Rensselaer Republican, Volume 24, Number 34, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 21 April 1892 — Short Tariff Sermon. [ARTICLE]

Short Tariff Sermon.

Cost of Living. y, " " - When it is proved that wages are so much higher in this country than in Europe, the Free-Trad-ers reply that the cost of living is higher in proportion, and therefore the savings are no greater. But the evidence on the subject is perfectly clear: Ist, that the cost of living is not materially higher; and 2nd, that savings are are very much greater. Full details as to cost of living in Europe will be found in the official report from American Consuls to the State Department at Washington. We give only the conclusions of the report. 1 Food: “It appears from the report hereto annexed that the American workman consumes more and better food than the mechanic or laborer abroad, and that the cost of this food is as small in the United States as in Europe.”

Clothing: “In general, clothing can be purchased cheaper in Europe than in the United States; especially clothing of the higher grades. The same influence which prompts the higher paid workingman in the United States to purchase better and more varied food than his European comrade, extends also to his clothing, for he buys more and better garments.” Consul Shaw, of Manchester, England, says: “I believe clothing similar to that which the English operatives wear can be purchased in the United States at about the same price.”

“House rent in Europe is apparently lower tnan here, but the habitations are usually inferior to those of the United States.” More exact and comprehensive investigations were made on £he subject by Carrol D. Wright, chief of the labor bureau of Massachusetts, in 1883. At that time he found that the average cos ; of living of workingmen in Massachusetts, including rent, was 17 per cent, higher than living on the same scale would cost in England. E xcluding rent, the cost in Massachusetts was found to be only five per cent higher than in England. While there is this slight difference in the cost of ,living, our laborers with their high wages can live far better, and save besides almost as much as the foreign workingman earns.