Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1877-05-25
ECoNOMY.

little understood or practlced IN the
United States. While men are
complaining of the depression in
business, the low rate Of wages and
the high price Of staple articles Of
food, and are advocating retrench-
ment and economy, the question
naturally arises how far this econ
omy is practiced by the working
community, and if they are not
themselves partly to blame, if not
for the condition Of things which
exists, at least for not being able to
rise above it and learning how to
live cheaply and yet we'll. When a
famine was spreading at one time
through France, and ones Of the
pnncesses of the empire was told
that the people were starving, she
%innocently inquired why the people
did not eat black bread, forgetting,
in the plenitude of her own wealth
and the richness Of her table, that
they could not even get a mOrsel Of
that article. And so, although it
might be useless to talk Of men and
women who are idle and half-staryed
economizing, yet there are many in
our midst, not only the rich but
also the poor, who are themselves
to blame for the tight place in
which they stand, and who, by a
little careful management and
early training, could avoid many Of
their difficulties. Many complaints
have been made lately as to the
advance in the price of bread, which,
it is claimed, is out Of proportion
to the increased price Of flour, and
it is said, and probably with some
degree of truth, that the baker is
reader to raise the price of his
loayes when flour goes up than to
lower it when -four comes down.
Bakers, however, like other trades
men, are but human, and self
interest is, unfortunately, the pre-
vailing feeling amongst all classes.
So long as legal enactments cannot
be put into force to make men
honest and conscientious, we may
expect that the golden rule will
be occasionally violated, even by a
baker. Is it really necessary that
we should be SO very dependent
upon that individual? Are our
palates 80 delicate and sensitive that
nothing but the finest wheaton flour
will satisfy them? This is the
most expensive cereal raised, and
vet the one which is considered the
most indispensable article of diet.
We must have bread at breakfast,
bread at dinner and bread at supper,
and we'll buttered, too, added to
which are our soup, our meat,
our vegetables, our pie and
our tea and coffee, without
which it would not be supposed
we had made a meal. Corn, of
which there is so much in our land,
which is raised SO easily and yields
so abundantly, and which can be
transformed into 50 many palatable
dishes, is ignored, while the So
called wheaton bread, which in too
many cases has no more than a
slight flavor Of alum and potatoes,
is eagerly sought after. DR.. John
son, in compiling his dictionary.
thought to give expression to his
prejudices against Scotland by de.
filming oats as something with which
the English fed their horses anC
the Scotch their men. When Bos
well saw this definition he shrewdl,
replied: "Yes, but consider, sucl
men and such horses" And vet
tell the average artisan or mechani,
to-day that he will be better fttet
for his labor by a dish of oat O
corn meal mush or grits than by
tough beef steak and muddy coffee
and he will not only doubt you, bu
feel insulted at the suggestion
The brawny Irishman who land
on our shores with health in ever
vein and strength in each limb wa
not reared on the ordinary far
which is seen to-day in our home
and clearinghouse. The potat
was the chief article of diet, an
on it his race has aourished. Br