Evening star., 1930-11-30
LIVING COSTS In EUROPE
SHOWN WIDELY DIVERGENT
Survey Based on British Life Finds
Belgium Cheapest, Sweden Dearest
for Small Salaried Family.

| pays G13S. Is compared with go IA Bel.
gtum and El49 IN Sweden. Clothing Is
very much more expensive In Sweden
than In either Of the countries, costing
Els. as compared with ESQ.
Perhaps the most striking figure n
| that for taxation. In Sweden the man
with $500 year pays ESQ Of 1t in direct
taxes, in Belgium E21 and in England
only e.. The low figure for this country
Is accounted for by the generous ex.
emptions from income tax accorded to
those with small incomes and O family
to support. The corresponding item In
the Norwegian budget is actually E1oo.
English Taxes High on Rich.
On the other hand, when we come
to the FL 500 income the English tax
alton item has risen to E171. Is COM
pared with only f86 for Belgium and
f197 for Sweden. Norway still heads
the list with regard to the $4,000 man.
In this class Norway exacts f906, Ger
many coming next with 1880, while
Great Britain Gin spite of the grumbles
Of taxpayers here) takes nth place
with 1851. Belgium In this case Is by
far the lowest with f187, and Sweden,
too. pays less than England with f4l3.
| The figures given under the heading
education also are perhaps worth COM
ment, Tor in every case except the first
the $500 income-the Englishman spends
more on this item than the foreigner.
In the first case the figure given for
England is ESQ as against EGO for Bel
GUM and f40 for Sweden, but under
the f1,500 head the Englishman pays
E105, against an average Of EAT for the
other countries, and in the case of the
$4,000 income this item accounts for
E225 in Great Britain, whereas In the
dearest of the other countries, Holland,
1t Is estimated at only E97.
Russian Plan Studied.
Much more interesting and exciting
than Unilever's investigations are those
OF a correspondent of The Economist,
who has been studying on the spot all
the available statistical evidence re-
lattng to the famous economic five-
year plan Of Soviet Russia. It Is more
interesting and exciting because the
success and the very existence of Sta
Inns government depend on the pros
poets and working of the piatiletka, or
f1ve-year plan. The Economists spe-
cial correspondent embodied all that
he could collect in supplement, which
Is fairly described as an objective,
though at the same time o not un-
friendly study. I am not surprised to
hear that there was great demand for
the supplement and that 1t has been
reprinted by The Economist.
will not attempt to summarize what
Is itself summary. It covers, as q
well informed critic remarks In the
current issue, Almost every significant
aspect of Soviet Russia's economic po-
| Sition, progress and prospects, except
that Of currency and its partial re-
fiex, retail prices" But the exception
may be all-important. Granted that
the official statistics of agricultural
production and industrial output, Of
hf,f1dfunc 81
raised and timber cut or exported, are
all correct, a large assumption, what is
to be said about those statistics which
are expressed in terms Of paper rubles?
Soviet Currency Inflated.
The well informed critic to whom I
have referred, writing on the Russian
enigma, states that IN october, 1925,
Russian currency amounted TO 1,143,.
000, 900 rubles. It increased at O grad
ual and perhaps justifiable rate In the
next three years, but between October,
1928, and october, 1929, 1t expanded
by "a per cent. The price results seem
to have alarmed the Soviet authorities,
for in the next five months the torrent
was Stemmed.
But in March, 1880, the printing
presses were set to work at much
greater rate, and at the beginning Of
September the total currency circu-
lating in Russia had risen to AGO..
900 900 rubleS-more than four times
the total of 1925. Travellers in Russia
have noted that even single coins have
disappeared, and that Illicit markets
| have been created, In defiance Of the
death penalty in stable foreign cur
rencies, and that In places on the bor-
ders of Russia the Russian currency.
has been declining rapidly In value for
exchange purposes.
Prices Double In Year.
Any one who exchanges his money
for Russian at the offical rate Of ex-
change will tell you that at Russian
hotels and on Russian railways and on
Russian steamboats, food and accom-
modations are execrably bad and enor-.
molsly more expensive than good food
and good accommodations in other Eu-
ropean countries. The official prices OF
food and goods sold in the Soviet and
cooperative stores show little move
ment, but these stores are quite made
quate and are supplemented by the free
markets. We are told that In all mar
kets together prices have certainly
doubled during the last IL months"
Further, "the supplies available for sale
at controlled prices have diminished"
If then, continues the critic, the wage
earner's earnings, whether he be free
creased at the rate shown in the sup
plement, his lot must now be hard and
his economic position desperate. AS
the value of the currency diminisheS
faster than his nominal wage increases,
he had to supply the balance Of food,
clothing and other necesSarteS OF life
in the free market at 5 to 10 times
the oficial Soviet price.
Press Works Overtime.
Apparently the truth Is that the So
Wet government cannot rake on
enough margins and surpluses from
pay its way without resort to the print
ing presses" The Soviet government
anticipates from taxation $500, 100000
rubles this year, against 1000 000 900
rubleS last year, and expects q proht OF
4,810 600 900 rubleS this year from state
enterprises, compared with 3,233 100000
rubles last year. But all this revenue
will leave big deficit If the currency
doubles and its value Is halved. Every
works manager has to find money for
wages, and to find this money the So
Wet government orders its printing
press department to print more notes.
The traveller have quoted points out
that the people must have food, fuel,
clothing and shelter. He insists that by
currency and price tests these neces-
saries are failing in Russia. Can
passionate belief in Leninism or Marx
ism supply the gap? Will promises and =
hopes serve in place of more SubStan-
tial provision2 In short, "Will the So
Wet regime collapse with the Soviet
currency?" His answer is that "the .
next six months will tell"