Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1909-12-29
THE COST OF LIVING.


Newspapers and economists are de-
voting a good deal of time and space
lust now to the increased cost OF llv-
ing The man who has to maintain
a domestic establishment knows just
how far this increase eats into his
salary. The man who has only to
keep himself and buy the necessary
clothing and articles for his COM
fort knows in a lesser degree how
*things have gone up 1t cannot be
ascribed to tariff, for it was high, ex-
tremely high, before the new tarih
bill was passed. For the last decade
everything that enters into eating,
wearing and being comfortable has
been going up. Foodstuffs are high
er than they have been for many
years. Eggs butter, meats OF all
kinds, wearing apparel and the hun
dred and one articles of domestic con-
sumption have been mounting stead
lily along the scale Of prices.
This increased cost of living marks
what are Familiarity known as ""good
times" When factories are busy, Ia
Dor everywhere employed. wheels
turning and all classes of industry
turning out quantities of wares and
manufactures, prices inevitably rise.
The marked increase Of late years
has been in foodstuffs. Wheat has
held a record price for number of
years. Corn, which enters largely in
to the food supply of the country,
both as corn, and as fatted meat,
has reached a price almost unrecord-
ed in history. Pork, formerly the
food of the ''poor man. sells at an
abnormal price, and the choice cuts
are little less expensive than beef.
Poultry is both high and scarce.
Turkeys for the holiday season are
about double in price what they were
a decade ago, and at that are not
easy to get.
Various reasons are ascrfbed for
the unusually high prices. The in
crease in the production of gold is
given as one reason. The tendency
of the American people to live well
and demand the best is another. Ex-
travagance in living is another. And
the reason that seems to be clearest
and most logical is the rapid increase
in the mouths to be fed in this coun-
try, the fewer people on the farms to
furnish food, and the fact that the
area of cultivated land is not keep
ing pace with the increase in popu-
lation.
The big cattle ranges are disappear
ing, and will soon have altogether
disappeared. The hundreds of thous-
ands of acres where cattle and sheep
grazed have been homesteaded. This
in itself increases the cost Of produc-
ton. Cattle have to be sheltered and
fed, and a good share Of the acreage
of arabic land must be devoted to the
raising of fodder. The price Of land
has steadily increased, and, in the
eastern states, farms have been aban-
doned and there has been migration
either: to the city or to the cheaper
acres of the west. The urban centers
have an immense population that
does not produce anything toward the
necessaries of life, either of food or
clothing. Our gross necessities are
increasing and we are falling of in
our crop Of Intelligent and indus
trious farmers. Consequently, the
demand for foodstuffs is greater than
the supply and the price mus: newt
ably rise.
II all makes clearer and more inn
pressive the warnings of our states
men and economists that we must
conserve onr national resources, pre-:
serve the available land for the actual
settler, teach the boys and girls that
the farm affords the safest and sur
est competence and independence,
and, through our agricultural col
leges and experts, improve the meth