The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1909-08-12
.)rrmlont 0aatthmau.
THE COST OF LIVING

ball and the tariff must give place to the
cost of living. 1t is of vital interest to
everybody, rich or poor
\, In discussing this subject the New York
Commercial says: "The inevitable effects
of the rise in the price of wheat are in
evidence all over the world, and especially
in those countries which make extensive
use of wheat products and import more or
less of the cereal The increased cost OF
living is apparent everywhere, and dis
cussion of it wherever men and women
meet was never so widespread and so
serious as now.
ain London, so the newspapers there
report, the ordinary four-pound loaf OF
bread is now selling at IL pence, where
the regular price until recently was only
a 1-2 pence-an advance Of almost 80
per cent. and something that means
much in London families that buy their
bread ready-made Across the Channel,
in Paris the -kilogram loaves have been
advanced to IS centimes, the former rate
having been so centimes; hundred
weight Of wheat in France up to few
months ago could be bought for % IL
francs, but to-day the price is II francs
rise of 20 per cent Since the beginning
of the present year the price OF l57-
kilogram sack of -four in Paris has risen
from so francs to SO francs-largely
because of fear that the next wheat crop
might prove poor. Whatever the excuse
for the fear, there is no escaping the fact
of the present high price Meat has kept
step in the advance in France, beef, veal,
mutton and pork all showing higher
prices than the average for twenty years
past.
Popular unrest under this burden was
never so noticeable here in the United
States as now. A thousand-and-one arti-
Giles that constitute items in household
expenses, necessities and luXuries alike,
and whose cost has no relation whatever
to the price of wheat are abnormally
increased in price and without any appar-
ent reason for it in most instances. Take
peaches, for instance. The supply in and
around New York had come, up to a week
or so ago, chiefly from Georgia, Delaware
and States to the south of US; last week,
however, the press dispatches announced
that the first shipment of the New Jersey
peach crop of 1909 would go forward to
market that day-that the fruit was
unusually fine in all parts of the State and
the crop enormous. In spite of this,
however, the retail price Of peaches in and
about New York continues to hold at a
point where a basket of only fair fruit
costs about cent and half for each
peach in it They are beyond the means
of the vast majority of wage-earners, and
even good-salaried people buy them al
ways with a mental protest at the high
price.
"a reaction from all this is bound tc
come some fine day-and when it does il
will not be the consumer that is hurt"
During the past few years the cost o.
necessities as well as luxuries has increased
Enormously, and prices still continue tC
climb. Thanks to the influence of the
unions the wages OF organized labor also
have advanced, and the farmer gets better
prices, although the cost of the things
he buys is so high as to cut into his pro
fits, but the salaried man probably suffers
most. In many instances he is working
for the same amount nominally that h,
received ten years ago, which is probably
a third less when measured by what tn,
money will buy.
There is widespread feeling that SOM
way not fully understood conditions are
wrong; that few people are becoming yer,
rich at the expense of the general public
This may be an error, but the manipulation
of the necessities of life like wheat, and tn
selfshness of certain powerful bushes
interests in insisting on higher duties tha
are needed for the protection of America
labor give color to the belief that the la,
of supply and demand is not altogethe
responsible for high prices
The danger to be feared is that tn
reaction that may follow as a result of Sc
fshness and greed will be too severe an
will cause the innocent to suffer. If ther
is any fair way by which the increase in tn
cost of living can be investigated and tn
truth discovered, it should be tried. tt
consumer must have recognition an
protection.
No Rollo, the members of the Vernon
Fish and Game League will not carr
fishing rods or guns on their outing
\ Bluff Point, N. Y. A few will carr