The daily gazette., 1882-11-15
Dail,r,aEa ghsette
WEDNESDAY,, NOV. Is.
a ser,ons Problem

The communication from an esteemed |
correspondent, which we publish elsewhere |
in to-day's paper, refers to sublect-the |
outrageous price of all the necessaries of
llfe-that will demand the most careful at |
tentlon of our State and national legislators
in the near future.
What our correspondent SO pertinently
expresses in his letter will be recognized as
tho solid truth by every householder in this
city Were provisions scarce and crops
short one would not marvel so much at the
high cost of living, but when It's considered
that the harvests OF the present year were
most bountiful in their proportions, and
that thousands of pounds Of Western beef
are daily shipped to Eastern markets, 1t is
amazing to think that such high prices can
be maintained against such an enormous
supply. Flour at nine dollars per barrel
with Western wheat down to ninety cents
Ier bushel is perplexing anamoly, while
pork at eighteen cents per pound with the
market almost glutted is certainly hard to
understand.
1t has not been many years since prices
were ruled entirely by the condition of the
market, and while a scarcity of supply was
naturally followed by stiffening Of rates,
n giut invariably caused corresponding
reduction. Now, 1t is different, aud 1t seems
IS though high prices keep apace with the
extent of the supply, and increase as the
, ssaskek becomes more and more crowded
The remedy for this anamolous condl-
tion 4 affairs 1t is hard to prescribe,
hut as3 seems to be a result of human
agenc Is and manGuvres surely human In
tellige#c Ice can be applied to a satisfactory
soluti4n of the difficulty. Here, then, is the
tiatesh bans opportunity, and he who can
dev!sdlegislation calculated to check this
upwarh tendency of the provision market
when Every natural circumstance leads in
the direction of lower prices, will make for
himself d name famous the world over and
receive the blessings Of the toiling millions
who lind the problem Of life so difficult to
solve.
This question is one Of serious importance
all over the country, and in no place more
70 thdu In Wilmington. Ours Is a manu-
tactufing community, and hundreds of me-
ehanics who have labored for years find the
purchasing power of their money so fearfully
reduced that the cost of living is much
higher than twenty-five years ago, despite
Tie increase in their wages. The laboring
man finds it Impossible to live decently
upon wages that twenty-five years age
~ ould have enabled him to provide liberally
icr his family and lay something in store
for the future, but in those days a barrel o
-four was not the hopeless ambition of th,
lnbo.er, while beef at twenty-five cents
pound would have paralyzed the world.
There is no doubt that much of thetroubl
Is due to the speculative spirit of the age
which leaves the legitimate bounds O
financial transactions and seizes upon every
thing by which penny can be turned. A
We remarked above, the evil may be suit
iset TO legislature remedy, and the states
man who points the way to relief may res
assured that his efforts will not only be appr,
eIated but gratefully remembered by million
af his suffering fellow -countrymen. VII
will be the political Moses to lead ou
people through the wilderness of destitt
zion and high prices, to the promised Ian
nf decent living, where poor man can /
assured that the work of his hands will prt
Gnce more than a ,mcngre existence, an
iinpart some degree of comfort to his hun
Sie home?