The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1910-03-21
Cost Of Living.

| Editor The Washington Herald:
The cause. or causes. Of the increased
cost of ali the necessaries OF life seem
to be as hard TO find as the traditional
seat of wisdom The trusts say, ut Is
not in me-" and the Home Market Club.
speaking for the tariff. ut is not with
me-" We have heard a rumor thereof
with our ears" say the labor leaders.
'and we think It Is due TO the exactions
OF Wall street" No individual or COM
bination Of individuals VIII admit COM
plicity.
Wheat corners have not affected the
price OF bread, nor the oleomargarine
tax the price OF butter. After a laborious
inquiry. the Board Of Trade OF this city
reports that the increase is in no way
due to local conditions The City Court
Of New York has found that the alleged
live poultry trust does not exist. All
the combines, probably, the poor old
Standard OF excepted, will have no diff
Guilty in proving an alibi so. uncle,
there you are"
Meanwhile, the markets keep playing
queer pranks, # nobody has anything 10
do with prices. Concurrently with a
threatened repeal OF the oleomargarine
tax. butter dropped cents a pound.
After the appointment Of a commission
OF inquiry. it as suddenly Jumped back
TO the old figures, Had some straight
tip been handed out. or, after the ap-
pointment Of the commission. was It
sufficiently certain that there would be
no repeal Of the tax this year?
Now, inquiry at the market shows that
butterine sells at from q to IS cents. 10
cents OF which is added by the tax. Sold
on its merits for what It purports TO be,
in free competition with butter, the price
should average Is cents. It is a clean.
perfectly wholesome article OF food. more
palatable than much OF the butter In
the market. The tax was imposed for
the purpose - nearly accomplished - of
driving it out Of the market. Has this
tax any relation 10 the price Of butter2
The elimination of the one product In
creased the demand for the other, or If
you choose. decreased the supply. the
substitute. answering the use Of butter
necessarily increasing the price. In other
words. price depends upon the relation
of supply to demand.
The same principle Is at work IN the
tariff. The only difference is that it is
a foreign product which is partly or
wholly excluded from our market. de-
|creasing the available supply. We thus
see that Congress ought to begin its
investigation at home, since the greatest
and most peTnicious combination in re-
straint Of trade is Congress itself.
A carefully scrutiny will show that ali
prices are in some way dependent upon
the law of supply and demand. In case
OF the monopolies and partial monopolies,
the supply is artifcially decreased lust
as much of a commodity being placed
on sale as will be taken at a given price.
If it is a strict necessary, the consumer
must pay whatever is asked. OF course.
there are no complete monopolies in
this country-such as the government
monopoly on salt in Italy. Even the
Standard OIL has always had competi-
ton.
Even If. as held by many economists.
there is no real Increase in the price of
commodities, the apparent increase being
due TO the depreciation of gold. the prin-
~-F%~ ~N-t Ntati bD At0AtQ. II IL hlIlUiN
that the supply of gold has greatly out
run It's limited demand as a medium of
exchange.
According to the figures Of the Bureau
of Labor, the wages OF the skilled
laborer have advanced 2S per cent since
1900 the advance of food products being
Is per cent. Now. II is not a question
whether this advance of wages was
necessary or consequent upon the general
advance in cost of living. but it should
be very evident that in itself it is a
leading factor in the increased price of
commodities
In reality, wages are just as subject
to the relation Of supply TO demand as |
commodities. The labor organizations |
have endeavored. and partially succeeded,
in limiting the supply Of labor. precisely |
as the trusts have limited the supply of |
products. It may be that the Iaborer is
still insuficiently paid. but there is no |
doubt that It is the consumer-he being /
one Of them-who pays his wages.
H. e. WARNER.
Largest Morning Circulation. !