Omaha daily bee., 1884-03-10
COST OF LIVING ABROAD.
A Contrast Between London and
American Prices.

London Correspondence Philadelphia Press.
There is no city in which you can get
more for sixpence or less for a guinea
than in London" This wal what Richard
Rush, the American diplomatic represent
tative to England, said away back'in the
twenties These words are as true to-day
as they were when the sErewd observant
American gave u%tterance 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 t-eed for
$I5, ~fashionably cut and well finish.
ed. Hundreds of tailors will be glad
to take your measure and furnish a we'll
fitting suit of common but still fair ma
terial for $40. l can buy ready-made
shoes for So 30 every bit as good as | eau
purchase in New York for So, while for
that sum | can get as good a pair of hand
sewn Understandings" as / wish to
wear. A good silk hat may be bought
for SO, and a derby Of the latest fashion
for u triile over 81. Shirts and under
wear are less than two-thirds the price
asked for them in New York, and the
gloves | wear cost me 20 cents a pair, and
| have never yet found them to split or
tear. Ladies' attire is proportioDately
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
residence stands on, for a rental
of from $3.50 to 5000 per annum; a return
fare by rail to the city, costing from six
to eight cents, daily. Vegetables are
about half the price they are i'll the states.
Butter is five cents a pound cheaper, and
meat only is a dear commodity. Not
nearly 30 much dearer though as is gene
rally supposed. Yesterday l bought a
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.
| read in an Exeter paper that behring's
were sold in that town one day last week
at the rate of twenty-four for three cents,
and that sprats were retailed at two cents
per quart.
But Mr.. Rrush was as right about the
purchasing power of the guinea as he was
in his estimate of the liberal equivalent OBJ
tainable for the nimble sixpense. In the
West End of London the most extortion-
ate prices are asked by the tradesmen.
Fifteen dollars for q pair of trousers and
1856 for a coat and vest are by no means
exceptional prices, and there are plenty
of knights of tho shears who would charge
$50 for a suit of evening dress that one
could easily match at a city tailor's for
$25. l know several "snips" that
are glad to array customers in
all the glory of 'clawhammer'
GOAT, low cut vest and pants en- suite for
$l5 London clearinghouse are an
abomination and a snare. One can get
infinitely better accommodation and food j n
Philadelphia Baltimore, or Boston for 50
per week than can be procured in Lon
don for double the money. Railway
travelling, too, is much more in England
than in America. Even the third class
is, l think, quite as expensive as the uni
form fare charged in the states and to
make a journey of a few hundred miles in
. first class carriage will cost at least 90
per cent more than in covering a like dis
lance of ground in the states, journey ing
in luxurious ease in a Pullman car.