The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1910-02-05

where a pound was no more than
enough. That pound of ham was nee
essity for their proper nourishment.
The higher cost, therefore, means
partial starvation Any doctor can tell
of patients made anaemic by inability
to buy as much sturdy food as they
needed.
Take a family of five, living on an
income OF $50 a month Economists
says that sufficient food cannot be sup
piled for less than 81 week, which Is
$40 for the five, leaving only SO q
month for rent, fuel, clothing, the doc
tor, the church. 1t cannot be done. The
food bill must be cut, and unless in
the almost certain illness following
this economy the sick are sent to dis
pensaTy or hospital, there is a doctors
bill to pay Poor housing, insufficient
clothing are all that can be afforded
whe:. fayr-ne prices prevail, and There
is not q penny to spend for recreation
To talk of saving for rainy day is a
mockery to the despair of the wage
Garner whose lot we have been con
sidering.
As the cost Of necessities has IN
creased, have incomes gone up? Wages
were at their best in 1907, boom year.
In 1908 the panic reduced the pay of
many trade, and some, but not all,
have been restored in part or entirely
last year and this. The Department
Of Commerce and Labor has statistics
showing that in 1907 wages were pa
per cent above the average for the ten
years, IS9O-IS99. Compare this with
the table of food prices and see where
the pinch comes.
If anyone holds that labor unions are
responsible for, say, pa per cent of the
present additions to the cost of living,
note that organized labor can count
no more than 100000 out of the
% 2s5, 922 persons engaged in gainful
occupations according to the last cen
sus.
Then who Is 70 blame2 J. J. Hill,
railroad builder and expert in farm
lore. Is continually drawing attention
to she fact that the consumers are
rapidly outnumbering the producers OF
staple foods. We have already begun
to import q little fOur-4S.OO5 barrels
in l9O1-but that was probably only
TO correct an oveT-expOrt. In three
years, I9O6-l9Os, this country produced
20 bushels Of wheat per capita, against
So in the years 1876 1885, q decrease OF
almost . per cent. That Is 1920 of
the wheat of former years has to 90
round now
In 1900 there was a little more than
twO-thirds Of whole beef carcass for
each man, woman, and child in the
country The number OF cattle ha
hardly increased at all, but there are
now l2O persons who must be salts
fed with 60 head of cattle for their
years supply where these 90 head
to feed only ICe persons a decade a.o-
This helDs explain. IN part. the present
cost Of beef Cattle were ga per cent
higher at wholesale in 1908 than their
average price for the decade 1890 1899
The farmer Is undoubtedly getting
more for his crops, and Is more pros
porous in money than he ever has been.
Some economists point out that the
advance in costs Is worldwide, as
great IN proportion. in free trade Brit
ain as IN protectionist France and Ger
many They also ProPhesy a wave of
expanding trade and industry 10 scale
up wages and incomes to a level with
the greater price for all human neces-
sites. They ascribe a large part Of
present troubles of wage-workers to
the increased stock of gold
GOld-that Is, moneys as much a
commodity as wheat. When A paws
gold for wheat, B pays wheat for gold.
When gold Is scarce, B has TO give more
wheat for a gold dollar. which means
that wheat is cheap. Wnen gold Is
plenty, B gives less wheat for dol
lar; wheat Is high and money Is cheap.
Gold is not only more plentiful and
less precious than it has been in the
memory OF man, but modern banking
methods have made a given quantity
do a far greater amount of work than
It used to do. This increased activity
of money and credits still further
chesPeEs the dollar bill, and helps put
I'D the price of whatever has to be
bought with It
How much per cent have Govern
ment salaries in Washington gone up
while gold has gone down and food
prices have risen The Ways and
Means Committee should make that
question stand out in its proposed in
vestigation-
RICHES COUNT.
Fred-There seems to be a lot moro
fuss maze OF Miss As singing thai,