The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920, 1919-08-18
Where the Billions Of Higher Liv-
ing Costs Begin.

Ing Costs Begin.
Six hundred million bushels of
wheat the American people require
and they have it-for their bread.
The difference between a dollar a
bushel, which was more than good
price:tn normal times, and 1925 on
that SIX hundred million bushels of
wheat now is billion and third of
dollars. 1t must go into the cost Of
. living.
Two and three-quarter billion
bushels Of corn the American people
require-and they have Ito feed
and fatten the cattle whose beef they
eat; the sheep whose mutton they
eat; the hogs whose pork, ham and
bacon they eat; the poultry whose
/, flesh and eggs they eat. The differ
ence between that corn at 60 cents n
bushel then and 81 bushel now is
about three and three-quarter billions
Of dollars. 1t must go into the cost
of living.
!. One hundred million tons Of hay,
in round numbers, the American peo-
pie require-and they have it by more
than ten million tons-not merely to
feed their horses and steers but to
feed their cows, whose milk, butter
and cheese they eat. A normal crop
of hay is worth something under a
. billion dollars. The one hundred and
ten million tons Of American hsy this
year has market price Of more than
four billions Of dollars. The differ
7ence between the American peoples
usual hay bill and their hay bill now
is around three billions Of dollars. It
must 20 into the cost of living.
A billion bushels Of oats up hum
dreds Of millions Of dollars; various
: grains up hundreds Of millions Of
dollars; other products Of the soil up
, hundreds Of millions of dollars-they
must all go into the cost Of living.
If these crops from which come our
: bread, our meats, our eggs, our milk,
Z our butter, our cheese, our sugar, have
put eight billions of dollars or nine
billions of dollars extra into our cost
: OF living, all that-stupendous though
1t bulks on the American back-is
only the beginning.
What man eats-what his food costs
--is the basis of what labor costs.
labor making clothes, labor making
shoes, labor building houses, labor
digging fuel, labor operating trans
portation, labor making or doing any
thing and everything for the use of
itself and of all at the higher prices
essential to earning labor's daily
bread must all 60 into the cost Of lv-
ing-everybody's.
All told, Is 1t ten billions Of dollars
- of increased living costs? Is 1t dozen
billions? No one can say exactly.
Food costs alone are estimated to-day
at eighteen to twenty billions of dol
( lars a year. Ten more, fifteen more,
\ might we'll be a conservative addition
i for all the other living costs above
and beyond the food of 10000, 900
American people.
Statistics measure the increase
since the war at go per cent. for this,
20 per cent. for that and so per cent.
I, for the other thing. Statistics are
measuring the average Of all increases
az high as 20 per cent. But whatever
Z the percentage of increase is, however
high It mounts into billions and bill
ions Of dollars, 1t all begins back at
the farm, down in the mine pit, at the
( mouth of the oil well-the source OF
= the nations natural products. And
Z every stroke of labor that goes into 1t,
with rising costs all through the long
journey from first producer to ulti-
mate consumer, piles 1t on.
Profiteers there are beyond doubt.
They ought to be scotched, and no one
will lament them when they are.
Hoarders there are beyond doubt, and.
by whatever lawful means, their stores
ought to be distributed among Ameri-
, can consumers. Gamblers there are
beyond doubt-gamblers In the susie
nance of men and women, the lives
of children and babies; and they
ought to be squeezed into the places
where they belong. And slackers there
are beyond doubt-slackers who take
. Pay for work which is never done by
r them, for production which is never
yielded by them; and they. at time
like this, ought to be ashamed to look
their fellow men in. the face.
But when all is said and done, how
are you going to get away from the
solid reality that the billions and bill
ions Of increased living costs now