Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1919-12-26

daily jam and tea than even our long
suffering folks at home.
Before the war Great Britain was
generally considered as steady, UNI
imaginative land of low wages and
low prices. We thought of the Brit
ish workingman as steady. low
browed fellow who worked hard all
day in a mine or factory for dollar
or so, came home to a substantial
evening meal which cost about 10
cents, and perhaps ended the day
with an orgy of beer drinking at the
nearest pub. the total cost of which
might be as much as a dime.
| But so soon as the war got to going
we began to hear most extravagant
stories of miners who received $500
a week, of piece-work munitioners
and shipbuilders who were driven to
work in their own limousines. Maybe
these stories were once true, but If
they were. the past year has changed
everything. The munitioners' wives
have sold their fur coats to buy milk
for the babies at 25 cents a quart.
The limousines have long since be-
come the property of the grocer in
exchange for eggs of doubtful quail
ity at II cents apiece.
England is today a land of low
wages and high prices. l mentioned
some weeks ago that the wages of
conductors, engineers, and other rail
way employees averaged rather less
than $40 a month. The unskilled
laborer gets much less. The char
woman who cleans our landlady's
house puts in about "a hours a week
and gets s265 for it, Our washer
woman at home was getting so cents
an hour when we left!
The other day my wife noticed
sign in a bookstore window. stating
that a well-educated girl was wanted
to work within. Thinking this might
be a good opportunity to make little
Christmas money, she made inquiries.
The proprietor explained that all he
wanted was someone to dust the shop
in the morning. wait on customers,
and do cataloguing in her spare time.
She would have to work only nine
hours a day. and he would be pleased
to pay SIS week.
We afterwards figured that out as
rather less than Is cents an hour.
Our bare living in very modest lOdg-
ings cost us about $14 week each,
so my wife asked him how a girl
whom he employed at that rate could
live. He said that she would have to
live at home.
The millennium has not yet come
for the girl who has to make her liv
ing in England. And in my opinion
it has not come for anyone who works
here. much though we hear about the
greater progress the labor movement
has made in England as compared
with America. 1t may have made
FOUR-Standard
greater progress but it started long
way behind.
In order to make out case for
high prices in England do not mean
to hold that everything is higher.
Some of the staples are considerably
lower Good beef can be bought for
SO cents pound, Bread ct y cents
a pound is no higher than at home.
Wooden clothing is cheaper. bought
a good two-piece everyday suit for
about $27. But we must remember
that when these prices are compared
with the low wages that prevail here,
the advantage that appears at first
sight disappears into thin air.
The really clinching argument lies
in the eXorbitant prices charged for
almost everything / have not men
toned The only sugar we can get
is coarse and dirty, yet it costs 20
cents pound. AS for candy, the
commonest kind Of bar chocolate
three shillings (75 cents) q pound.
Apples cost from 8 to Is cents a
pound. and only the higher priced
puSS dlC III W cat "a uoStoi . piC-
scription is necessary before one can
buy cream at any price.
Whenever we want some little del
icacy to vary the monotony of our
fare. our thoughts turn naturally to
something from America. One would
think that longing for so mild and
modest a dish as Cream of Wheat
would be cheaply gratified, but we
found that it cost SO cents a pound.
Ocean freights are high these days.
and as everyone knows most of Eng
lands food comes from overseas. and
abnormal freights must be added to
the famine prices which are charged
for food abroad. In addition it is no
secret that England. too is cursed
with protiteers.
The condition of the workingman
in England today is much less en-
viable than that of the American
laborer. The so-called middle class
in Great Britain, composed of people
with small incomes. was once de-
scribed as the backbone of the nation.