The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1886-06-24
COST OF LIVING.
The Astonishing Calculation Made by -
Massachusetts Statistican.


The question as to what is the lowest
cost to which decent and comfortable
living can be reduced has been an
swered lately with much detail by Mr..
Edward Atkinson, q Massachusetts
gentleman who has d great fondness
for working over economical statistics,
which he handles in an able and work
manlike fashion.
The present price of very comfort
able subsistence for single man in
Boston, for instance, he fixes at $500
year, from which sum it may be
reduced. if necessity requires, to $3.50
a year by the exercise of intelligent
care, for, as he truly says, it takes a
great deal of intelligence to get the
most comfort for the least cost.
He hnds that decent room, toler-
ably furnished and moderately warmed
in winter, can be hired for 800 year,
and, as it can be occupied by two young
men, the cost to them will be $50 each.
A full and comfortable supply of cloth
ing, according to Mr.. Atkinson's in
vestigations, can be bought for $45
year. This includes a best suit for
Sundays and holidays, to be worn
three years, and a common suit for
everyday use, to be replenished an
nually. The amount may be made
considerably less than $45 by dispens-
ing with the best overcoat, for instance,
and by wearing satinet instead OF
wooden in winter.
Here we have, at the ontside, $95 for
rent and clothing. Add $15 for wash
ing and $40 for fuel, and the sum is
1920. The ordinary calculation is that
a working,nan must expend as much
for food as for all the rest of his sub
sistence, or at least 1920 or $3.50 more.
But Mr.. Atkinson contends that such
an expenditure is made necessary only
by wastefulness and ignorance of what
to buy, how to buy it and how to cook
it, and that it is s'entirely possible to
buy an ample and nutritious ration, in
considerable variety, in the city of
Boston, at not exceeding cents day
| and prepare it for use within cents a
day." The necessary cost of food he
| therefore fixes at one dollar week, or
$50 year, and this is the daily bill OF
| fare he presents as obtainable for that
sum:
"One-quarter to three-quarters Of
pound of good meat; three-quarters of
| pound of bread; one-half to one
pound of potatoes, or some other vege-
table; one-half pound of oatmeal; one
| half ounce of butter; one ounce of
| sugar; a large bowl of tea or coffee,
| with a spoonful of condensed milk; an
orange, an apple or some dried fruit. !"
| The allowance of cost for meatseems
| small, but he makes it small because
| he provides for the purchase of the
trimmings of the best joints, which are
| now thrown into a scrap heap and sold
| for cent pound or less, to be rem
| dered into fat. 1t is true that the price
of this wasted meat would rise some
| what if the people were intelligent
enough to buy it, but, on the other
hand, the price of the best cuts would
be likely to decline on account of the
use of the other. 1t is because the
English know how to take advantage
of the coarse parts of beef and mutton
much better than we do, according to
Mr.. Atkinson, that the cost of the best
cuts of American beef is less in London
than it is in New York or Boston. 1--WE
pay the highest price for what we call
| the best part, and we waste the rest, or
else it is sold at small price to the
keepers of jails, to be served to per-
| sons in form which makes it better
food than three-quarters of the work
ingmen outside of jails can secure at
much higher cost"
| He says, for instance, that he has
purchased himself good meat, which is
now wasted, at one cent a pound, in
parcels of ten pounds, at which price
| the marketman said he would select
any quantity at any time. To the
meat he added ten pints of water, with
suitable seasoning, and made rich and
nutritious bouillon, and had remaining
the stewed meat in the broth, ''very
nutritious and appetizing FOOD The
whole cost him only 12R cents, includ-
| ing fuel, which was kerosene burned
| in a hand-lamp. The meat was cooked
in an air-tight vessel surrounded by
hot water.
| Mr.. Atkinson concludes that ssthe
| price of well-conditioned life in the
city of Boston for food, shelter, cloth
| ing, fuel and laundry may be covered
by the sum of S172, leaving within the
limit of 5000 year $28 for sundries or
luxuries. ~ The problem is to prevent
the waste of food, for ''the price of
food is half the price of life, and half
the price of food is wasted for want of
knowledge how to buy it and how to
cook it. y
| Solve that problem, says Mr.. Atkin-
son, and you solve the labor question,
for if man knows how to live che
can live to-day at a very low price, and
| if he be intelligent he may earn the
price at the cost of very little labor. "
The views and figures of this Boston
investigator are, therefore, pretty sure
to provoke lively discussion. Y.