Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1895-02-22

government, the average citizen suf-
fers no dimunition of respect or influ.
ence because he does not exercise the
right of a freeman at the polls. As q
class it is said that the citizens oi
Washington are satisfied with the
present form of government, although
there is certain element who have
not given up the hope that popular
suffrage will again be restored with
the inevitable accompaniment Of the
distribution of the spoils OF Office.
An Economic Revolution.
Boston Herald.
Very few people realize how great
has been the fall in price Of the ne
cessities of life during the last 20, or
even during the last 10 years. At the
present rate of human progress, the
luxuries of to day are apt to become
the necessities of tomorrow, and so
the saving effected on one side merely
supplies the means for new expendi.
ture on another. But in dealing with
the great transactions of international
commerce it is impossible to overlook
the enormous shrinkage that has
taken place in the value of the staple
products OF the labor OF man, side by
side with steady Increase of the rates
which are paid for that labor. The
exports and imports of the United
Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
furnish, perhaps, the most accurate
standard that could be selected OF the
course of prices Of these staples. There
has been no fluctuating tariff to affect
values, and NO irreguixrfry -isher In
the monetary system or the conditions
Of exchange to render them uncer.
tain.
When we find that in 1874 England
paid $l55. .O00! 900 for 100000 hun
dred weights Of foreign wheat and
flour, and that last year 100000
hundredweights cost her only $685.
600, we get . realizing sense of more
than the significance OF cheap bread.
For there is in such figures the sign
and the measure of o social revolution
whose progress has been none the less
momentous because it has been
peaceful. To 60 back only 10 years
ago, $50.000OO0 buys 25,OO0,O0O
pounds of tea more than it would
have done in England in 1884, and
100000 hundredweights of refined
sugar can be imported for the price
paid in 1884 for little more than TO-
100000. In 10 years the quantity Of
dead meat imported into
the United Kingdom has nearly
doubled, while its declared value has
increased barely so per cent.
The chespening Of articles Of food
has been no more remarkable than
that of the raw materials of manu-
facture. In 1874, 14,O00. 900 hundred
weights or raw cotton are valued
among British imports at $255, ,OO0,-
600, while last year 16, ,00O, 900 hum
dredweights count for only $l65, ,OOO,-
GOO. The imports OF wool were 480,-
100000 pounds more last year than
they were in 1884, but they cost
IS 6,6OO,O 900 less than they did then.
OF course, the value of the manu-
factured product bears the impress Of
the decreased value of the raw mate
rial. Great Britain received $25, 600, J.
GOO less for the cotton fabrics she
shipped last year than she did for
those exported in 1874, but she,
nevertheless, sent out 1,70O, 1000 GOO
yards more. For less than 2,500. 600
tons OF iron and steel manufactures
exported in 1874 the price was $685.
100000; for considerably more than
100000 tons exported last year the
price was about $93, 100000. These
are some of the data which will 60 To
the making of one of the most re.
markable chapters in the history ol
this century-the still incomplete
economic revolution TO which the con.
cluding quarter of it will have been 9
witness.