Rock Island Argus., 1911-04-11
WHY COST is HIGH.
Woman Expert Says Living Is
Expensive Because OF the
Craze for Variety.
LUXURY BOOSTS THE BILLS
Modern Improvements, Elaborate
Entertainment and Distaste
for MonOtOny Figure.

To craze 1or variety. cOupieu VIII
q dread of monotony, and TO modern
innovations Mrs. Ellen h. Richards,
an instructor in chemistry at the Mas
sachusetts Institute Of Technology,
laws the blame for the high cost OF
living. Her observations are made IN
answer to the question, Does the in
creased cost of living mark social
advance?
when 1 went TO housekeeping thir-
ty-fve years ago." she says, "on the
same spot and under the same general
conditions as now, our running ex-
penses were about one-half as much.
From what direction has the increase
come? The suowplow no longer
cleans our sidewalks. 1t must be
shoveled to the gutter. The postman
comes five times a day instead OF
twice. The telephone bill not only
costs $50 a year, but doubles the gro
GERS delivery. and hence his charges
for it. 1t certainly doubles the steps
taken and the stairs ascended by some
one.
Hardwood floors mean twice the
work of carpets. The cost Of guests is
double. not because the food we used
to set before them was not good and
sufficient, but because we have not the
moral courage to give simpler enter
tainment.
I'VE could give the same things at
the same cost, but we pay so cents for
ice cream instead of 40 cents, and we
have six courses instead of three. with
the corresponding number of dishes to
handle and double time to serve and
prepare and clear away.
The more elaborate service the
greater number of things is in one
sense a social advance, as it is sup
posed to mean a gain in standing.
"a perfect craze for variety has TAX
en- possession Of the world. Nothing
is so much dreaded as monotony. This
means a restless dissatisfaction with
life. The daily work is not mOnotony
so long as one does not wish to do
something else.
LIVING EXPENSES DOUBLED.
at is this craving for variety which
has doubled the living expenses of
most families. We all go in town two
or three times a day. We all go to
moving picture shows, to theaters, con-
/ certs. We go motoring instead or
quietly reading, rearranging the pic
lures or the furniture, mending the
curtains or the broken china. AS for
sewing and carpentering, who does 1t!
rs it because of the comic supple
ment that the man who sets up his
own stove or hoes his own garden is
made ridiculous?
do xr-a ,rajr, Anvil hing
valuable to mans real advance? Is
( society or the individual wiser in what
counts or more learned, happier, better
! in any way? Does not each dollar in
/ excess mean greater strain on some
+ nerve, a greater chance of mental col
/ lapse?
What is the poor American to do in
his present fever and with his present
nerves, but with fivefold greater pow
! ers placed in his hands and fvefold
greater attention and capacity demand
ed for their control? If sixty years
ago the free forces and rushing ad
! vance of the republic urgently needed
the regulation of powerful and learn
ed conservative body, who can over
estimate the necessity for such service
/ now?
Life is confused rush for us. We
do not stop to take account of stoch
and balance accounts. The various un
noticed causes of greater expenditure
are to be ferreted out and exposed, {
closer balance between time and mon
ey and results found.
What should be today the guiding
principle of large hearted and intelli
gent women in the use of personal anC
family income? Do we believe that i
must lead between asceticism and lux
ury? Luxury everything not neces
sary to full efficiency is the besettinl
modern danger. physical, mental ant
moral
The determining principle in fixing
the standard of life, then, should be th'
discovery of the minimum needed Il
maintain full efficiency"