The Bemidji daily pioneer. [volume] (Bemidji, Minn.) 1904-1971, 1916-08-22
By Charles P. Stewart
Omitted Press Staff CORRESPONDENT

AoC Ill Iue UHlCeQ states costs $l.7
here. This is typical of Argentine
prices generally. They are perfectly
terrific, supplying, incredible.
Drugs cost three to four times what
they cost in North America; ordinary
tooth brushes 80 cents each, every
day gloves 81 pair.
A four-rOom, steam heated flat in
good, but not aristOcratic part of
this city, cannot be had for less than
$110 month. A similar fiat, minus
the heat, may. be had at $52.8G.
There are four or five months here
during which heat must be had, and
Cardiff coal, practically the only kind
on the market, costs from $2816 10
$32.S0; sometimes a bit more.
Transportation Creap.
In the remote suburbs tiny little
boxes of houses may be rented for
$92.50 month, sans heat, sans light,
sans everything else except four
walls. These quarters are too far
away from the business center to be
considered by man whose business
hours are at all exacting. Expen-
sive heating and lighting must also
be considered Transportation is
cheap. If he can spare the time, he
can travel twice daily for $40 a
month.
Meat is not high, as Argentina is a
meat country. The very fanciest
cuts of beefsteak may be had at 25
cents pound. Ribs and rump steaks
cost 171A cents pound, mutton 13,
veal 3O1A cents and pork % cents.
Other items of household expense
will be about like this: Butter A,
bread 5 u, coffee A, tea 39K, granu-
lated sugar lie, chickens 35 cents
pound.
Milk costs cents a quart. Eggs
are 48 cents a dozen. Potatoes cost
IS cents for % pounds. Oranges are
sc cents a dozen, bananas 80 cents
a dozen and apples 6 cents each.
Underclothes Cost $1O..
A suit which would cost $25 in
New York or Chicago or San Fran
cisco, costs $45 in Buenos Aires. A
pair of SIS or Sc American shoes
costs SIS. A So American hat costs
between Sc and 81. An ordinary
suit of winter underclothing costs
$40, United States money.
The man who buys his wife not
over-fashionable walking suit must
pay $50 for it. If she is not too par
ticular, he can get her a bonnet for
$40.
If he wants to keep up with the
news, each paper costs him cents.
The price of a 15-cent American
magazine is 26 cents.
The beer is good but it costs -
cents per glass. A waiter must bring
each glass to a small table and every
time he expects tip of cents.
Whiskey, including the tip, is %
cents glass.
There is practically no such thing
as a cigar for less than cents ana
these are practically unsmokable. Ha-
vana cigars cost from "A cents up.
The man who falls i'll will have to
pay an ordinary family doctor SIS a
visit. If his teeth hurt him, it will
cost him SIS an hour to have repairs
made, unless he goes to an expensive
dentist, in which case there is prac-
tically no maximum limit.
People who like to keep clean must
pay their washerwoman approximate
ly the same prices as are charged
by the highest-priced New York laun-
dries.
Costs Twice as Much.
Roughly speaking, it costs about
twice as much to live in Buenos
Aires as it costs to live, not perhaps
in New York, but in Chicago.
A citizen of the United States who
goes to the Argentine metropolis to
live, on the same salary he received
at home, may consider that his in
come has been cut in two, and will
be financially wise if he readjusts his
expenditures accordingly. ~-
Living expenses are higher in Ar
gentina than in any other country In
South America. ... -.
In Brazil the average is only a lit
tie higher than in the United States.
Chile and the countries in the South
American north are rather cheap.
This does not refer to all commodities
Some articles are very expensive. 1t
APPLIES, however, to the average cost
of living. II. ~
AS an offset against their lower
prices, incomes are generally lower
in the countries where living is
cheap.
Why prices are so high in Argen-
tina is not entirely clear. For one
thing, the country's population Is
small and it has plenty of money,
so that if the cash we're evenly dis
tributed, the per capita wealth would
be high. Furthermore, it is not a
manufacturing country. 1t lacks
workingmen in sufficient numbers, 1t
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