The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1905-04-06
The Increased Cost Of Living.

One of the most interesting pTODleUS
of to-day is the rise in the cost of liv-
ing 1t affects everybody, and accord
inglv there is no one for whom it has
not keen interest. While the poor
suffer most, owing to the great increase
in the prices of bare necessaries, the
rich are likewise made uncomfortable.
Mr. Midas, for example, does not enjoy
paying 80 per cent. more for diamond
necklace than the jeweler would have
asked for the same article four or five
years ago. To most people the situa-
ton signifies, in effect, a considerable
reduction of income, and the individual
who feels it most, perhaps, is the sal
aired man, whose wages remain un'
changed while their purchasing power
is seriously diminished
Young Mr.. 3enedick, let us say, has
just taken the adventurous leap into
matrimony. He earns only moderate
salary, but enough, as he and his little
vile have figured it out, to maintain a
comfortable home on modest scale
Having saved a few hundred dollars
sufficient to build house, with view
to the eventual acquisition of full own
ership in the property-on the install
ment plan-he goes to a builder and
asks for plans and an estimate. He
learns that the coy dwelling he wants
will cost him $1,000, although, as the
expert in domlciliary construction
frankly informs him, exactly the same
house, as like it III all respects as one
pea is to another, could have been put
up half-a dozen years ago for $5SO0-a
difference of Sl400.
The reason for this remarkable rise
in price lies, says the builder, in the
fact that everything costs so much
more-not only the labor, that is to say,
but all of the materials that 60 into
the building, even to the nails and the
door-knobs. Wages OF maSOnS, car
penters and plumbers have gone up,
and their daily hours of toll have been
reduced from ten to eight, implying
greatly augmented expense to the
contractor. Lumber, which is SO large
an item, is much higher, pine boards
having risen from SIT to $3.50, while
planks of white quartered oak have
assembled from S57 to 500, and even
shingles are 10 per cent. dearer than
thev used to be. Common bricks,
which were IS thousand, are now 50;
pine doors. instead of eigbty-fve cents,
come to SITS apiece, and the window
glass, for which dealers charged 1924
per hundred square feet in the nineties,
sells to-day at sop.
However clear the builders explana-
ton, the additional S140O for the house
makes a painful difference to young
Benedick. 1t is years salary, and
puts off much longer into the future
the happy time when he and the little
wife will own their home. Neverthe-
less, after talking it over with her, he
makes up his mind bravely to take up
The burden, adding that much more to
the mortgage in prospect, and, whe!
the house is built, they move into 1t
and feel that they are really beginning
life in earnest. OF course it has been
necessary to buy a god deal of furni-
ture, and this equipment OF necessary
household belongings comes to much
more than was expected. In fact, 1t
becomes unpleasantIy evident that
articles of all kinds required for
housekeeping have gone up in just
about the same proportion as building
materials.
Take for example the furniture for
the bedrooms. \ cheap 'set'' OF three
pieces, in ash, costs SD, though the
same thing could have been bought
half-a-dozen years ago for S11.5O. The
price Oh SIX pam clldliS is 90 lISledtl
of Sc. Kitchen chairs aud tables have
climbed proportionately, and the same
rule seems to apply to all of the minor
culinary appurtenances. Pals and tubs
have gone up % per cent. SO, likewise,
have plates OF granite-Ware, cups and
saucers, and all kinds OF crockery, as
Well as glass pitchers and tumblers,
and knives and forks. Everything, al
most without exception, is dearer than
II formerly was.
Tins percentage added to the cost of
every necessary article makes no great
q .fference to people who are we'll TODD:
but VIXEN one is the wifi. of man WHO
earns less than $50 week, and who is
not able by any imaginable means to
increase his income beyond that point,
she finds the tax most serious. Its eff
feet is to reduce the income by dimin-
iShing its buying power. Then there is
the matter of household fuel, which
must be bought. although coal has risen
$50 Il ton and wood 81 a cord. Even
kerosene has been hoisted by the oil
trust from ten to twelve and fifteen
cents gallon, and the only thing re.
lating to heating and lighting that does
not appear to have gone up is matches.
Candles of various kinds show an aver
age advance of II pei cent.-Pearson' S
Magazine for April.