The Washington herald., 1910-03-20
Cost of Living Has Done 1t
Since Year 1897.
FACT STANDS OUT CLEARLY
Causes Ascribed Are Many, Inciud-
ing Initiation Of Currency Through
increasing Volume of Gold Coin.
Distributing Agencies Come i'm for
Blame-Tarin and Trusts.

| ling distinctness that the cost of living
has amazingly increased over period
of years dating from 1897. 1t has been
conclusively shown that the average
yearly Increase In prices between the
years 1897 and 1857 was per cent During
the last two years the ratio OF increase
is greater still. and the dollar has about
one-half the purchasing power it had IN
1897. If this is not strictly true now al
the present rate of increase 1t viii be
more than true In 1911.
While there is no doubt as to the great
increase in the cost of living, all the IN
quiries do not seem to have arrived at
any very satisfactory conclusions as 10
the cause or causes Of the advance
Politicians ascribe it to the tariff and
the trusts. Publicists declare that the
people are extravagant, and that their
pampered demands for high living have
brought about the increased cost OF food
and other products. Dealers in feed sup
plies assert that the conditions are fixed
by the law of supply and demand. and
that scarcity of production and the in
creasing number OF mouths 10 feed are
alone responsible. Economists are begin
ming to advance the notion that the
enormous expansion of gold coin has re-
duced the value of the currency, and in
that proportion has increased prices. This
argument was made familiar In the ia
nous sixteen to one campaign Of the last
decade.
Thinks Gold Standard Unstable,
Prof. ]. Pease Norton. Yale expert in
statistics. is the latest advocate Of this
theory. In a recently published article,
after showing the enormous advance In
the cost OF living. he says: This in
crease forcibly suggests that the gold
standard is becoming progressively more
unstable and makes the price movement
Of the immediate future Of peculiar in
terest"
Prof Norton says it is necessary to go
back 10 the days of the civil war to find
any such prices for food products, cloth
ing. &c. as now exist. He says condi-
lions then were disturbed by the i'm
mense imitation OF the currency due to
the Issue of greenbaeks, and ne finds that
the parallel now is TO be found in the
great production Of gold and its coinage
in the minis OF the world
It is fair to assume that all the causes
time
A safe argument can be maintained
that the tariff rates on certain products
makes them higher to the consumer In
this country, and II is almost certain
that If the tariff wall were torn down,
especially between this country and
Canada. some food products would be
Immediately cheapened BY the larger and
cheaper field of supply. At the same
time it is difficult TO make this argument
apply 20 the whole situation. For ex-
ample. 1t Is stated on good authority
that thousands Of bushels Of apples rot
ted In the orchards of New England and
Northern New York last autumn because
the prices offered to the growers there
were not sufficient to afford a profit after
packing and conveying to the railroad.
This condition of affairs could not be
ascribed to the tariff. even though apples
at all the big distributing centers have
been higher this year than for several
years.
Faults In Distributing Agencies.
The fact is due to imperfection in the
distributing system for fruits and other
products, and furnishes the basis for the
argument that commission merchants,
cold storage managers, and other mid
dlemen are responsible for the high
prices. 1t surely must be true that much
OF the produce which is grown and for
which the producers receive very low
prices in various parts of the country. be-
comes greatly enhanced in value before
ii reaches the ultimate consumer.
The evidence before numerous investi-
eating bodies points to faults In the system
Of gathering the products and getting
them to the consumer, whether 1t rests
upon the traffic companies, the storage
warehouse. or the commission men In
the cities. Then difference between 10
cents bushel for apples in the orchards
OF New England and 50 a barrel in New
York City is not easily applicable even
by appeal to the law of supply and de-
mand.
In this view Of the situation Il seems
to be true that the main effort of the
distributing agencies, called by whatever
name is to pay as little as possible 10 the
first producer and TO charge as much as
possible to the consumer. To this end the
cold storage facilities help to bolster I'D
prices from the season of plenty 20 those
Of scarcity. and all the while the middle
man profits largely in the transaction.
MiddIeman Does Not Lose,
The fact of the matter is that the traf-
f1c and distributing agencies are the only
persons to the contract which do not
lose though it is possible for him to
show that his immediate profits are not
excessive. But when the apple grown
in New England must pass through
local buyer, over a long stretch Of rail
transportation to commission merchant
In New York City. and be thence dis
tributed through other hands as far
South as Washington, the accumulation
of profit along the entire line Is such as
to make the fruit prohibitive in price,
and this principle In greater or less ex-
tent works through the whole system of
distribution. and the fact seems to be
that the cost Of this distribution becomes
greater instead of less,
AT this point also comes in the opera
ton of fixing the prices with more or less
arbitrary means OF trade bodies in one
place for a large part of the territory of
the country.
For example. the price OF butter over
nearly the whole country is set by the
chamber of commerce in Elgin, Ill. The
price of meat is settled in like manner
in New Jersey. and the rates at which
other commodities shall sell at other