Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-03-17

man In public office anywhere In the
United States
Increases:
Wealth. 1870 to 1890 116 per cent;
1890 to 1904, IS per cent.
Foreign trade 1870 to 1899, 70 per
cent: 1890 to 1903. S5.4 per cent.
Value manufactured products 1870 to
1890 121 per cent; 1890 to 1905, 50 per
cent.
Expenditures for United States gov
eminent 1870 to 1890, / a per cent, 1881
to 1905 1914 per cent.
Expenditures, thirty states, 1880 TO
1890 2p1 g per cent.
Crop of Public Ills.
The phenomenal increase of public
expenditure has already produced
plentiful crop of public ills. 1t is one Of
the causes of the increase in prices now
disturbing the people. This increase fol-
lows in suggestive way the imitation
of national and local budgets. The aver
age cost of the supplies that must be
bought for practically every household
has increased about 30 per cent between
1895 and 1900 During he past year
there has been marked lifting of the
price level. Foodstuffs cost from 10 to 20
per cent more than ten years ago.
Something is due to enormous cur
reRcy imitation. The total per capita in
the United States in 1895 was $21. Al. and
in 1909 it was 1851. Although popula-
ton had grown by many millions in these
thirteen years, the amount of money to
each individual had increased by $3.50,
or more than 60 per cent The increase
in the total gold production of the world.
which rose from Sis. S4S 600 in 1890 to
over $427.OOO00O In 1908, has been made
the basis for one form and another Of
credit issues aggregating a vast sum
The tariff Is another contributing
cause. 1t IS true that it can furnish
but partial explanation. For to only
a limited extent can the rise in food
prices be affected by or traced to the
tariff. AS to commodities that we export
the tariff Is imperative. II generally af-
fects prices directly as we become import
ers. Nevertheless. the tariff must bear its
share of responsibility for rising prices.
Combinations which are actually in
restraint of trade. which have monopoliz-
ed their field and are either controlled by
n common secret management or q secret
agreement to maintain exorbitant charges
are partly responsible.
Decline of Agriculture.
Still more of the rise of prices is due
10 the decline Of agricultural products as
compared with the increase Of popula-
ton" Decrease in the number of cattle
and swine was also given as a reason.
When due allowance has been made
for the effect of these forces that make
for dearer living, there still remains a
large unexplained balance" said Mr. Hill.
This must be credited to the lavish ex-
penditure which has now grown to be a
national trait.
Waste. idleness and rising wages, all
inter-related to one another, now as cause
and now as effect, are, next to an over
issue of irredeemable paper, the three
most powerful forces in the world to
raise prices.
Perhaps the greatest factor of all in
the price problem Is the wage rate.
Everybody knows that labor cost is the
principal item in all forms of industry.
The wage rate has been rising steadily
in this country Powerful forces are back
of this movement. 1t has public SYM
patty. To resist it is difficult and may
be dangerous. As cost Of production is
chiefly labor cost the price of the finished
article must go up If the price Of labor is
raised. This is just as true of the farm
as of the factory.
The effect of national waste of capt.
tai is felt Immediately in the added
weight of taxation. The taxes collected
annually from the railroads of the coun-
try have increased more than 200 per
cent since 1880. They increased by forty
million dollars and by more than 500 per
mile of track between 1900 and 19OS''
Franchise taxes, Inheritance taxes, taxes
on corporations and income taxes are re-
ACiAco " with hcitHcT approval HOT us
approval
An Obnoxious Theory.
THE modern, theory that YOU can safely
tax the wealthy Is just as obnoxious as
the medieval theory that You can safely
Cypress or kill the poor. 1t Is obnoxious
not because wealth deserves special con-
sideration. but because capital is the
handspring of all industry and material
development; and, after you have de-
voted so much of 1T to the unproductipe
purposes that the state represents when
II transcends its primary function as
Keeper or the peace and administrator of
Justice, there will be just SO much less
left TO pay out In wages and devote to
the creation of other wealth.
The saving feature of our situation is
That II Is not complex, and that the
remedy is not obscure. The ideal Of in
the rule be that every dollar proftably
spent marks a crime against posterity
just as much as does the dissipation of
material resources Expenditure must be
cut down all along the line.
Credit everywhere should be consery-
ed by sharp scrutiny of new bond is
sues. The nation should reserve them for
the crisis OF war; no state need ever bor-
governed.
Stop grating. the offspring of public
extravaganza and the parent of civic de-
cay. Individual and public economy: a
just distinction between a high standard
OF comfort on one side and vulgar osten-
tation or criminal waste on the other. a
check on income wasting. debt creation
and credit infiation-these are the essen
tiats of the new and better conservation.
The reform is so great. so Indispensable.
so linked 10 our moral as well as our
material progress that 1t would seem to
appeal TO the heart and mind of every
American and win his enthusiastic devo-
ton until its last battle shall have been
won. Patriotism and self-interest strike
hands mere for the protection of our
homes and happiness from those most
dangerous of all enemies. the foes within
our own borders"