Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1882-10-11
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SELECT.
Comparative Cost of Living.

TUT d vi JCdiO puSg IuCl
has been a general and gradual il
crease of personal and household e1
penses in families of all degrees c
wealth and social standing One b.
one new wants have arisen, maxim
new and larger demands upon th
resources of the pocket. In no othe
particular is the contrast between
the present and the past greater o
more marked than in the style AM
cost of living. The plain, simple bu
substantial fare of the Golden time
has been superseded by the production
of viands and costly dishes whicl
almost rival the feasts of pagan an
tiquity, when to eat, drink ant
carouse constituted one of the princi
pal objects of life. Is this increas'
simply result ofreckless and thought
less extravaganza on the part of th'
people or is it one of the inevitabl,
necessities growing out of an advanc
ed civilization p? 1t is usually at
tributed to the former cause, but {
little reflection will convince almost
any mind, we think, that the las
mentioned cause is really the more
potent of the two.
The word civilization may be taker
to express or embody the combined re
suits of intcllec ual and moral growth
The simplest fol- n of life is the nomadio
or wandering stage of development
The desert Arab, the American Indian,
as he was before the advent of the
white man upon this continent, the un-
educated peasantry in many parts o!
Europe, and the natives of Africa, may
be instaneed as examples of this class
Their range of thought and desire is
exceedingly limited, their taste simple
and their wants few. A tent or rude
hut for habitation, garments enough
to shield them from climatic changes, a
dog or horse for service and companion
ship, and some kind of we pons for
hunting and fighting. constitute about
all they need or care for as means or
instruments of life. To eat, sleep,
hunt and go to war make up their
principal occupations.
Of.course, the cost of living in this
primitive stage of development is ex-
ceedingly small The existence and
uses of money with such people are
either unknown or very much restrict
ed. But take any one of these classes
designated I'd bring them into high
er state of civilization, and their per-
sonal and household expenses will at
once begin to multiply in exact pro-
portion to their elevation or advance
ment.
The philosophy of such movement
would seem to be that the physical ma
tYre of mankind everywhere strives to
keep pace with the improvement in
the upper departments of being. AS
new light and knowledge flow into
the brain and expand and quicken the
feelings, these internal forces of life
seize upon their lower and extern
al concomitants and pull them up to
their own new level. Consequently,
new and varied physical wants arise,
wants in regard to eating aid cloth
ing, which necessitate an increased ex-
penditure. And thus the cost of living
multiples with the area of intellectual
requirement and the cultivation of
finer and nobler feelings in the heart
There is, no doubt, great deal of
unnecessary and wssteful extravaganza
in the prevailing methods of American
household life, but all of the present in
creased cost of living cannot justly be
laid to that account. A part of it is
the inevitable result of our present
advanced civilization. The range of
human wants is legitimately much
larger now than fifty or a hundred
years ago. The external must try at
least keep up with the internal in de-
velopment and progress. And this
fact makes poverty seem ten times
more harsh and unbearable than
ever, and makes laborers strike for
higher wages because they cannot
meet the multiplied demands of their
households and families. There is lit
tie prospect of any decrease in this re-
spect until absolute want compels it
| AS long as people can have what they
want they will in some way manage
to procure it or go to ruin in the eff
fort Chicago Journal.