Palestine daily herald. [volume] (Palestine, Tex.) 1902-1949, 1906-07-31
INCREASE IN THE
COST OF LIVING
is TO REMAIN PERMANENT, Es-
PEcIALLY WITH REGARD TO AR
TlcLES OF FOOD.

pecially with regard to articles OF
food The limit of high prices has not
yet been touched In my opinion, the
trusts and the tariff have little or
nothing to do with this condition,
which is the natural outgrowth of the
development of the great Western
country, linked with the increase in
the output of gold"
This statement was made today by
George E. Roberts, director of the
mint Mr. Roberts is careful stu
dent of the practical side of economic
questions affecting the American peck.
etbook
When asked what causes are re.
sponsible for the steady climb OF
prices, Mr. Roberts said:
The first and most important reason
is found in the recent utilization of the
great prairies of the Middle West
That vast section west from Chicago,
including the Dakotas, Nebraska and
Kansas, for a number of years, ending
with 1856, was rapidly settled.
Since then its population has increased
steadily and has devoted itself TO
growing farm products. Practically
all good tillable lands are now occu.
pied. About the time this territory
was being settled wheat was worth
fifty and sixty cents a bushel, an in
crease of about so per cent. in value
Take the item of hogs, which are now
worth 81 per 100 pounds. l cannot
remember another time when hogs
were selling at this price, except for
a brief period during the civil war,
when our paper currency was badly
deprecated. There has been an in
crease of 100 per cent. in the value
of hogs during the past ten years.
Most of these products come from
the lands which, a comparatively few
years ago, were vacant. The natural
fertility of the Western prairies has
been developed, and they now furnish |
q large percentage of our food pro- |
ducts Heretofore we had been get |
ting our principal fool supplies at |
about the cost of labor put on them,
scarcely considering the value of the
land. In the future we shall be pay
ing i1rssresr ON lands worth from $75I
TO $3.50 an acre"
is this era of high prices tempo
rary?"
I'm my opinion, the cost of food in
this country is to be permanently
high. In the past the man could get
together enough money to buy a team
of horses, a wagon and a pillow could
go to some Western state on the from
tier and buy rich land at an insignifi-
cant price on small annual payments.
The only new lands now being opened
up are the irrigated sections, which
are being made available at great ex-
pense. We could not undertake these
great irrigation projects if it were not
that the price of food products had
been established on such high level"
who gets the benefits of the high
priees?"
1.-The farmers get it." was the
prompt reply of Mr.. Roberts. Seven
dollars per hundred weight for hogs is
an almost unheard of price in this
country. Raw cotton is worth to the
farmer about 100 per cent. more than
it was four or five years ago. This is
due to the increased demand without
a corresponding increase In the sup.
ply. The same thing applies to the {
production and cost of wheat, corn
and other staples of the farm"
ITO what extent do you think the ]
tariff is responsible for higher prices?"
Very little, if any. 1t may affect {
some articles of wearing apparel, but D
does not touch food supplies"
What classes are hardest hit by i
these high prices?" t
Men on fixed salaries will probably
that their wages have not e
kept pace with the increase in the
cost of living. think this is true of a !
great many people, more particularly
Of clerks, statesmen and others of those i
But these people must re-
member that they had the best end
Of the deal for long time-up to the
revival of industry, which began
about 1898 For about twenty years I
prior to that time the tendency OF
prices had ,been steadily downward,
and the wage Garner and the salaried
classes had very great advantage Z
over others. They had steady pay and !
their wages were increasing in pur- a
chasing power every year. Now for }
a time the current is running in the c
other direction, and persons with fixed c
incomes are under a disadvantage c
with those engaged in bust u
ness" Il
Gulf Coast inventors.
The following patents were issued