Aberdeen herald. [volume] (Aberdeen, Chehalis County, W.T.) 1886-1917, 1910-05-23
HIGH COST OF Living
AN OBJECT LESSON OF The WORK.
IyGS OF The TARIFF.
Living in Windsor, Ontario, Contrast.
ed with Detroit. The Two Cities
Are Not as Far Apart as Aberdeen
and South Aberdeen, But Tariff
Wall Is Between.


The following article written by J.
V. Knight special investigator of the
Toledo News-Bee brings out strongly.
by contrast the effect of high pro-
tective tariff
WINDSOR, Ont, May 1S.-Ths
Canadian city is separated from De-
troit by 1851 feet of water and the
Fayne-Aldrich tariff wall. Ferries
cross the water every three minutes,
but the wall is insurmountable. De-
troit is the typical American city.
Time and again civic investigators
have taken it as their model. Wind
sor, except for the tariff wall, is for
all the world as much of Detroit as
any part of Detroit itself.
1t exists by the grace of Detroit.
Its citizens gain their livelihood in
Detroit. 1t finds all it's amusements
and much of it's recreation in De-
troit. But the invisible tariff bar
rier is there-the high Payne-Aldrich
tariff wall, monumental and menac-
ing.
Confronting the American people is
a situation-the increased cost of liv-
ing-that has followed the strengthen
ing of this tariff barrier. The situ-
alton is direct result, as has been
charged by the people, of this barrier.
The difference between the cost OF
living here and in Detroit shows it..
The tariff alone is lifting it's power
against the peoples pocketbooks in
their struggle to make both ends
meet.
Take the man with the goose, for
instance. He was an elderly German
working man and he crossed to De-
troit in the ferry that | took back
over here. j. w. Lewis, deputy GUS
toms collector. signaled man and
goose inside his office.
''F'eefty cent! Feefty cent! That's
all | pay for him!" the owner of the
goose protested waving it above his
head in emphasis.
Flop. Lewis threw the goose into
a scales hopper. The dial showed
seven pounds.
"Thirty-five cents duty" Lewis com
manded.
But meester! Feefty cent! That's
all | give for him. Thrty-five cent
more? It's too much!'
The thrty-five cents was paid,
Lewis graspng the goose politely but
/ firmly in one hand and holding out a
tariff manifest for the Germans sig
nature in the other.
DO people buy anything but pro
duce in Canada and bring it over?'
| asked Lewis.
ooh, yes. Here in Detroit they go
over and buy English clothes. Here's
an ad noticed the other day.
"They can buy an English-made So
old hats over on the ferry, and throw
them away when they wear the new
ones back
Farmers in southern Michigan and
farmers in western Ontario are the
most prosperous in the world. Both
can produce food at the same arbi-
trary cost. Why, then, should the
prices of farm products be from 10 to
100 per cent higher in Detroit than
here?
This was the natural question after
I visited the Windsor market house
and priced everything for sale there.
w. ]. Cheney, who runs the biggest
grocery in Windsor, said:
"My candid opinion, after 2S years
in the grocery business on both sides
of the river is that it is % per cent
cheaper to live in Canada than in the
limited States. You can buy first
quality groceries and produce here
for less money than you can get sec
ond-rate goods in Detroit.
Hundreds of Detroit people live
over N~e in summer and rent homes.
It's cheaper for them to go to work
in Detroit and pay the ferry rate than
to stay in Detroit and pay Detroit
prices"
GLOW does the tariff come in on
that"
Here, I'll show you. See this
plug of tobacco? It's made in Eng
land. and this is a quarters worth.
The leaf in that plug was raised IN
the United States, shipped to Eng
land. made into plugs and shipped
back here into Canada. And yet it Is
better than other brands that sell for
lots more money in Detroit. If 1t
wasn't, why would people from De
troit come to my store and go out
with their pockets full OF it?
"The duty on tobacco. If exported
1851 feet across to Detroit, would be
s1.65 on each pound plug. The retail
price in Windsor is 81 pound. In De-
troit it is So pound. The brand Is
a well-known world standard
"Cherney is right said j. G. Gang
,nier. the biggest real estate operator
in Windsor. House rents here are as
high as in Toronto-the highest IN
Canada. Yet l rent all the houses
l have on my list every summer. to
people from Detroit, who say they
save money by living here. They
, save it on what they eat and wear.
{ "Their house rents and food bills
! here don't equal the rent of a good
< fiat in Detroit"
The D. & B. I. Ferry company
operating the boats over the 1851 feet
of river, carries thousands Of work
y ingmen every morning from here to