Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1910-02-10

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Those on a few foodstuffs were low
cred trife last year Nor can the
railroads be blamed. Their rates have
varied little.
Wages have gone up, and the wage
bill is an essential element Of the cost
of production and of services. But the
wage workers say that the advance in
their pay has not kept pace with the
advance in the cost of living. Fur
thermore, there are some classes of
workers clerks, for instance-where
there has been little or no advance.
Whoever may benefit by the higher
cost of living, they are the chief suf-
ferers.
The Tribune may be asked; "Then
is nobody responsible for the higher
cost of living ?" It's answer would be:
"To certain extent, everybody" A
higher and more expensive standard of
living is everywhere the inevitable re-
suit of increasing prosperity, but in
this country there has been a general
tendency to raise the standard unduly.
We have scoffed at the petty economics
of the household. President Harrison
said "a cheap coat makes a cheap
man" That has been taken as gospel
truth. Housekeepers have refused to
buy cheap and nutritious foodstuffs
They have insisted on the dearest and
the daintiest.
There has been frightful household
waste due to ignorance of the arts of
cooking and of marketing. The wages
which many a man says are insufficient
for the support of family would be
ample if the woman of the house knew
how to make the best use of them. 1t
may be that she is not to blame She
may have spent in mill or factory years
that otherwise would have been en-
ployed in learning how to make digest
ible and palatable meals for little
money.
A meat boycott is a spasmodic pro-
test, not a remedy. The remedy is to
bear in mind that the cost of living de-
ponds to great extent upon the indiv-
idual. He is not compelled to buy the
best cuts or the whitest flour. The
wastage Of the American kitchen would
feed a frugal nation. Not long ago the
agricultural department published sta
tistics showing that the per capita pro-
duction of most staple farm products
was as large or larger today than in
1875. Presumably the per capita waste
of those products if much greater now
than then.
But they complain of the higher cost
of living in France, Germany and Eng
land, where American extravaganza is
not initiated. SO some general cause
for the advance must be sought for.
A majority of the political economists
find it in the increased production of
gold. They point to the rise in prices
which followed the discovery of Amer
lea and the flood of the precious metals
from Mexico and Peru, and say that
history is repeating itself. $50 long
as the gold supply increases faster than
population, production, and the conse-
quent volume Of things bought and
sold, ~ says Prof. Taussig, so long the
rise in prices will continue.
If the political economists were of
one mind there would apparently be no
remedy for an advance in prices, with .
wages tagging in the rear, unless the
output Of gold could be limited until
population and production caught up.
1t is to be hoped that the congressional
and other investigators will not fail to
Zeal thoroughly with this phase of the
question. That there has been an
enormous increase in the output Of
sold since 1890 an know.