The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1912-03-21

yearly pay nothing. There is I'M !"
posed graded tax on income q
above that amount. y
y s. $50 y 81;
Washington, d. C.-Thats every
country of Europe has suffered from
the increase in the cost of living, and
that all over the world there are
multiplied evidences of the univer-
sal restlessness under these condi-
tions," is shown in report submit
ted by President Taft in special
message to Congress today.
The report is the result of an in
vestigation made by direction of
President Taft by the State Depart
ment, through its consular officers in
Europe. 1t forms a second step in
the Presidents effort into the cause
for the high cost of living and the
possible remedies, which he first
suggested to Congress in message on
February .. Comparison in staple
food prices in all of the important
cities of Euorpe for the past II
years are given, and an exhaustive
study is made of the efforts of the
cooperative societies of Great Britain
to help the wage-earner in his ilgh,
against the increasing burden of the
high cost of living.
The consul-general at London
shows that in the United Kingdom
between the years 1896 and 1910
while food prices rose 1875 per cent
o,,1,
and that the wages of railway en-
ployees in that time increased only
7.3 per cent. To emphasize what this
increase means to the British con-
sumer the consul-general gives spec
ific quotations showing that bacon
and ham, which in 1898 could be
bought in the English market for 6
fraction under cents pound, now
costs above 16 cents per pound; thai
butter has increased from 22.7 cents
per pound to 25.7; cheese, from 10.s
cents to is cents; lard. from 6.:
!cents to 1876 cents; sugar. 3 cents te
46 cents. Flour is the only fooo
commodity showing decrease il
price; that has fallen from 2.7s
cents in 1898 to 2.46 cents today. Ii
the last five years in Southampton
England, staple commodities, such a.
meats, dairy products, fruits, coffee
fuel, tin goods, clothing, bedding
furniture, and underwear, hav,
shown an increase of 90 per cent A
/ Hull, England, it is shown that tn,
increase in the cost OF living has ad
vanced far faster than the increase il
the rate of wages. The consul a
| Manchester drew an interesting com
parison between the staple expendi
lures of the ordinary English famil,
The cost of living for such a family
it was shown, has increased some 49,.
per cent. A table compiled by th
English Board of Trade shows tha
in fifteen years potatoes are the onl
commodity in which there has bee
a decrease in price.
This increase is echoed in the re
ports from consuls all over Europe
Growth of Cooperation.
Much of the report submitted b
the President deals with the coopers
tive societies of England. The &C
} operative idea seems to have reache
it's highest development there.
was firmly established as early as th
| sixties In 1862 there were 400 CT
4 operative societies in England, wit
3 membership slightly in excess .
f 10000. They sold 1888, 900 pound
Y sterling worth of goods. and the
G net profits aggregated 1880
e pounds sterling. AS compared
e this in 1908 there were 5000 coo
n elative societies in England, with
t membership of 2,7O1,0OO and sal
aggregating 113,000.000 pounds ste
ling and net profits totalling 1899
900 pounds. The increase sin
\ 1908 has not kept pace with t
/ earlier years, but the societies a
is maintaining the sales of average
e and are showing healthy and &c
d eral growth.
The English shopkeepers ella
Is that instead of encouraging thrift t
'r cooperative societies, by paying di
G. dends, which they DO generally a t,
~ ~ weeks before the semi-annual Engli
"a rent collection occur, leave tn
~ members to depend upon the di
=, = dend payments to meet their rents
. practice which they say is
-. moralizing. They claim as we'll Il
wv these societies do not in reality 50
or for their members, but make tn
I'd profits By selling cheap goods at hi
of prices, and the people are fooled il
I j u. H.,