Perth Amboy evening news., 1921-02-11
MEAT. COAL. RENr-rHEsE THREE.

There are three great stumbling blocks in the
reduction Of the cost of living at the present
time. These three things are meat, coal and
rent. All are staple articles that enter into the
daily life OF every working man. Until the
costs of these three things come down the
averaea man is not going to derive any real
benefit from falling prices.
1t is generally admitted that prices in nearly
everything else have been reduced. Clothing.
shoes. groceries and products generally are
cheaper today than they were a few months
ago. While these all help. they do not strike
home like meat, coal and rent.
A man to maintain a family must have a
house to live in. II not a house, then at least a
room or two to provide shelter. But having
shelter is not sufficient these days. There must
be heat. although, thanks to the mild winter,
suffering from the cold has not been as great as
IL might otherwise have been. Then. to do a
davis work a man must have strength and meat
is the one strength-giving food that the working
man must have.
But in all the reductions that have taken
place thus far these three essentials have re-
,ained their wartime levels. AS far as meat and
coal are concerned there is good reason to be-
lieve that it is a plain case of profteering. In
vestigations have shown that coal can be mined
for from $3.50 to SO a ton. Adding the increas-
ed shipping charges and allowing a fair profit
for the retailer. coal ought easily to be selling
anywhere in this section at from IS to $40 a ton
and there ought to be plenty of it at that.
As a matter of fact, retailers have a hard time
- .~faa rAuv and fhans yghan fhpV
do they have to pay ten or twelve dollars for it
wholesale. 1t has been established that coal
can be had promptly and in any quantities if
one is willing to pay the price. We have had
investigations until the country is tired of them.
The thing to do is to put some of these coal
operators in Jail where they belong. Fines will
do no good, but very few are even fined for
their high-handed methods.
In the case of meat. the supply Of the coun-
try-and the whole world for that matter-is
in the hands of four or five meat packers in
Chicago. Recently we commented on the fact
that one OF these packing concerns had paid a
stock dividend of 1898 per cent, capitalizing a
surplus of sS7, 900. 900. Yet meat today costs
az much as it ever did. Occasionally it is re-
duced a cent or so a pound only to go up again
within a day or two. The government is trying
to regulate the meat packing business as it
the operation of the railroads and
other public utilities. 1t is time something was
done to relieve the people.
In the matter of rents, Perth Amboy seems
to be about the hardest hit of any place in this
section Of the country. A scarcity OF houses, of
course. has put the law of supply and demand in
operation and when the demand is great and
the supply limited prices are bound to be high.
But this same law applies elsewhere as well as
in Perth Amboy. yet rents here are far above
the average. Real estate speculation Is at the
bottom of Perth Amboy's plight. Houses are
constantly changing hands and each time they
are sold the owner insists upon making two or
three thousand dollars on the transaction. The
new owner Immediately tacks a couple Of thous-
and dollars on his purchase price and in order
to get 1t he must increase rents so as to show
a sufficient income on the investment at the new
figure.
The prices of coal and meat we cannot
remedy locally. The cause is beyond the reach
OF local people. Butchers and coal dealers can
produce facts and figures to prove that the
cause is higher up. The government must act.
But in the matter of rent Perth Amboy is. in a
sense, responsible. The fact that rents here are
so much higher than elsewhere is evidence that
there is something radically wrong locally.
Here, then. is a problem to be studied right
here in Perth Amboy for the benefit Of the
thousands of workers who earn their living here
and who want to live near their work. An end
must be put to real estate speculation and there
must be development on a large scale. Here,
again, the city plan commission comes in. I'm
til something is done for the average citizen in
these three particulars he cannot be blamed for
continuing to complain Of the high cost of
living.