The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-04-03
LOVE OF EASY MONEY IS
 DEVELOPING CHAPTERS
Mr. Hill Makes Comparison of Prices of Products in Various Years
 and Shows the Advance Made Recently
Financial De1irlum

a% We are living in an age of < Y worldwide financial delirium, says < v James J. Hill. \ s% The fashion of public extragancy < % the first and most easily initiated. < High wages and high prices work < s-< in circle. < No state need ever borrow again < is< if is wisely and honestly gov < < erned. < When so much public money is < flowing down the gutter many a Y ' man finds it easier to scoop up what < = he wants than to work for it. < Grating is the offspring of pub >, < lie extrsyagancy and the parent >
 of civic decay. < . AEew York. April 2-(Special.)-Jas. J. Hill, the famous railroad magnate, ar raigns in stinging terms the criminal extravagance in national state and money Expenditure, which he says is the under lying cause of the increased cost of liv- ing. He says:
 s"we are living in an age of worldwide financial delirium; most nations have thrown away moderation in the spending of money.
 is'Ip our own country, leaving out the debt of counties, money and school dis tlicts, the aggregate debt of all the states ard the railways decreased 23.1 per cent. in the decade from 1880 to 1890, but in tho following twelve years 1t increased ITO per cent
 Debt figures, however, do not begin to tell the story of national extravagance Only small part of our expenditures is represented by debt tables. The rest IS raised by increased taxation. In part, ..slifls Consists of new InpostF, new licenses snd fees. and in part. it comes from in- croased assessments of all property that provides more revenue without showing an increased tax rate. I know Of noth- ing bearing more directly or forcibly upon the subject of national waste and the conservation of national resources thar the proEigacy disclosed by our public ex- pense ledgers Although the great busi- ness expansion of this country began right after the civil war, the expenses for 1890 were but four million dollars greater than those of twenty years back Since i,ao these expenditures have grown by s1so,ooo000 each nine years on the aver age, or $2o,ooo,0OO a year, until now they are 1214 per cent. more than they were eighteen years ago Expressed In terms of per capita out go these charges, which are only part of the cost of maintaining tae federal government. rose from s4.7o in 1890 to ss.s9 in 1900, and to s7.56 in 1908.
 Cost of Government
 Hooking at our states and cities. of dcjal records show that the cost of state government was only s124 per capita in 1890. and s235 in 1902: for states and minor ctyil divisions combined it was $9.09 in 1S9o, and s1A.sa in 1S0s.
 inc following table, exhibiting tho whole situation, might be printed at the ton of every letter head used by any man in public office anywhere in the United States:
 Increases: Wealth, 1870 to 1890, 116 per cent: 1890 to 1904, 65 per cent foreign trace, 1870 to 1899, 99 per cent; lS9O to lsOS, 40 per cent; value manufactured prod- ucts 1870 to 1S9O 121 per cent; 1890 to 10a5 5S per cent
 Net ordinary expenses United States government. 1870 to 1890, 1 .46 per cent; 1890 to 1908, 121.4 per cent
 Expenditures, 30 states, 1890 to 1909. 2Ol6 per cent
 The moral of these half dozen lines is overwhelming and their proof of public waste is complete.
 The phenomenal increase Of public ex- penditure Is one of the causes of the in- crease in prices now disturbing the peo- ple. This increase follows in sugges- five way the imitation of national and local budgets. The average cost Of the supplies that must be bought for every Household has increased about 50 per cent hetween 1896 and 1909.
 Advance in n Year
 During the past year there has been a aamarked lifting in the price level. Food etuffs cost from 10 to 70 per cent more than 11 years ago.
 Something of these changes is due to currency imitation. The tariff is another contributing cause.
 Combinations which are actually in re- straint of trade, which have monopolized their field and are each counted by common secret management or secret agreement to maintain exorbitant charges are partly responsible.
 A otiI1 more of the rise in prices is due to tne decline in production as compared with tie increase of population.
 Waste, tdleness and rising wages, all lnter-related to another. now as cause and now as effect, are. next to an over |seue of irredeemable paper, the three most powerful forces in the world to raise prices. fst waste. This Is shown ln the federa'i, state and money ex- psnse hills.
 second, idleness, encouraged by pub lie lextravagance. 1t diminishes produc- Ion.
 Fourth, much public money is flow Ing into the gutter; many a man finds lts easier to scoop up what he wants than to work for it. The fashion of public extravaganza Is of all fashions Inc first and most easily initiated. As the supply of capital dwindles on the one side on the economy machine the pupply of labor dwindles on the oth CT, We must therefore expect4to see the jesuit reflected in higher prices. Third. Us serhaps the greatest fact of all in the Vkrice problem is the wage rate. The Hage rate hns been rising steadily in sKAis country. As the labor supply minshed wages rise still more. High