The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1915-08-25
WHY THE SOUTH SHOULD
WORRY.

No such conditions as the present
probably ever confronted our people
before In their history. Reference here
is to the anomalous presence at the
same time of hard times and the
high cost OF living"
Heretofore, whenever times became
hard living dropped down cores
not only strained money conditions,
but also the cost OF living having
gradually increased since the year
| 1912. Cast about as we may, no sat
isfactory explanation can be made or
a solution found. We may surmise
and guess and speculate all we want.
\ but no one thing leads to the extreme
/ condition ON either line. However,
I there are several causes which largely
\ help to bring about the present dis
tress Allusion. of course. is only to
/ the South. which, as usual, is the ma
jor sufferer. The North feels the COM
! pick stringency less than we. and the
Northwest hardly any at all.
l Az the door of cotton and tobacco
we know, may be laid a large part of
! the South's hard times But that
could not bring 1t to the present
serious condition. Nor does II explain
why the cost of living should be so
/ high. We must look to other causes.
In Maryland and those parts of Vir-
/ ginia where cotton and tobacco grow
! ing are no item the tenseness would
| appear equally as bad. or even worse.
II should not be forgotten that the
excessive cost of living among Amer
leans is TO great extent because we
will ii so. The markets of the East
and South are glutted with vegetables.
and were II not for the foolish fancy
that we must have at least one meat
/ dish for every meal. we could get
along with purses feeling little cas-
/ Ter So long as we demand chickens
at 25 cents pound. beef the same, and
costlfer lamb chops. so long must we
expect to pay dearly for our living.
+ But meats---the least healthful of
dishes--mght not be so high were 1t
/ not for the pendulum of over-precau-
/ ton swinging so far. The restrictions
! and inspections thrown around meats,
the slaughtering of herds that might
! be quarantined and saved, and the as
sumed finding of tubercular troubles
j in the dairy cows have had immeasur-
able weight than that. the methods
required by the school of Doctor
Wiley, scientists in the packing and
handling of nearly all eatables but
vegetables. has placed an unwarranted
cost upon the food of rich and poor
alike. The measure of health pro-
NOTED. or the number of lives of hu-
mans actually saved. cannot be esti-
mated, but there Is vast room for grave
doubt if the good done will balance
the evil In the straining OF energies,
the exhaustion OF mind and body. and
l.. nf. \, -
on by endeavoring to make buckle
and tongue meet" in the struggle for
bread.
I, The middleman is not all to blame,
by any means Nor are the transpor-
tatioh companies. whose rates have
become almost rohibtive--because
they and their employees had to have
sufficient pay to keep up with the
| high cost generated by over-Zealous
professionals who never knew what
want was, or had day of privation
in all their calendar. How could
-. the middle-man return more than a
dollar a barrel for potatoes thardly
, cost of production and packing
when these potatoes went a-begging''
on the streets OF Baltimore. hawked
! at ten cents a peck? And other
truck products correspondingly low,
. even three-pound canned tomatoes
selling, wholesale, at SIS cents a dozen
: less than the cost of production
Could the pure-fooi extremists get
, hold of these to regulate then there
would be no hope of sustenance at all
for the very poor. Yet, after all. 1t
is with us to keep up the high cost
so long az we persist in demanding
> meat or fancy diets.
But what about the hard times. y
which become a strange bed-fellow
with high living? No little part
of 1t is the result of what we see
every minute upon the street, and
hourly upon the principle highways
the automobile. We whisper this to
one another. and are afraid to openly
, speak it. Yet the pleasure automo-
bile, in many minds Is the main spring
Of the hard times throughout tile
South. They are here, and here Il
stay. but that does not efface the fact
: that the millions sent to the North and
West, with no return whatever. has
rapidly drained the South to so great
extent that Northern bankers quietly
, hint we are on the verge Of bankrupt
cy. So deep is this in their minds
that, although the hanks of the North
and West are begging for borrowers
! for Baeir idle MILLIONS, II Is hard fof
the South to get accommodation even
at per centum IL the automobile
dealer or other champion can explain
what return other than a picayunish
percentage comes back to the South
. from the sale of an automobile, its
parts. or the gasoline. then the mink
ers may revise their opinions. No
land can stand for very long so inn
) mense drain without return. The
millions drawn from the South In the
past to pay out pensions to Northern
, veterans will. in a short time. appear
beside 1t as a mere bagatelie.
But 1t Is not only the cost and up
keep of the auto machines that are
; depressing our financial affairs. Out
side of the small proportion that are
used to expedite business. the auto
mobile In costing us in time and ex-
travagant living far beyond warrant.
Men--eyen sane. good business men
lose time that heretofore had been
, turned into money: resources fail of
development because of the entic-
ment TO take daily runs for--health,
, Boys and young men are wasting hours
from study or work that becomes a
loss to the community at large. and
!, most distressing OF all. many. very
oh farv tod htsxv