The Tucumcari news and Tucumcari times. [volume] (Tucumcari, N.M.) 1907-1921, 1910-07-01
ExTRAvAaANcE VS.. ECONOMY.

my This editorial saws: "Not since
the civil wal have prices Of the common
commodities been So high ms they are
today. lie pushes the quill along
down through several paragraphs of
real dope n he accounts for the why's
aud whcrcfores of present conditions
IN the markets of the world. There is
both horse sense and n few ganglionic
trends of reasoning that walk into the
atmosphere of logic in handling this
subject. Here are IA frw paragraphs of
the article To which We refer:
"Thc causes assigned have been mum
crous aud varied. from the argument
that there j. too much money in circu.
]lation. Ia the fact OF the great mono
poles. Neither of these arguments can
hold as exclusive. First, the PROPOSE
tion of too much money is rcactionary,
ar compensatory. That is. when the
volume of the circulation is increased,
prices will raisc corrosp0ndingly. aud
while n dollar will not buy as much,
this j. compensated 10y the fact that
there are more dollars in the buyer 5
possession. The other argument Of
monopoly or combinations, apparently
the cause of high prices, is, upon care
ful investigation, n blessing rather
than u dctriment. We are referring
of course. to comhinati ions solely for
the purpose 81 manufacture, and not
tu the many criminal monopolIrs which
the new era politician is trying now
Ia defeat. II is an economic principle
long ago recognized, that production
ar manufacture on u large scale means
less cost Of production. aud hence cheap.
ar articles for the consumer. On all
sufficient competition in their manu-.
~tacture Ia force the cost of production
To u minimum, aud this always for the
benefit Of ia" consumer. Nor has too
low wages been the cause of the bur
den of the lahorcr, for the wages are
to-day higher than AT any time past
Within the past few weeks, in fact, TIA,
wages OF thousands of workmen have
been increased.
1--WE are forced therefore, To admi,
that the cause * one solely of prOduc
tion and ronsumption--of supply anC
demand. What of the productioni To
day the producer is the most prosper
Gus person in the country and the mos
economical. lie produces almost e
his capacity but the production still
falls far short, and in the scramble TO
IA portion, prices soar and want prevails
The high prices benefit the produces
Never before in the history Of Ameri
ca did the farmer sell nine cent hogs un
til last fall, nor seventy.fve rent corr
nor two dollar wheat.
"The proposition is clear. III
causes for the unnecessary high eos
of living are largely a%ssignable to tw'
/, reasons TO few producers, and to-
much extravaganza on the part of tn
consumers. The laboring class is to
great TO find constant employment an
? the producing class is too small I
produce au over abundance. The caus
/ Of this is the constant flow of the couu
p try population to the cities.
but with this phase of the prom
y lem we are not here concerned. ]
is primarily witt the extravaganza 4
q the consuming classes. E~xtravaganc
y takes on almost every conceivable fo7r
q and manifests itself in every way ia
3 aginable. We shall briefly enumerat
I some of these little leaks which short
ly after pay day finds the family trea'
r ury depleted aud bills contracted great
or than the coming month Is SALARY
r First food: The average family not onl
consumes the most expensive food, bu
r innutritions aud often time unwhol'
@ some food. Fancy food preparations an
fruits and vegetables out Of season AZ
G several times more expensive than sti
r pie foods, unnecessary and less muir
tious. Then, too, In preparation q
meals, a slight ignorance will create
q leak far beyond the laboring man
|. purse TO Withstand. IL 10 estimate