The St. Johns herald., 1901-07-13
EXPENSES IN MEXICO.
WHAT LIVING COSTS IN OUR
 NEIGHBoR COUNTRY.
Various Household Articles Looked Upon by Americans as Necessities Cost About Three Times as Much as They Do at Home.

Living expenses in the City of Mex ico, or in fact any of the larger cities of Mexico, cannot be said to be cheap, with regard to the standard of living to which most Americans who come here are accustomed, and which they look upon as a necessity wherever they may be located, says writer in Mod ern Mexico. Mexico Is a silver coun- try, but that very fact makes many things that the foreigner demands as necessities so much higher. Mexican money is on a silver basis, but living expenses for the average American in Mexico, at least, are on a gold basis. In fact, for the family that keeps house here, expenses as a rule, will average about three Mexican dollars to one American dollar for the same relative standard of living. This ratio may be too high in comparison with the larger cities of the Atlantic coast, but 1t certainly is not for smaller places, or Western cities. House rent in the capital is an important item. It is practically impossible to secure a house with any degree of privacy or modern conVeniences for less than $75 per month. Servants are paid less than in the United States, housemaids receiving from SC to So a month, but on the other hand, many households that managed comfortably with one maid for general homework in the North here find it necessary to employ two or three. Boarding is cheaper, particularly for those without families. Single rooms rent for from $2O to $40 per month. Day board can be secured at city restaurants and private board ing houses for from $50 to $40 per month. It Is in the matter of clothing and general household supplies that the American family in Mexico finds the greatest expense. Fine French goods, gloves and broadcloth cost about the same number of silver dollars here that they do in gold in the United States, but the things that are classed as daily necessities by the average American cost much more In the plain CT lines of dry goods it is but natural, considering the double value of the gold dollars in the countries from which most of them are imported, the duties and freights added, that noth- ing is to be found for less than three times as many silver dollars as they cost in gold dollars in the countries where they are manufactured. Gentle mems ready made clothing is practical ly unknown among the better classes. A business suit of good English woolen costs from $40 to $50. Few American families are content to live upon the products of this country entirely. A few fresh vegetables and fruits are nearly always cheap. Potatoes are never lower than 3h cents pound and eggs are cheap at 9 cents a dozen. No imported groceries are less than four times as much in silver as they are in the United States in gold. Fifteen cent quality of American canned fruit costs $1.50 a can here. The cheapest canned vegetables cost from GO to 80 cents can. The package cereals, that retail at 1-3 cents in the States, cost 40c to 90 cents here. Imported Ameri can, and the best native, butter Is from 80 to 90 cents a pound. Milk costs from 13 to 16 cents litre, a tri1e more than a quart. In meats, beef costs 30 cents a pound, pork 35 cents, nut ton 30 cents, bacon and lard 40 cents a pound. Mexican flour is : cents a pound and native sugar II cents. These figures are all given in Mexican money, as nearly all who come to Mexico re- ceive salaries in the currency of the country. This paper has frequently spoken of the class of opportunities offered here to young men who are well equipped in some special line, but the man with a family who has em- ployment certainly cannot expect to better himself by removing here for less than three times as much in sil- yer as he can earn at home in gold. Aside also from the greater cost of many things must be considered the lack of English school advantages. These are limited in the capital and in most points in the interior they are entirely lacking. Wherever found, they must, of course, be reckoned as an ad- ditional expense, as there are, natural ly, no public schools here conducted in the English language.
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