The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1910-12-22

| frst-class fares in the Unites States,
! but no ore except newly arrived i'm
migrants would ride third class in this
country. Sleeping car fares are from
! % to so per cent higher, and on "trains
! de luxe 80 per cent higher than in the
| United States. and there viii always be
! controversy as to the comparative
comfort of the wagon-lit compartment
ears of Europe and the Pulmans in the
United States, 1t IS purely matter of
taste.
It costs about one-third more for an
American to travel the same distance
in Europe than in the United States, let
him go the cheapest way he can, be-
cause he has got to pay extra for his
baggage, and the fees and tips that are
demanded by the porters at the railway
stations, servants at the hotels and
other persons who help him along in his
journey must be counted in.
Carriage hire has advanced every
where, and is generally double what it
used to be. The advent of the taxicab
and the motor car has increased rather
than diminished the expense of loco
motion. You can 90 farther in the
same time by electricity than by horses,
but You have to pay more for it. And
the cost of pleasure driving in the
cities Of Europe is now practically as
great as in the United States.
Taking everything into consideration,
it now costs the, ordinary American
more money to travel IN Europe than
in the United States, although it would
cost a European more to travel in the
United States than at home. The differ
ence is the tax on ignorance. Nearly
all the principal hotels in Europe have
two rates. one for local patrons. and the
other for tourists The thrifty German
and Austrian viii not pay the rates that
are charged American tourists at the
irst-cass hotels. and the landlords ex
cuse the excess on the ground that the
Americans require more comforts and
more attentions. which is true
Labor Scarce, Wages High.
But wherever YOU 90 in Europe these
days You hear the same complaints of
the increased cost of living that YOU
hear in the United States. and it is at
tributed. first. to the large number of
men who are in the army and the food
of emigration that has been gong to
the United States. thus causing a scar
itv of labor and high wages. 1t is also
attributed to the movement of the coun-
try population to the cities. which has
contributed to the same result.
The scarcity Of farm labor and the
increase of wages have increased the
cost of production of all forms of food,
and in order to pay their market and
grocery bills the wages of consumers
have been advanced. and SO on and so
forth
The price of bread and meat and
vegetables is from twenty to fifty per
cent higher in European cities than it
was ten wears ago, and the rents have
advanced in the same ratio. Tn Vienna,
Budapest and other cities Of Austria
and Hunearv-and T suppose the same
is true in GERMANY. France and Italy
house rents have been raised so rapidly
that many working people cannot pay
them Landlords are becoming more
and more obstinate in their objection
to the tenants with children. which has
rendered the situation of the poorer
classes. who have the largest number
Of children almost desperate. In Wen
ma and BUDAPEST the municipal shelters
provided for the homeless have been
overcrowded almost daily with evicted
families. and these shelters have had TO
he enlarged TO meet the expected de
mands of the coming winter.
On the one hand parliament is asked
to pass law taxing bachelors. widow
ers and childlesS husbands in order to
keep mp the birth rate and on the other
hand parents with children are unable
to find homes for thcm within their
means.
Apartment Houses Popular.
As you know, everybodv-all classes