled down to q mini
mum yet, amid this abundance, ami
NAL food is twice rs high as il ought
TO be. 1t may be alleged that there
are taxes upon food. There are-not
high taxes, but thoroughly unjust.
What has immortalized the memory
of Sir Robert Peel, but the courage
and good sense with which, though
doing it invoked the penalty of losing
office, he swept away the taxes upon
food and retained the taxes upon lux.
uries. Here, when the novelty of war
taxation was introduced, there was
grand opportunity of following this
example and adopting this principle.
But those who passed our system of
wartaxcs apparently knew nothing of
what had been done, and well done,
elsewhere. The fiat was, tax every
thing-from the lucifer-match, with
which the poor housewife lights her
scanty fire, and the mean food of her
husband and children which she pre-
pares, up TO the fifteen hundred dollar
carriage, drawn by the span of two
thousand dollar horses, in which the
rich man rides TO church on Sunday
luxurian.ly so riding, though he pre-
vents the poor mechanic, who vegc-
tates in back streets and alleys, from
riding in streot-car on the same day.
Our system OF taxation ought to be
revised, and, at one fell swopc, cuery
impoSt upon The ncceSSdrios Of lie ought
to Be abolished.
Coming back TO our starting point,
that there is every little business
doing" and that the increased cost of
living has curtailed the ability TO make
any but strictly necessary purchases,
we may add that the importations of
foreign Injuries do not diminish, as
may be seen by the customs returns
of the ports Of Boston, New York,
Philadelphia and Baltimore. At the |
same time, if the stagnation Of trade |
continues, simply because people have
not got the money 10 spend, so much |
being wanted for rent, food and ord- |
nary clothing, how are the speculative |
importers to pay for the goods which |
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