Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial. (Wilmington, Del.) 1878-1928, 1922-09-04
LIVING COSTS AND STANDARDS

periodical publications in the United
states today meet ~ which have large
circulation; most ~ them no largo
as 10 stagger the Imagination. A largo
circulation means that The people nre
buying the papers and magazines.
Ninety per cent OF tnis circulation IL
| additional. 10 represents. not an IN
creased expense. bat an added ex-
1 penso, compared with what yeopi-
dinbursed q generation sgo. The prices
OF the commodities have no, 80 much
| increased. the people buy more com.
modities and. specially. a greater
variety % them.
Dealt With Summary.
Perhaps the single biggest addition
20 the cost u living - the autofno-
bile. Not 80 many years ago the
horseiess carriage was curiosity
regarded az practical only BY vision
aries. Today every tenth person IN
the United states has one. This means
that every fecond family has ono a
low average cost Of running IN auto
mobile is 81 a day This means that
the American people spend fl0o0o.-
900 a day for automobile upkeeD, o.
there are 10000 900 automobiles This
amounts 10 $3.50. 900 900 a yesr. al
rnittediy n conservative figure.
a fair average price Tor On auto
mobile is 81 .000 and an automobile VIII
last, on an average. 3 years. Then.
~ a 81 900 car lasts . years. u costs
$500 a year. IN addition ~ the up
keep. There are 20. 900 .000 cars IN use.
This makes - 600 600 600 a year. Ada
this % the upkeep cost and you have a
total Of IS. $50 00O, 600 year sutomo-
bile cost FOR the American psopls.
/ This. Of course. il not an Increase IN
the cost Of living. bar an addition 20
} thescost 81 living.
b On the other hand. sorns 81 ~. i'm
portant commodities have decreased
in value. Electric light - wholly
new and added expense. BEFORE 80
! advent oil lamps we're used. Kero-
sene oil cost IS cents a gallon. 70 was
not nearly 70 good az that which now
. costs from 10 cents gallon.
! White sugar. throughout the country
was a LUXURY which not every one
could procure. brown sugar being the
a table staple and molasses or ione
A shortening. az 70 was called. being
widely used. But where white sugar
= wac procurable. IL cost from q cent,
l. a pound up. During the war. ST. ros-
y 10 that height again for a brief period
y but Immediately before tho war and
)f shortly after 10 was procurable az from
)r to 10 cents a pound
ie What the economists point ont 4
ig that the American standard ~ livfns
E. is so high that Il misieads many pen.
pie. our people spend lot but the-
get a lot. Recently two Scandinavian
born Americans met One had bae,
TX to his old home and was telling ID
W other Of the good fortune that had BE-
er fallen one 81 their mutual friends X
ne said that the man had become rict
He had done so well. the man explain
- ed that he had bought himself a by
cycle.
"a There IL a concrete example % VIVA
- is meant by saying that the cost q
>, living has not increased IN Americ
:, SO much as the scale or living has II
~ creased. Americans have NOR. tina
ID any other people IN the world: the
are surrounded with a bewild~rir
W variety OF goods, most OF which al
ce within reach Of the comparativel
T. deep purses OF the wage workers.
ay is an old adage that he who paws N
to piper IL entitled 70 call the tun
OF Americans call an expensive tune.
70 /