Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1884-04-02
Cost of Living Abroad.
London Cor. Philadelphia Press.

[London Cor. Philadelphia Press.l
"There is no city in which you can get
more for sixpence or less for q guinea
| than In London" This was what Rich
ard Rush, the American diplomatic rep
resentative to England, said, away back
in the tWenties. These words are as
true to-day as they were when the
shrewd, observant American gave utter
ance to them. Bread to-day is cheaper
IN London than in New York, Paris.
Vienna, Berlin or Brussels. You can
get a suit of clothes made to measure
from real Scotch tweed for $15, fashion
ably cut and we'll finished. Hundreds
of tailors will be glad to take your meas
ure and furnish well-ftting suit of COM
mon, but still fair material for $40. I
can buy ready-made shoes for $3.50
every bit as good as l can purchase in
New York for SIS, while for that sum I
can get as good pair of hand sewn
understandings as [ would wish to
wear. A good silk hat may be bought
for So, and Derby of the latest fashion
for trife over So. Shirts and under
wear are less than two thirds the price
asked for them in New York, and the
gloves wear cost me Is cents a pair,
and have never yet found them to split
or tear. Ladies' attire is propOrtionate-
ly cheap. Houses or rooms may be had
within two and one half miles of the
heart of the city, with gardens four
times as large as the area the resi-
derce stands on, for rental of $3.50 to
5000 per annum; return fare by rail to
the city costing from 6 to cents, daily.
Vegetables are about half the price they
are in the states. Butter is 5 cents
pound cheaper, and meat only is a dear
commodity. Not nearly so much dear
er though as is generally supposed.
Yesterday [ bought leg of excellent
mutton for 20 cents per pound, and for
prime joints of beef the butchers are
asking "a cents per pound. Then, again,
fish is ridiculously cheap. I read in an
Exeter paper that herring were sold in
that town one day last week at the rate
of twenty-four for cents, and that
sprats were retailed at the rate of 2 cents
per quart.
But Mr.. Rush was as right about the
purchasing power OF the guinea as he
was in his estimate of the liberal equiv
alent obtainable for the nimble sixpence.
In the west end of London the most ex-
tortionate prices are asked by the trades
men. Fifteen dollars for a pair of trous-
ers and $50 for coat and vest are by no
means exceptional prices, and there are
plenty of knights of the shears who
would charge $50 for suit of evening
dress that one could readily match at
city tailor's for $25. I know several
"snips" that are glad to array customers
in all the glory of "clawhammer" coats,
low cut vest and pants en- suite for $15.
London boarding houses are an abom-
ination and snare. One can get in
fnitely better accommodation and food
in Philadelphia, Baltimore or Boston
for SIS per week than can be procured in
London for double the money. Rail-
way travelling, too, is much more ex-
pensive in England than in America.
Even the third-class is, I think, quite as
expensive as the uniform fare charged
in the states, and to make journey of a
few hundred miles in frst-class car
riage will cost at least so per cent. more
than in covering q like distance of
ground in the states, journeying in lux
urious case in Pullman car.