Americus times-recorder. [volume] (Americus, Ga.) 1891-current, 1910-01-14
EXTRAVAGANCE ONE CAUSE OF
HIGH PRICES.

WOLldu are COuCGTuGu, COulluuSS 10 en-
gross the attention of thinkers and to
occupy much space in the columns of
newspapers and magazines. While
there is a general charge that the ex-
| cessive duties of the tariff are respon-
| sible in a measurer for the high prices
of commodities in this country it Is
also a matter of common agreement
| that other considerations enter into the
| problem, making it decidedly COM
pick one, and something not to be
easily solved by legislation, that mod
| ern panacea for all ills. Chief among
| these agencies are the restraints i'm
| posed on the production and exchange
of commodities by the trusts and the
high scale of living of the American
have had very perceptible effect on
all values. The diversion of money
and labor into the production and
maintenance of expensive luxuries,
such as automobiles, is claimed to
have had a decided effect on the entire
industrial system of the country Dis
cussing this and other features of the
existing situation, thoughtful writer
has this to say:
1t may be truly said that only one
| construction is placed upon this by
| sober and careful thinkers upon econ
omic subjects, and that is that the
country, taken as whole, is living ex-
| travagantly. 1t is a matter that is
constantly referred to by the larger
business men in their private CONVEX
sation, and one instance thereof that
is as much alluded to as any other is
the money now being spent upon auto
mobiles. An accurate estimate of the
number of automobiles in the United
States is impossible, but In the trade
the number Of machines in being and
ordered for next years delivery is put
as being in excess of $50 000 An aver
age cost of 81 900 for each machine
would not probably be an exaggera-
ton. When to this initial expenditure
of S150,000,00 for this one article of
luxury alone, and that of recent origin,
is added the yearly cost of operating
the automobiles the volume of national
expenditure in the matter becomes
startling.
Other proofs of the same tendency
must occur to every one, and the ques-
ton is recurring with more and more
emphasis. What is likely to be the
end of the matter? or to converge the
issue upon one point only, How will
the country eventually settle the ad-
verse trade balance that is piling up
against it if affairs continue to go on
in the same fashion?
A matter corollary to the foregoing
and one which is now the subject of
earnest popular discussion is the high
cost of living and the high prices for
all commodities whose net result in
the operation of a business plant is
an eating up of profits by an increased
expense account. 1t is a matter of
record that many staple articles, such
as leather and all the various hog
products, are selling at higher prices
than since the civil war, and that in
general 1t costs much more now to live
in the United States than it did even
as recently as ten years ago is con-
ceded by every one.
AS a result it is very doubtful if the
savings of the country in proportion to
the population are increasing; and as
regards one thing, at least, evidence is
| CONCLUSIVE anu that Is IuHI
the accumulated capital of the man
ufacturing population in the Eastern
part of the country is being drawn up
on to sustain life, and is being diverted
to the pocketbooks of the Westernfar-
merS.
The reasons for this state of affairs
are many. The increased production
of gold has doubtless something to do
with the matter. There are those who
! trace the general cause back to the
fact, as alleged of unduly high STAN
dards of personal comfort that have
been set up. 1t appears to be true
that the high prices of pork and lard
are due in considerable degree to the
| presence of hog cholera in the last
few years, which has reduced the sup
ply of hogs, and in so far as this fac
tor is concerned, it is plainly a matter
of temporary character. But it is not
so clear that the difficulty as regards
meat production is of the same fieeting
sort, inasmuch as the chief trouble
here seems to be the curtailment of
the cattle ranges, many of these often
being upon government land and thus
free, over which the cattle up to
short time ago roamed upon the West
ern plains.
hC COuuLi high LdFlII laws are
again alluded to as source of current
high prices, but while these NAV affect
articles of clothing and many other
commodities they certainly dc not af-
| feet foodstuffs-and it is foodstuffs in
to which the cost of living mostly en-
tiers. That the farm lands of the coun-
try are not titled as they should be in
accordance with modern scientific
methods and that the production of
grain per acre in the United States
makes a miserable showing as COM
pared with that of other civilized
lands is manifest at a glance But the
difficulty of applying a remedy here
and the length of time that the cure
! would take is equally manifest.
Another explanation of the current
state of affairs is that prevailing
methods of the distribution of merch-
andise and especially of the necessities
of life are faulty and the estimate of
Secretary Wilson, of the Department
of Agriculture, made as a result of an
| investigation in so cities in different
parts of the country, that the profit of
retail meat dealers averages in these
towns SO per cent above the prices
| paid by the retailers to the whole
salers has attracted wide attention.
The man who tries to buy his way
into heaven may discover later that ne
| 1.