Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1910-03-17

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Il In Austria conditions are still
worse. Last october the Austrian
lpremier appointed three members OF
the ministry to Investigate the cost
of living. It was complained. in vi.
emma that the cost of milk had sAoubl
ed within two years, and thatawheat
had become too dear for ls&Axcept
the well.to-do. The housewife
found it necessary to spend 20 pei
cent more for food supplies. Labor
ers were compelled to reduce their
purchases of meat, and of bread, eggs
and vegetables as we'll. In two years
the price Of meat in Austria increas-
ed 46 per cent. Last winter, when
wheat was quoted in Liverpool at
from $1.10 to $1.25 bushel, the quo.
tation in Vienna was $1.65. In Aus
tria also octroi duties are imposed on
articles of every day consumption.
In the Hungarian part of the empire
the cattle and grain growers are op-
posed to Austrian political ideas.
But the cost of food continues to go
up, regardless of tariff contentious
and opposing tariff policies. The
causes are deep-seatei and not sat
isfactorily arrived at by any of the
investigators.
The advance is common to both
meat exporting and. meat importing
countries. The chief meat export
countries are Austria, Argentina,
New Zealand, Canada and the United
States. At the head Of meat i'm
porting countries are Great Britain
and Germany. In all cases the~pric-
es of meat have gone up and the ad-
vance in salt and preserved meats is
even greater than in fresh meat. The
largest increased cost of imported
meat in Great Britain in the last fif-
teen years is in preserved beef, 81
per cent; sailed beef, SO per cent;
bacon 47k per cent; pork IL per
cent; hams II per cent, and preserv-
ed mutton, As per cent. Cheese has
advanced 80 per cent and. fresh but. !
ter, 10 per cent. "'"'
In Moscow, Russia, beef advanced
between 19O3-190S from SO cents
pound to IL, and sailed beef from SO :
cents to 1913. In 1896 to 1908 the ad-
vance in Berlin was from 1872 cents
to 1915 for beef, from 1873 to 1853 for !
pork, and from 1872 cents to. ia |
cents for mutton. Similar figures |
come from other German cities.
It is only within the last year that
the advance in the cost of living has
become a general issue in the United
States. Years ago the question was
forced upon the leading governments
of Europe and they began to inves.
tfgate it by Official commissioners ~
far back as 1906. The congress Of
the United States has just taken It
up and some time must pass before
It's conclusions can be reached. But.
1t is certain that every fair compar.
lson will show the people of the Unit
ed States to be far better off than
any in Europe. Americans on the
average eat twice as much meat as
the French, and third more than
the English or Germans. American
wages are much higher and the hours
Of labor fewer. Taxes unknown in
this country are imposed on food
into many European cities
10 be paid by the consumer. Taking
into consideration the standards Of
living and incomes, the advance in
the cost of food has been much
greater and more serious in Europe
than in this country. The United
States Bureau of Labor has calculat-
I'd that the retail prices of twenty
seven staple articles of diet in this
country were from As to 57.3 per
cent higher than the average price
'or ten years, ended in 1899. Only
;hree articles, sugar, coffee and
2runes, had decreased in price. Ac-
,ording to the National Bureau of
Labor the price of almost every ar
;icle of commerce in the United
States has increased in the last
;wenty years, and the price of food
md manufactured materials more
'apidly than the manufactured:
the comparison is made
With the 1896 period of depression.
But prices then were abnormally low 4
md few would desire their return.
They were compiled with conditions
If distress and unemployed labor
hat are unknown at this period.
The theory that the trusts are to
,lame for the high cost of living is !
rot. confirmed by statistics. Petrol. /,
,um as pumped from the ground has /