Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1912-08-15

COUNTRY MERCHANT
ON COST OF LIVING

From the washington star

From the Washington Star.
1 am reading some newspaper talk
about the high price OF living" said q
country gentleman who has kept q coun-
try general store a few miles below Wash
ington for something like half q century
AS he made this observation he looked up
from his country weekly. Then he con-
tinued:
ITS not high prices but high living that
IS causing you city chaps 50 much trou-
BILE. You don't show any sense in the way
you spend your money, you think too
much OF having a good time. you let our
selves want "A great deal more thar you
need and the result is that you can't af-
ford to buy enough to eat. Most Of you
city folks have to come out to your cOun-
try KIN to get II square meal. Look at
thai viding w%hip-crop. you call It. Made
In England, and cost every bit OF 90 cents.
I used to cut a switch In the woods to ride
riding breaches. You could get along just
as we'll with a par OF long pants and a
good. strong. 81 pair of shoes. and yet
you talk OF the high cost OF living.
III was up to the city last month. l
have to go there on business now and
then. else ! wouldn't. ! heard a store
clerk say he had bought a ticket for a
baseball game and paid a dollar for it.
Great Jupiter. A man to pay IA dollar to
= a HSCpOoIi kai1C. III stkItIC CtlO
was smoking a 5-cent cigar. went into a
quick-lunch. though j don't like to eat
away from home. and the young lady who
waited on me sad she had been to the
theater the night before. was going on an
excursion next day and went to the NOV
Ing pictures two or three times q week.
She wore silk stockings. n I had given
her a chance she would have told me a
hard luck story about the high cost OF
living.
"Out on the avenue men and women
who did not live more than a mile or so
up the road were getting on street cars In
stead Of walking. Hundreds OF automo-
biles were Swimming along as though their
drivers were In "A almighty hurry. Hun
dreds Of people riding In these things
couldn't afford to be doing 1t, and. be-
sides. they were neglecting their busi-
ness. II they had any. Each of these
they had difficulty In making both ends
meet because of the high cost OF living. I
know city people. who drink up and smoke
I'D enough money In a day to pay their
board for a week. They will not wear last
summers straw hat. or last summers
suit OF clothes. and they would scorn to
wear q ha,f-soled pair OF shoes.
"All the city ladies tell Of how hard it
Is to get a good servant. Why didn't
VllOoc 9nlS bVaiA " ~ O0no SAANA OWu
bread. churn their own butter n put
I'M their own preserves? How many OF
the ladies going up and dow r street
In tho afternoon would know how to milk
q COW or set the hens? Do you city PEG
pie expect living to be cheap hat you can
eat, sleep and play without doing useful
work?
IF you want to live on a scale to which
your position in life dictates that you
should live. you can live cheaper now than
at any time before / have the books n
records to prove 1t. Wages are extraor-
dinarily high. If q man had received the
wages commonly paid today to men of In
different capacity, when l was a boy. he
would have been a plutocrat. With your
Increased prosperity you city people have
allowed appetite and taste for luxury n
style to outstrip your Judgment. You
confuse your wants with your needs.
Your city ladies, wives Of clerks n
other types of dependent men. sit in a
reception hall In an easy chair of mahog-
any and leather. dressed in a morning
gown, take up the telephone. call the gro
Gerry. tell the Eroceryman what you want
and expect 1t to be delivered by q stylish
horse and or an automobile. n
brought up OH an elevator to your nat by
= boy in livery. o van your cereals. q
few ounces at q time. In gilt packages
with art pictures on the boxes. You want
q half pound Of crackers wrapped up in q
package hat costs more than the rack
ers. You want an ounce Of cheese IN q
porcelain Jar. You want . few stalks OF
asparagus or ripe tomatoes out Of season.
the first price OF which q been increased
many times by express charges. packing
house CHARGES. drayage. commissions and
profts to halt q dozen middlemen. You
demand the choicest cuts OF the heaviest
becf steers. You should not think Of max
ing q beef stew out of thec chuck. rump or
flank OF q dairy cow. What would the
neighbors think? They would call such
sensible economy miserable parsimony,
downright and all UGH and
would put on superior airs.
you buy things In such small quanti-
ties and In fancy packages. boxes and
Jars. because you have no place to keep
. proper stock Of food. You hav no place
to keep 1t because you live in little rooms
In q crowded tenement which you proudly
call an apartment house. You do this be-
cause It IL more convenient and takes less
,h0usew0rk than to keep UP a place in
country. You are always looking for
something easy. You insist on living In q
city. and usually in q congested quarter
Of = city, because you can 90 to bed later
and sleep later In the morning and yet
get to the store or office on time. And
when you get there the work bores you
and you are In q hurry to get away. You
are too fond Of idieness and not fond
enough Of work.
You city people are In wrong Nearly
all OF you want to be professional people
or merchants. You are looking for easy
Jobs and quick profits. Only q few very
lucky or very crooked people find such
things.
Now I'll show you some books to prove
that the things needed to live on are not
20 high. Here's an old account book and
We will open 1t at random. The year ON
this page q 186. First class butter was
- cents . pound. Poor people did not
eat this kind Of butter. They ate home
mao' butter or they used molasses on