Jasper County Democrat, Volume 12, Number 93, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 March 1910 — Why the Present Cost of Living Is High. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Why the Present Cost of Living Is High.

By Various Authorities

By JAMES WILpON, Secretary of Agri* culture. , CHAT prices are higher now than ever before is certain. The American standard of living is HIGHER THAN THAT OF ANY OTHER COUNTRY ON THE GLOBE, and that is

one of the reasons why food prices have been forced up to such an extent. Too many are engaged in the business of distribution. What we need is MORE

FARMING. Too many persons are'rushing to the cities, an.d not enough are staying in the country. Too many are TRYING TO GET ALONG WITHOUT WORK, and not enough of them are in the business of producing something. pNE MAN COULD DO THE DISTRIBUTING WHERE TWENTY ARE NOW ENGAGED IN IT. THAT 18 THE REASON WHY THE COST OF LIVING 18 HIGH AND EVERY ONE COMPLAINING.

•t R By Senator MOSES E. CLAPP of Minnesota. CHE NEW TARIFF LAW HAS COSJ AND IS COSTING THE AMERICAN PEOPLE MILLIONS OF DOLLARS IN INCREASED COST OF LIVING. The thing STARTED WITH THE TARIFF INCREASES AND IS GOING ALL ALONG THE LINE apparently. Raise the price of one necessity of life and the man who is compelled to pay that increased price must get more for 'what he has to sell in order that he may pay it; therefore it necessarily affects the price of what he produces. He must either TAKE LESS PROFIT OR ELSE RAISE HIS PRICE. By Professor J. R. KENNEDY of Illinois University. CHERE is no mystery about the increased cost of commodities. It is the result of perfectly NATURAL AND INEVITABLE CAUSES. Food used to be cheap, largely because land was cheapef. The country is filling up, and the price of land naturally rises and with the cost of the food products it produces. AS LAND COSTS MORE TODAY THAN FORMERLY, FOOD NATURALLY COSTS MORE. It is the same with ores.

IT COSTS MORE TO FARM TODAY THAN FORMERLY. IT COSTS MORE TO MINE ORES THAN TEN YEARS AGO. THIS MAY BE PROVED IN A HUNDRED WAYS. AS A RESULT THE PRICES OF THE PRODUCTS OF THE FARMS AND OF THE MINES HAVE BEEN GRADUALLY RISING. at at By Senator JOSEPH L. BRISTOW of Kansas. CHE increased cost of living is due to a COMBIN A - ’ TIOJf 0/ A HUNDRED CAUSES. The/ichief is the tendency to COMBINATIONS OF MEN WHO CONTROL COMMODITIES and fix arbitrary prices on them. THE FARMER CANNOT COMBINE. THERE ARE TOO MANY OF HIM, , AND HIB CIRCUMSTANCES DO NOT LEND THEMSELVES TO COMBINATION. THE INFLUENCES THAT COME BETWEEN THE FARMERS AND THE CONSUMER are responsible for that

By Senator WILLIAM E. BORAH of Idaho. CHAT high prices are worldwide is conceded. That it is true of articles affected by the tariff and articles upon the free list is easily proved. It must, in my judgment, be considered as due to a MULTITUDE OF CAUSES. We seem to be approaching a time when we shall be importing food products, and this is due to the failure to FERTILIZE AND KEEP UP THE PRODUCING POWER of our lands and the failure to utilize the 25,000,000 acres of arid lands of the west. No doubt the TRUSTS OR COMBINATIONS have had an unfavorable effect upon prices. They have not only manipulated prices, but by reason of these manipulations and by reason of their controlling the market they have discouraged live stock producers, many of whom have gone out of business, while others have decreased their flocks and herds.

By Senator CHARLES DICK of Ohio. CHE present TARIFF LAW HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THE INCREASE in the price commodities or the cost of living. We cut the tariff on lumber in two, but we are not getting it any cheaper. Whatwa

took off the Canadian product is added to the price, and we are not benefiting any. We put hides on the free list, but shoes have not be- I come cheaper. The tariff on sug-

ar was reduced 20 per cent, but the price of sugar is no less, and the sugar trust is putting the difference into its pocket. Three things are to blame for the increase in the cost of living—the INCREASED PRODUCTION OF GOLD, which has raised the price of staple products; the great INFLUX OF PEOPLE FROM THE COUNTRY INTO THE CITIES, making the jjemand for food products greater than the supply, and general EXTRAVAGANCE in living: -

By BYRON W. HOLT. Vice President of the American Association For (he Advancement of Science. TkTTANY explanations, MOST jy| LY FOOLISH AND IN- / CONSISTENT, of the cause of high prices are given to us. They tell us in scholarly language that the real causes,of rising prices are monopolies and trusts, the tariff, the growing scarcity of land, the laziness and indifference of farmers, speculation, corruption, high freight rates, population outrunning production, too many people in cities, cold storage, lessening supply, rising land values, pure food laws, labor unions, the greediness of “middlemen,” automobiles, hookworms, etc. AU advances in prices when confined to particular teommodities or to particular localities or countries could perhaps be explained in ordinary ways. But no such explanation wiU answer for a worldwide rise of the general price level such as has been occurring during the last twelve or thirteen yekrs.

THERE IS AND CAN BE BUT ONE CAUSE FOR SUCH AN ADVANCE—NAMELY, A DEPRECIATING MONEY UNIT OR STANDARD OF VALUE.