St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1912-06-19
America and Europe.

America and Europe.
For the next few months we shall
hear much about the unfortunate
conditions of the American wage
Garner and of various laws political
candidates will Immediately pass, If
elected, to abolish those conditions
and make everybody wealthy, happy
aud virtuous. OF course these things
will never be but every man who
believes he can gain a vote by it
will magnify any possible feeling Of
discomfort. A little comparison Of
conditions here and elsewhere may
not be amiss at this time.
The Bureau of Railway Economics
has recently completed a study of
the wages paid railway employees
and the cost Of living in America
and the principal countries of
Europe.
The average daily compensation of
railway employees of all classes for
the year 1910 was in the United
States, S2.23; in the United King
dom, $105; excluding supplement
tary allowances negligibly affecting
the average, it was in Prussia-Hesse
81 cents, and in Austria 80 cents.
The lowest paid railway employee in
the United States, the ordinary
trackman, receives a greater compen-
sation than many of the railway en-
pIoyees of France, even those of
higher grades and with responsible
duties. The compensation of railway
employees is from two to three times
as high in the United States as in
Italy.
Further comparisons are given OF
wages and the following regarding
the cost of living:
"The rental of a three or four
room house or fiat is almost as high
in Berlin, Paris, or London as
throughout the United States, but in
England and on the Continent it
generally runs from thirty dollars to
ninety dollars a year less. The
quantity of food and fuel estimated
BY the Board of Trade of England as
the standard consumption of typi-
cal workingman's family costs in the
United States 17.8 per cent more than
in France or in Germany; 1873 per
cent more than in Belgium, and 3S
rer cent more than in the United
Kingdom.
cit is we'll within the truth to
estimate in a broad and general way
that while the cost of living of a
railway employee in the United
States is less than so per cent higher
than that of a corresponding en-
pIoyee in the United Kingdom or on
the Continent, his compensation av-
erages over twice as great.
1t might be we'll to remember
these things when one gets discour-
aged about conditions at home. Here
is another statement made by T. N.
Vail on his return from Europe,
that should give one better appre-
citation of America.
amy one who thinks conditions
ere bad here would better go over to
the other side and make a COMPARE
son. He will quickly change his
opinion in regard to this country.
The United States is rich so far as
the middle and poorer classes are
concerned when compared with any
country in Europe. Labor there is
very poorly paid when compared with
similar work here.
'It is almost physical impossi-
bility for this country to be what is
popularity termed poor. A land that
produces eight billions of dollars from
the soil and almost like amount
from beneath the soil in minerals
annually cannot be poor. Such a
thing as the curtailment of Injuries
10y the better class of people here is
unknown. Luxuries and prices Of
Injuries are increasing. 1t is not so
in Europe"