The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-04-09
SCALE OF LIVING IN
 bUENOS AIRES Is Double That in City of
 New York STEAKS ARE COSTLY Though This Is Greatest Export Meat Market in World-No Middle Class in Argen-
 tine Republic
From the New York Press.

impression that they live in the most ex-
 pensive city in the world. They even take a kind of pride in the fact-except at the first of the month when the bills come in and look with something akin to pity on people who are able to exist without | spending so much money. But New York must take a, back seat in the matter of | expense with Buenos Ayres
 No doubt there are costlier places in the world-mning camps, boom towns and the like. But for settled regions and established conditions Buenos Ayres prices seem to those elsewhere like the Metropolitan Tower to a bird cage If I anybody knows of more expensive place he is advised to keep the knowledge to himself lest some foolish New Yorker undertake a visit and never be able to count out his money fast enough to buy a ticket back In saying this there is no reference to .'exposition prices" The recent Argentine centennial and accompanying exhibitions did for time increase hotel rates, but this period lasted for only few weeks, | and even then the cost of living for the permanent resident was little if at all af- | fected What Is here said relates to nor mal-at least normal for Buenos Ayres- prices
 When you arrive in the capital of the Argentine you are told that you must re- gard the paper peso just as you would | a quarter at home. This Is all very well until you go to the bank for supply of pesos when you find that they cost you almost 50 cents apiece. After that you | begin to study the situation and come to- | the reluctant but inevitable conclusion | that you must adapt your finances to scale of living from half as much again | to twice as much as that of the city of New York You dismiss Gothams pro | tensions as an expensive city as summar- l fly as those of Dr. Cook to discovering the north pole. and unreservedly award | to Buenos Ayres the high cost of living pennant of the world.
 Not everything, of course, Is higher, or even so high, as at home Food aver ages about the same, clothing is not a great deal dearer, carriage hire Is less, and jewery, which comes In from France | under an insignificant customs duty seems like finding money. But one can l not spend all his time riding In carriages | or buying jewelry because they are rela- lively inexpensive. Rents are staggering, | laundry is exorbitant, service of most sorts Is high and fuel Is beyond the dreams of avarice.
 | Rents Exorbitant
 | Rents are probably at the bottom or
 most of the other high prices. They are more than double what they are on the island of Manhattan This, too, without l apparent reason. Buenos Ayres is located 1 on the edge of an endless plain, With ample room to spread out in three d. | rections, and land does not really ap- l proach in cost that of New York. For l property in the Avenida de Mayo. the
 principal street, 1900 pesos a square meter
 would be regarded as a high price. This
 works out atS about $50 a square foot | A plot at Broadway and Wall street
 was sold a few years ago at 12 times | that figure.
 A photographer from Detroit. who is
 now a resdentaof Buenos Ayres, pays 2so
 pesos a month"; or s10o. for seven-room l apartment on the Calle Peru, not at all
 a fashionable district of the city. There
 is nc heat, hot water or telephone con
 nection. An Argentine family consisting | of widow and three grown daughters, whose income is the salary of one of the
 daughters as school teacher and the earn | ngs of another as dressmaker, pays SO0 pesos, or not far from $50 month, TOT | eight rooms on the Cae Callao This
 is a more fashionable section, but by no
 means the most so. Like the other apart ment mentioned, 1t has no heat, hot
 water elevator or telephone connection. | This family takes in lodger to help | pay the rent, and lives according to the l strictest economy. Although the ther- mometer hovers between 40 and 50 de- grees a. good part of the winter, the fam | fly would consider heating an extrav- agance Mother and daughters shiver | through the cold season, accepting 1t as | inevitable that they have chilblains on | their hands and feet; and If you were | to call on a chilly evening they would en- tertain you in handsomely furnished | but frigid paror, sitting with their furs bei their BILL
 Comparatively few houses in Buenos Ayres are heated in spite of the fact | that for the months of June, July and l August-Argentine seasons are the re verse of our own-a North American | has to choose between buying an oil stove or going to bed in order to keep out of misery. Indeed oil heaters are
 now coming into considerable use among the natives, especially in offices. where 1t is inconvenient to work and wear mittens at the same time. Both the heaters and the oil come from the United States. The cost of such heating Is high, because good grade Of petrol cum retails for about 30 cents a gallon, and 1t takes a gallon day to heat q room Anthracite coal Is not to be ob- 1 tained and the English btuminous product costs about four times as much as a similar sort in. the United States. Wood Is scarce and as dear as coal.
 In spite of discomforts, there are ad
 vantages in Buenos Ayres' unheated
 houses, especially bys comparison with ! the parboiled apartments in which we live Itis usually warmer outside their houses than in. Hence there are no draughts and !. nobody suffers from colds. one may be less comfortable, but he runs less risk of dying of pheu
 monia--and that is something. a -onlv tepah1e excuse advanced for
 high rents in Buenos Ayres is cost of building. Cement has Ito De imported woodwork from the United States. Un doubtedly construction Is expensive, but not enough so to account for rents. | The deeper reason seems to be that for several years Argentina has been going through period or rapid commercial expansion, with enormous advances in
 the value of agriculture and-to less CT degree--of city lands. Property own CTS have unusual profits. If landlords
 told the truth about high rents 1t could
 be put in nutshell. We need the
 money" would be the answer.
 Service Comes High
 Nor do high prices stop with rents
 Shortly after arrival in Buenos Ayres l
 sent out coat and two pairs of trousers
 to be pressed-only that. The bill wss
 four and half pesos, or s2, and suhse-
 auent experience convinced me that I1
 had not ben imposed upon-not more
 than usual, that is decided eventually
 that T. couid not afford to have more
 pressed at time If you go to house.
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