Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1914-05-10
Americans Spend for Jewel rv More Than Panama
 Canal Cost.
GUM BILL OF $25, ,00O, ,000
Three Hundred and Twenty Million for Soda Water, $90, ,0GO. .000 for
 Candy and Two Billion for
 Boose Help Boost Living Cost.
(Ry JONATHAN WINFIELD

 Washington, D. C., May 9.-"The diamonds, rings, gold chains and other articles of jewelry we bought for our sweethearts, wives and daughters in the last five years cost more than twice the sum spent by the United States government to dig the Panama canal. We are spending more than $25,O00,0O0 year for chewing gum in the United States alone Our national tobacco habit burned up approximately $350, ,0o0 last year."
 These remarkable figures are few of the reasons given here by Repre- sentative J. Hampton Moore of Penn syIvania for tn high cost of living in this country, condition which he de- plores as being unnecessary if the people will pay some attention to the ordinary demands for economy and reasonable habits of life.
 "The necessity for an organization which teaches economy and thrift to a nation which seems mad about spending money is apparent to every thinking person." declared Mir. Moore.
 Two Billion for "Drinks"
 "In the fiscal year that ended last June we spent more than $2,0O0, ,O00,- 900 for intoxicating drinks. In the twelve months of last year the peo- pie of this country ate candy and con- fectionery that cost upwards of $90,- OOO,OOO-an amount sufficient to put a string of inland waterways up and down the Atlantic seaboard Our bill for sOda-water and other non-intoXi- eating beverages has amounted to $32O,OO0,000 in a single year. AS far back as the year 1905 the automobile bill Of this country was in excess of $3O,OOO,0OO, and since then this item has gone into the hundreds of mill lions. The comparatively small item ot twenty-five or thirty million dollars year for chewing-gum is enough money to build and equip canal thlrty-flve feet deep and reaching from Baltimore to Philadelphia
 What does such stupendous record of eXtraXagance mean? It means that the time has come for an organization to call the people back to some idea of the real value of money and the importance of living their lives on a reasonable and econo- mlcal basis. The public cannot longer delude itself with the idea that the tariff and other laws are responsible entirely for the high cost of living. me people must face the fact that thelr own habits have inflated the price of existence.
 Since the days of Adam it has been the fashion of human beings to credit their misfortunes to the deeds ana misdeeds of others; and in the last leW years, it has been a special fad among Americans to lament the high cost of living and to place the blame TOT such conditions on the tariff, the trusts and any other agencies con- Venlently near at hand.
 There is yet to be heard an ad misslon from the people of the United otates that they, collectively and indi- suually, are in any way responsible TOT the high, and in some cases enor- nous prices they are now payiaf for iooo stuffs and the necessaries of ille. But as matter of fact, this eX- .raVagance has come to be a national naolt among us, and self-indulgence, tue natural child of extravaganza, has walked hand-in-hand with our will .nsness to spend money-a willing ness Which at times amounts to eager
 It has been said that we are a n"'loh money-mad, bent only on the accumulation of wealth, the building up or great fortunes. This is only ndll the truth. We are also money .speuiAg-mad people. We devote our .aients and energies to the task of ";a "a;o1aumuiating riches. We get the ''ches' but We throw them away"