The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1893-08-13
THE WORLD OF LABOR.
How to Live Well on Very Small
Sum.
A Timely HINT to Those with Small
Purses-Local and National
Industrial Notes.

1t is surprising upon how small sum
people can live when they get right down
to hard pan. am led to this reflection
by the experience of two friends of mine.
They are young men and were thrown
out of employment about four weeks ago
by the reduction of the force on munich
pal work. / met them the other day and
very encouraging prospects for a job, l
was rather surprised to see how cheer
ful they were over it. Knowing they did
not get very high wages when at work
asked them how they expected to get
along if work did not open up pretty
soon. They SAID they thought they could
get along for six months, but after that
it would get pretty rocky for them. Con-
tinuing my inquiries / discovered that
they were living on about $40 month
and living quite comfortable at that.
As it may have an interest for some of
the readers of THE HERALD these hard
times, I will tell you how they man
aged it.
They rented furnished room in the
southeastern part of the town and paid g
was likely to fail they quit their boarding
house, bought secondhand gasoline
stove, some cooking utensils and dishes
and went to keeping bach. Their entire
housekeeping outfit cost them only Sill.
Until they quit they got their own break
fast and supper and bought their dinners
at cheap restaurant. When work shut
down they got only two meals day;
breakfast at and dinner at d, with some
times lunch when they went to bed.
They were reasonably good cooks-as a
good many men are in the west-and
their bill of fare and its cost per week
was about as follows: Meat, 80 cents.
This was generally in the form of beef or
mutton stew, with quite often soup
bone, which they found both nourishing
and economical.
They used nearly every kind of vege-
table in the market, potatoes, onions,
cabbage, turnips. carrots and beans, and
much of it went into their soup. Their
vegetables cost them about 40 cents per
week; butter 20 cents, sugar 10 cents,
coffee 10 cents, bread so cents, milk 25
cents, fruit-mostly apples made into
sauce and baked-25 cents, rice and navy
beans Is cents, oat meal and corn meal
made into porridge and Johnny cake 20
cents, gasoline 20 cents, extras about 80
cents. This makes total of 50 per week
for two men, and it struck me as being
quite substantial fare for men who were
not working. A man at hard work would
probably need more meat and larger
quantity of other things. the only lux
ury they allowed themselves was smok-
ing tobacco. and they did their own wash
ing. but of course they didn't wear white
| frilled shirts or cambria ties. They are
good managers. One of them had got a
| job of digging potatoes on shares, and
expected to get enough to keep them in
potatoes all winter. After next week they
will get all the sweet and sour milk they
want to use for milking a neighbour
cow each morning. They think
! that on pinch they might be able to re-
duce their expenses 81 or even So per
! month below the present figures. and
| that with two or three days. work per
week they could hold out for an indefin-
tie time. I commend the example OF
these two plucky and ingenious young
fellows to those who think they will
starve to death on anything less than s.
per day.
The only Tabor difficulty in Salt Lake
| this week is that between the brewers and
their employers. Owing to the general
depression the employers propose to re-
duce the wages of their men S. pei
month all around. The wages at present
range from S65 to S75 per month, which
the men think is low enough. A commit
tee has been appointed from the FEEDER.
ated Trades to see if any amicable adjnst-
ment of the difficulty can be arranged.
! 1t was something of surprise to hear
from Mayor Harrison that there were
200, 600 unemployed people in Chicago
1t is doubtless the Mecca towards which
thousands OF idle men turn their steps
and when the great fair closes and thou
sands more are thrown out of employ.
menu the city will be confronted by
serious condition. 1t was the presence O.
many idle men and the existence O
serious labor troubles that made possibl:
the Haymarket riot and tragedy of 1886.
Judge Mitchell of Minnesota has de-
cided that any man, unless under con
tract obligations, or his employment
charges him with some public duty, ha
a right to refuse to work for or deal will
any man or class of men ne sees fit, ant
this right which one man may exercis
singly any number of men may exercis
jointly. While one is free to admit tn
right of a body of men to refuse to dea
with certain other men, do they not ex
coed that right when they use it for tn