The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1886-05-29
COST OF LIVING.
The Astonishing Calculation Made by "a
Massachusetts Statistican.

Il ne Astonishing CALCULATION maze Dy a
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, a Massachusetts
gentleman who has 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 5000
year, from which sum it may be
reduced, if necessity requires, to $3.50
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 finds that decent room, toler-
ably furnished and moderately warmed
in winter, can be hired for 800 a 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
designations, can be bought for $45 a
year. This includes a best suit for
Sundays and holidays, to be worn
three years, and 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 S15 for wash
ing and $40 for fuel, and the sum is
1920. The ordinary calculation is that
a workingman must eXpend as much
| for food as for all the rest of his sub
sistence, or at least $120 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 "entirely possible to
| buy an ample and nutritious ration, in
considerable variety. in the city of
Boston, at not exceeding cents a day
and prepare it for use within 8 cents Il
| day" The necessary cost of food he
therefore fixes at one dollar week, or
| S52 a year, and this is the daily bill of
fare he presents as obtainable for that
sum:
"One-quarter to three-quarters of a
| 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; n large bowl of tea or coffee,
with aspoonful OF condensed milk; an
orange, an apple or some dried fruit. y
The allowance of cost for meat seems
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 Il small price to the
| keepers of iails, to be served to per-
| sons in q form which makes it better
food than three-quarters of the work
ingmen outside of jails can secure at a
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, Every
nutritious and appetizing food" The
whole cost him only 129 cents, includ-
ing fuel, which was kerosene burned
in hand-lamp. The meat was cooked
in an air-tight vessel surrounded by
hot water.
Mr.. Atkinson concludes that 1.-THE
price of a 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 S2S for sundries or
Injuries" The problem is to prevent
the waste of food, for "the price Of
food is half the price of life, and hall
the price of food is wasted for want of
knowledge how to buy it and how to
cook it"
Solve that problem, says Mr.. Akin
son, and you solve the labor question,
for if man knows how to live she
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. y
The views and figures of this Boston
investigator are, therefore, pretty sure
to provoke a lively discussion.-N. Y
Sun.