Tonopah daily bonanza. [volume] (Tonopah, Nev.) 1906-1929, 1911-12-06
THE COST OF LIVING.

When America s greatest railroad builder
some time ago uttered the aphorism, ct is not
the high cost of living but the cost Of high liv
ing that is the trouble, he put the situation IN
nutshell. AS compared with quarter OF cen
fury more ago, the cost Of many OF the neces-
SareS Of life has been materially reduced; but
the people of this country are spending more and
wasting more than formerly. This is true OF all
parts of the country and Of all walks i'll life.
Such necessaiies as Kerosene, sugar, coffee.
tea flour and shoes are not only cheaper, but
much better in quality than those our fathers had.
Meat and butter are somewhat dearer, but what
is sold today is worth the difference. II those
good old days, for instance, it practically
impossible to get any butter i'll the winter eX-
cept such as had been packed III crooks tirkins
in the preceding summer, and which always
salty and strong that 1t went long ways on
the table and therefore economical. Such a
thing as the creamery butter of today
known. II is worth the difference. SO is the
meat that is sold and served today The beef
OF former years was made up mostly of worn out
milch COWS and the long horned range cattle which
have been improved off the face of the earth since
began to demand something better Then
again we do not have to eat the flesh of animals
killed perhaps the same day. The packing houses
chill and store it for three or four weeks until
it is in proper condition regards flavor and
tenderness. This is worth paying for
Take the OF fruits and vegetables, Half
century ago people who did not cultivate their
own gardens did without nearly everything in
that line except potatoes. cabbage and apples and
such apples could not be given away today Now
even the poor of our large cities are large con
srunerS Of bananas. pneappes, oranges and other
tropical fruits. III addition to the products OF the
temperate zone. Tropical fruits were seen only
On the tables of the rich in those days, just as
3 dollhouse grapes are today; and poor man would
N have bccl looked upon just waStcful Their
X he as he would he
u II he paid dollar or more a pound Tor grapes
grown under glass.
n Our people, as IA whole, produce more, carr
8nore and consume more than formerly; and this
III not bad state Of affairs In this land we have
attained the highest plane Of living for the masses
that the world has ever known. This is true
i'll degree of the most recent arrivals oul
shores from whom the ranks of the cheapest anC
toughest labor are recruited The first thing the
immigrant from southern eastern Europe lean
today when he sets foot on land here is to ea
meat every day. He begins at to live on
higher plane and the stimulus Of stronger anC
more nouriShing food makes him more efficien
workman
On the continent of Europe and even in Eng
land it always seems to be mystery to the man
ufactlwerS how it is that American factories pro
duce 50 much more in proportion to the number
of hands employed than they can even in eases
when the American manufacturers depends almos
wholly on foreign-bom labor. The explanation
lies in the improvement that better food makes
III the foreign workman. 1t is not only in fooC
but in rament and other things that the new
arrives change their ways; and the rapid Ameri
canization Of the children is "A constant marvel
Now many Of them will tell how much cheaper
it is to live where they born but few o
them would go back and eat and live as they die
before they tasted meat every day in America
They are paying the price of advancement in tn
scale Of civilization but that is worth all it costs
Look at the children in the streets Of our grea
cities. Even the East Side Of New York on
rarely barefotted child, even in summer
Thirty or forty years ago most of the children
of the poor III both city and country went with
ont shoes all summer, and some of them most o
the winter. Going barefoot in summer was prob
ably not terrible hardship, but the passing o
the sight of barefooted children marks a chang
in the whole scale of living of the masses of tn
people.
Among people, says the New York Commercial
who have the means to live comfortably man,
complaints regarding the high cost Of living ar
heard; but the cost of extravagant display is no
estimated separately. \ woman will invite he
friends to lunch at Fifth Avenue hotel and the
grnmble at the charges. She might have gone t.
modest place a. block away where good food
sold at moderate prices but she would not be seel
going into cheap place let alone ask her friend