The Oskaloosa herald. (Oskaloosa, Mahaska County, Iowa) 1885-1919, 1910-11-17

9 Il 4
lance cost Just as much as is paid by
a private purchaser. The govern.
lment railways are not managed for
profit. but public policy requires them
10 nav expenses and accumulate a
lsinking fund to redeem the. bonds that
were issued to build them, In order
TO do this, European railways very
4 generally have been compelled TO adj
vance rates of fare and freight and
n there has been no interstate com.
4 merce commission to hear the com
lplaints and protests OF the public.
"Second-class railway fares through
tout Europe on the principal railways
viii now average per mile more than
1 first-class fares in the United States
I Firsr-class fares in Europe are about
1 so per cent higher than firstclass
/ fares in the United States; third-class
fares In Europe are about 40 per cent
| lower than first-class fares in the
| United States, but no one except new
lily arrived immigrants would ride
! third-class in this country. Sleeping
car fares are from 20 TO 30 per cent
higher. and on trains de luxe 80 per
( cent higher than in the United States,
and there will always be controversy
as TO the comparative comfort of the
wagon-lit compartment cars of Eu.
rope and the Pullmans in the United
States. 1t is purely a matter OF
taste as %..,
1T costs about one-third more for
an American to travel the same dis
taEce in Europe than in the United
States, let him go by the cheapest
way he can. because he has TO pay en-
ira for his baggage, and the fees and
ltips that are demanded by porters at
| the railway stations, the servants at
the hotels and other persons who help
| him along in his journey must be
counted in.
| Carriage hire has advanced every
where aud is generally double what
il used to be. The advent of the taxi
cab and the motor car has increased
rather than diminished the expense
of locomotion. You can so farther in
the same time by electricity than 0y
horses. but you have to pay more for
it. And the cost of pleasure driving
in the cities of Europe is now practi-
|cally as great as in the United States.
- - ~ ..a
But, wherever you go in Europe
these days, you hear the same COM
plant of the increased cost of living
that you hear in the United States,
and it is attributed, first, to the large
number of men who are in the army,
and the food of emigration that has
been going to the United States, thus
causing a scarcity of labor and high
wages. II is also attributed to the
movement of the country 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 con-
sumers have been advanced, and so
on and so forth.
The price OF bread and meat and
vegetables is from 20 to 30 per cent
higher in European cities than it was
ten years ago, and rents have advanc-
ed in the same ratio. In Vienna, Blu
dapeSt and other cities Of Austria and
Hungary-and | suppose the same. is
nd
house rents have been raised so rap
idly that many working people cannot
pay them. Landlords are becoming
more and more obstinate in their OBJ
lection 10 tenants with children, which
has rendered the situation OF the poor
er classes, who have the largest num-
Der of children, almost desperate. In
Vienna and Budapest the municipal
shelters provided for the homeless
have been overcrowded almost daily
with evicted families. and these shell
tiers have had to be enlarged to meet
the expected demands OF the coming
winter
"On the one hand parliament is
dbhCh W boS0 a ID " NaAiho baNhSiNA''
widowers and childless husbands in
order to keep up the birth rate, and
on the other hand parents with chill
dren are unable TO find homes for
them within their means.
As you know, all classes of the
in Europe live in apart
ment houses. There is no such thing
as a cottage home. even in country
Farmers as we'll as mechan-
les are crowded into suites of Two.
three and four rooms, In lofty brick
covered with stucco and or.
with holdings This gives
an imposing appearance. and the san.
itary laws, which are strictly enforc-
ed. require many cubic feet of
space ana so much ventilation, so
many closets and bathrooms, and SO
many chlmDeys.A But they are com.
fortress barracks compared with the
homes Of American workmen and cost
the tenant quite as much.
"a
But something should be said in
behalf OF the landlord lie. too, has
his burden. People in the United
States who are grumbling about high