Weekly independent. [volume] (Elko, Nev.) 1887-1914, 1909-10-01
OUR BIGGEST PROBLEM

By way of closing IN editorial On the
increase in the cost of living, rs com
pared with the increase in wages. the
New York World says:
The greatest problem of American
craftsmanship today is how to lesson
the cost of living to the ultimate con-
sumner without touching the miners or
factory.hand's wage or the income of
the farmer. 1t can be done. Having
killed competition, the exploiter is rob-
bling both producer and He
must he dealt with.
The News has made the same OBJ
servat;on Il number of times recently.
and the more we study the problem the
more firmly we are convinced that
American craftsmanship should have
attacked it long ago, Instead of legis-
lating for the consumer, however, the
party i'll power has been serving those
interests that have protited most by the
conditions against which the
are protesting.
What suggested the editorial to the
New York World was Il report of the
Bureau of Labor that there had been an
increase in the cost of living from 1897
to zoos of 81 per cent. The World says
that such a statement docs not begin
to state the actual situation of the ron
sumner Which is true. The world
adds,
Still, the figures do follow the ten
dency of prices. They reveal the huge
revolution which has come about in the
control of industry in the last fifteen
years.
In 1893 We had n panic. Prices had
begun to fall in 1891, when it WAS fore
seen. By 1894 the statistical average
of prices was AS points, or say II
per cent, below the boom year 1890
Prices remained low for five years,
showing at the bottom Il decline OF
more than one-quarter. The panic wa.
cured by natural means People whC
needed their none sold their good,
cheap. and purchases were stimulated
AT the least, men out of work for Il tim,
r could live %cheaply.
How different the course of the panic
of 1907! In the interval the trusts hat
grown to giant size and the law o
supply and demand had, we were told
given place to benevolent industrial
dictatorship. The steel trust for month
!, held up prices to its own loss and tn,
=, general disadvantage. The big glass
makers held the little ones in line. Lum
Der could not dccl inc much, becaus
under high tariffs we have cut ncarl,
all our trees. Food and clothing ros
in cost. And the stated prices of al
commodities averaged ten points highe
@ in 1908, in the profound depression
:. after the panic, than they were in tn,
boom year 1899.
Twenty years of progress had gone fo
naught. Processes were cheaper bu
-, prices were higher. 1t was costing mucl
more to live in 1908, when n vast arm,
Of honest and industrious men were on
Of work, than in 1890. when all wcr,
employed. And all that we had t
compensate us for this manifest lower
ering of the conditions Of general pros
, pcrity was IL sheaf of vast and suddcl
fortunes whose vulgar and profligat,
display amazed the world.
There Is much in this to engage the
attention of those thoughtful and well
+, meaning people in practically all walks
of life who are striving to better tn,
condition Of the masses. Certainly il l.
incumbent on Il craftsmanship {,
study these problems a while from til,
standpoint Of the consumer. Unlcs,
there is u radical change in conditions
at tho large ccnters of population be
tween nov and the holidays. the long
est brGadlines of our history are likel,
TO engage attention. Aud IL might no
stop ut begging. These discussion,
penetrate only to the borders of Il very
large. and dangerous. problem. Chat
tanOUga News.