The record-union., 1896-10-11
WAGES AND LIVING HERE AND
BROAD.


Emile Levasseur has contributed to
current information a valuable compar-
iSon between the standards Of living of
the American and the European work
sng,na.n. Thus the Belgian investiga-
ton of 1891 places the cost of living for
unent at 80 francs a month for food
alone. This Is about the cost to the
American workingman. But in the case
OF the European 1t includes a family of
six persons; bread constitutes one third
OF the expense for food and meat a sixth,
While in America families are ordi-
narily less numerous and spend much
more for. meat than for bread, and have
much more varied bill of fare.
The American workingman spends a
great deal more for clothing besides,
and it may be added to Levasseur' s
statement, he spends more in entertain
ment and life's enjoyments, being So
cially freer than the European worker.
This is because, as the essayist well puts
1t, Of the higher wage paid in Amer
lea, the democratic spirit Of Americans
which incites the workingman to dress
more as does the business man, and
Levasseur adds with spice of wit, it
is owing also to the coquetry Of young
girls whom the desire to marry, added
to- their great independence, tempts to
adorn themselves.
Levasseur's statistics from the Bel
gian budget show that the clothing ex-
pense covers from II to % per cent. of
the total expenditure, and that the
young girl spends porportionately more
than the young man in this direction,
and the shop girl a good deal more than
the factory girl. Again, there is larger
place and greater freedom for travel
in America than in France or Belgium,
and the wage Garner moves more easily
here
His moral needs are greater here also,
and he spends more for newspapers, his
theater, the picnic and the church. The
liquor bar is a gulf that swallows up
millions of the wage earner's income,
but this, Levasseur says he does not
at all take into account on either side.
The conclusion is reached that the
American workingrnan spends more
than his European brother, because he
needs to spend more to maintain the
level Of his position. 1t is a strong ar
gument, then, for the maintenance OF
the high-wage system for which the
Record Union" has always contended
as essential to the dignifying Of labor
here, and the maintenance of the posi-
ton which American citizenship de-
Tnands of all its own.
Forty years ago Mr.. Engel, study
ing the same propositions, allowed that
in Saxony half the expense account is
for food where the income is large, and
three-fifths where it is small. In the
United States, says Levasseur, where
wages are high half goes for food. There
is, he adds, no disagreement on that
point The Labor Bureau of New York
finds the same fact, and sums up that
in the United States the worker for
wages spends half his income for food,
or at the least two-ffths; one-seventh
for rent one-seventh for clothing, and
has one-fffth for other expenses.
The United States Labor Commits
sioner taking 1,OS5 average American
families, and making comparison with
European families of the same con-
dition, finds that the American work
ers live and can live in all respects more
comfortably. They have better food,
clothing and shelter; they have need OF
more warmth in winter and they spend
more on sundries. The Belgian worker.
who is less well paid, less well clothed.
nevertheless is compelled to devote a
larger proportion of his income to food
than the American, and has less left for
moral needs and luxuries.
While the American workingman mas
more wages, he has greater wants. says
Levasseur, and his life is placed on q
higher level Of comfort than that OF
the European wage Garner. An Amsra-