The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1875-05-27
cost of Living.


From the New York wordl
A European contemporary, which
Is generally careful and eonsidorato
in It's facts, concludes that while of
late years there has been IN steady
and continuous rise in the ordinary
ratio of household expenses this is
not actually duo TO n corresponding
increased doarncss Of household
commodities, but TO an increased
scale Of expenses because wo live
higher and indulge ourselves moro
freely than was formerly tho case.
Palpably the writer has lived aloof
from lands curst by high tariffs and
low currency, or he would not be
able to say what no does. With us
the cost OF living has at least
doubled during the past twenty
years, no matter whore we examine
the price lists but is undoubtedly
true Of us, Us it is Of our English
cousins, that we have enlarged the
scale Of our expenses unduly by
encouraging eXtravagant habits and
CSiravagant appctitcs. We have
learned to spend out Of all prcpor-
ton to our aggregate earnings, for
tho reason that We have uncon-
cousIy habituotcd ourselves to u
system under which money was
very cheap and everything else
very dear. 1t is u common remark
that an income Of 81 800 to. day is
not moro than equivalent to an in
como of 5000 in 1857 ; but this can
not DO because tho difference in the
value Of money is so great. One
thousand dollars to day has, per-
haps, all the purchasing power Of
5000 in 1857, but our ideas are much
moro magnificent now than they
were then, and we arc consequently
worse off.
1t is refreshing, if amazing, to go
back little over q hundred years
er 50, and see how cheaply men
could and did live in this country.
In 1851 a young gentleman of Mas
sachusctts had occasion to go from
his home near Waltham to Newark,
New Jersey, to matriculate in the
college of New Jersey, then located
at that point, to pass q year in that
college, graduate, and return homo
upon horseback. He kept diary,
and in that diary all his expenses
were scrupulously written down.
We are thus enabled to know some
thing about the costs Of bachelor
life one hundred and twenty-four
years ago.
For the voyage from Boston to
Newark this young Massachusetts
candidate for the ministry laid in
five quarts of New England rum at
81 cents u gallon one dozen chick
ems at 81 u dozen; a quarter OF a
pound of tea at 81 u pound; two
pounds of loaf sugar at 81 cents q
pound; nearly two dozen lemons
and throo pounds of butter at l5
cents. The rum and the tea do not
seem to be fairly proportional in
this exhibit, but then, on the other
hand, the symmetry between the
lemons and the rum is beautiful.
The passage money to Now York,
tho trip lasting eighteen days, was
50 80. In New York our traveller
brought some clothes and boarded
one day, paying 60 cents for his
Entertainments" His fare to New
ark was 1S3 cents, and in Newark
his board for five days, wash bill
and delivery of baggage was in all
62I cents. Soon after his arrival in
Newark, and considerably less than
a month after his former purchase,
our divinity student buys another
gallon of New England rum. A
sleigh-ride from Newark to New
York costs him 81 O6; postage on
letter, 20 cents; making flannel
jackets, 25 cents apiece. A barrel
of cider which he buys costs only
81 rs; horse and chaise to the
fell cost 81; a cooked hat, So; His
board was eighty cents a week, and
hickory wood 81 62 cents per cord
His graduation breeches cost for
materials, SO so; making 70 cents
his college bills, $40; his entire ex-
penses for the twelve months, in
Guiding the journey home and part
payment upon a horse purchased
amounted to s165. Yet this young
gentleman was not niggard In any
thing; he lived literally; he had
his little excursions, his small frollcs
his amusements Costing s6), his
rum, cider and etceteras, just like
the college boys of to-day. On the
49,. % and altar nnl