The daily morning journal and courier., 1907-03-07


 So Great--It's a Matter of Standards
 and Eeonomy-Four Ways of Living
 in London.
 One of the most frequent topics dis cussed among men Is the cost of liv- ing, and whenever a party takes up this subject there is apt to be one present who asserts that it costs much less to live in London than in New York. He speaks sometimes from experience, quite as often because somebody told him about it and ordinarily there is nobody at hand who ventures to con tradict his statements.
 So the belief has become general that Is not only costs less to live in Lon don than in New York but that the difference in favor of London is quite one-half. It was therefore interest ing the other day to hear a defense of New York living from an American who has spent much time in London in the last twenty years.
 "I'n agree" he said "that it usually costs an American in London less mon- tey to live than it does in New York and also that a Briton of the same income vii spend less for his living there than an American does at home, but these admissions merly mean that the standards of living is higher here than on the other side.
 "The prime fact is that the average American who goes to England is con tnet fo rthe reason hrdrdluuuundonLo tent for one reason or the other to put up with lower standard of living than he has been accustomed to. By average I mean the man of moderate income. Mfllionaires are excluded from this discussion, but the ordinary Amer ican who tries to live in London as he does in New York will have to put out quite as much money as he does here.
 Figures quoted on this subject are great deal for example, about mems wonderfully deceptive. You hear a clothing, excellent suits, tailor made, for $15 and less. It depends on the tail or there as here.
 If you get the same grade of cloth it is true that the cost will be appre- ciably less in London, but the difier- ence is by no means so great as is commonly believed, and when it comes to underclothing the difference is in New York's favor. I don't know why, but that is the fact.
 "We were living S economically as possibly during our last year or two in London, but I found that the dress makers bills for my wife and daugh- ters were just about the same as they were here. Possibly they got higher grade of fabrics for the money. l mere- ly know that with desire to waste no coin the outgo was not appreciably less than it had been here.
 But let us admit that clothes are cheaper there; a tailor's bill is quite an item when it comes to paying it in either country, but it is comparatively small item in the course of a years necessary outgo Current expense Is the thing to consider and in this mat ter rent and food are the most import ant of all the items.
 "There are four ways to live in Lon don, and have tried them all-hotels, boarding houses, lodgings and house. keeping. New York is decidedly city of hotels, and the man who is accus- toned to hotel life here will find his bills just as great in London if he goes to hotel of the same grade.
 "He probably won't do so, few do at any rate, and so that class gets the im- pression that hotel life is cheaper there But ask such a man if he gets the same variety of food and as well fur nished and lighted rooms. Ask him particularly if his room was warm enough in winter to use it for anything but sleeping. Certainly none of these features is equal to the New York plan for the same money.
 Tt will be well to bear in mind the fundamental reason why man toler- ates a lower standard of living in Lon don and why he generally fails to per- ceive that the real cost of living os very little less there. It's the novelty of the situation.
 "If it is his first visit everything Is new and while he will probobly grum- ble good deal because he finds he can't get whole lot of things to which he has been accustomed he puts up with what he does get because he wishes to or must conform to the cus- toms of the country. On his second visit and thereafter he goes prepared to get along with much less than ae has been accustomed to, knowing, though he may not put it that way, that if he insists on living as well as he does in New York he will have to pay 8 steep bill.
 "You see. most of us who go there have to keep a sharp watch of our money. Now's it's great deal easier 1 for an American to economize in Q for eign country than it is at home. Con- seouently when he is in London the American thinks more about his money he has always before him the consid- erable item of the cost of getting back, the fear of going broke in a foreign country, and these inducements and circumstances are enough to in the ma iority of instances to induce a degree of carefulness in spending that is not thought of in New York.
 iroOm1smand: bthrbriaa- 'ean-ca ses "So when at the end of his visit the American takes account of himself and finds that he is just as healthy as he was here, that he has seen and enjoyed much there that cannot be seen here and that he has spent less than he would have spent in the same time here he immediately jumps to the conclu- l sion that the cost of living in London