The daily Alaskan., 1910-02-07
THE INCREASED COST OF LIVING

figure out that the cost or I'IHE A"S greatly increased in the United States during the past ten years and that prices of commodities most used in daily life are suu on he upward trend. The wage earners and house wives of the country are well aware of this fact. It is made apparent by the larger drains on the purse of the head of the house
 It is a matter of statistics that the average price of living in the United States has increased from 25 to a7 per cent in the last ten years and it is extremely doubtful if wages on the whole have increased ten per cent during this period. Therefore it is obvious that the increased cost of liv. ing presents a problem to the people of the coutry of how to maintain decent standard of living and to make both ends meet. In fact, the question has become so serious that it is now before Congress and the Ohio legis- lature has also been asked to ascer- tain the causes of the general increase in prices.
 That the cost Of living is a vital problem for the wage earner is also made manifest by the recent wide spread boycott on meat products among the labor unions of many of the eastern and middle western cities. It was this boycott that led the Chi cago federal grand jury to probe into the dealings Of the Meat trust.
 or course the increased cost of liv- Ing is caused by changing conditions. r. is an absruse problem in econ omics to ascertain exactly the why and the wherefore. The cost of some commodities is regulated by the law of supply and demand. In others the increased cost of production is respor, sible. The forming of great trusts has made it possible for fictitious pric- es to be made and maintained on many articles Of common use.
 But back of all these reasons we believe there is one distinct underly- ing fundamental reason for the pres ent high cost of living That is our present high tariff. Not only does it increase the cost of imported goods. but by so doing it enables American manufacturers to demand and receive price for their goods equal to the original cost of production of foreign goods plus the profit the freight rates-and the tariff. And it is the high tariff that adds the last straws which are breaking the backs of the people of the United States.
 Until free trade is universal a tariff win probably be necessary evil Even then a tariff for revenue only might be desirable But on the other hand most authorities agree that the tariff law is directly responsible for the rise of the trusts and the people of the United States are commencing 10 feel that it is high time we ceased protecting infant industries" that ar some of them 100 years old. After al the ultimate consumer" pays every cent of the tariff tax and at the pres ent prevailing prices it might be we'll it there were more foreign compet- ton in our markets. This there will never be as long as our present tariff rates are maintained
 Recently we printed an article showing that certain New England factories had in the last ten years made a clear profit of more than dou- ble their total capitalization and dOub less there was considerable water" in that. The same figures showed that the average weekly wages paid to the employees of those factories were s792. This is indeed pro tecdOn of the American working man" which was one of the strong,