Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 35, Number 120, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 25 September 1903 — POLITICAL COMMENT. [ARTICLE]

POLITICAL COMMENT.

Wastes and the Coet of LivingFrederick W. Job, the secretary of the Employers’ Association of Chicago, has been spending many months in tabulating facts and figures relative to the cost cf living for laboring men in Chicago from 1898 to the present; aad he has Just finished a most thorough and exhaustive report on the subject, which, however, is not to be published for the present, because the facts contained in It are to be used in any cases of arbitration concerning wages that may arise with workingmen in Chicago, and previous publicity would tend to lessen their force. Those who have seen this report, however, say that It famishes a complete answer to the( free trade assertion that protection has increased the cost of living to the workingman. That there has been an increase In the price of provisions during the past five years is not denied. But Mr. Job’s report proves from actual market quotations that It costs the average workingman to-day not more than 14 per cent above the prices In 1898 for provisions, while this increase is much more than made up by the higher rate of wages now paid, as well as by the fact that work is more plentiful. It must also be re-

membered that in a time of high wages and steady work worktngmen purchase more expensive and better grades of food. When wages are low they are content with cheap boiling beef and round, steak, but when wages are high they Insist on having sirloin roasts and

porterhouse steak. ‘ Indeed, many workingmen go to a foolish extreme in this respect, and in flusb times, for instance, will buy the most expensive brands of fancy pastry flour with which to make bread, declaring that the best is none too good for them, wherejis the cheaper grades of flour would really be better and more wholesome for them. It Is this desire of the American workingman to provide bis family and himself with the best food obtainable, that largely reduces the margin between the rate of wages and the cost of living, a reduction which is falsely attributed to a protective tariff. Recurring to Mr. Job’s report there Is shown an increase in the price of groceries of 3 per cent, due largely to the increase of 50 per cent in the price cf butter since 1898, an Increase, by the way, we observe in passing, that directly benefits the American farmer, so that it cannot be regarded as an unmixed evil. If the item of butter Is omitted an actual decrease of more than 10 per cent in the price Of groceries is shown. The average cost of flour per barrel is as follows: 1898, 15.20; 1899, $4.42; 1900, $4.53; 190 V $4.50; 1902, $4.52; 1903, $4.52. Other articles show either a decrease in price or no change. In the case of meat there is an average Increase in price of 29 per cent; but the increase la very largely for the more expensive grades, the prices for round steak for the six years, for instance, being 10, 10, 10*4. 12, 12 and 12 cents. In the opinion of many there is really more nutriment In round steak than in porterhouse steak, so that the workingman who Increases his living expenses by buying the latter has only himself to blame. It Is not, however, the higher price of ' meat which concerns the workingman so much as tbb fact whether be can eern enough to buy it. Meat at 5 cents a pound would have no Interest for him if h|s wages did not permit him to boy It. And on the other hand, the increase of 29 per cent can be borne by him with equanimity when hls higher rate of wages easily permits j him to buy even the most expensive grades, ns. In point of fact, he admittedly does. There are no workingmen In the who eat as much meat as do the American workingmen. Nevertheless, the meat expenditure

of the average workingman’s family Is only half of Its grocery expenditure, which, ns we have seen with tbe single exception of butter. Is to-day considerably less than It was In 1898. The United States Department of Labor Statistics gives the average expenditure of a workingman's family for food as about half of ita total expenditure, tbe percentages lelng as follows: Grocer] expenditure, 29-52 per cent; meat.

including fish, 1g,65 per cent, and milk, 3.11 per cent, a total of 49.28 per cent. The other Items are: Rent, 19.74 per cent; fuel, 4:30 per cent; clothing and dry goods, 15.95 per cent, and sundries, 10.73 per cent. From the figures gathered by him Air. Job deducts that it would cost a workingman to-day about $1,139.50 to live substantially as well as he lived on SI,OCO in 1898. And if that is a true statement of the Increased cost In Bring, as seems proved, the increase has been more than offset by the higher rate of wages. But what, then, bocomes of the parrot cry that the “trust breeding tariff” is increasing the cost of living to the workingman? As a matter of fact, it is ths tariff that insures such good wages to the American workingman that he can eat better and more food, wear better and more expensive clothes and surround himself with more of the luxuries, not to speak of the comforts of life than any other body of workingmen on the face of the globe.—American Economist.

~—Koomv«U’« Advice to Capital. One point made by the President ft* his Labor Day address is worthy of special consideration by corporations and capitalists, viz., that they should welcome legislation which makes property bear its just share of the burden of taxation and regulates combinations of capital in the interest of the people. The President's argument was that, besides being Intrinsically just.

such legislation tends to disarm popular jealousy of capital and deprive Its enemies of a plausible argument against It. If corporate capital defies the law, evades taxation, ignores Its duty to the public, or seeks to oppress the people it may expect popular opposition and, perhaps, unfriendly treatment. The best way for corporate capital to secure legal protection and popular favor Is to accept cheerfully all legislation which aims at making it bear -Its just share of public bnrdens and deal fairly with the people. As the President put It: “The capitalist who Is really a conservative, the man who has forethought as well as patriotism, should heartily welcome every effort, legislative or otherwise, which has for its object to secure fair dealing by capital, corporate or Individual, towards the public and towards the employe.” The President mentioned several pieces of legislation, including the l franchise tax law of New York and the interstate and anti-railroad merger laws, which he regarded as really beneficial to capital because they aimed at tnaklng capital do its duty by the State and the people. “In no way,” he said, “Is the stability of property better assured than by making It patent to our people that property bears its proper share of the burdens of tbe state; that property is handled not only In the Interest of the owner, but In the interest of the whole community.” This Is something for corporation and capitalists who look beneath the surface of things, and who look ahead, to think about There Is no surer way for capital to make Itself odious and to lay up wrath against the day of wrath than by adopting a policy of "the public be damned.” This is what corporations and capital do when they attempt to evade taxation and other duties to the state and the public. It Is a very short-sighted policy, and one which will surely react agalnat them. Briefly, the President’s position Is that If capital expects tbe protection of the law and popular favor It must obey tbs laws and not oppress the people.—ln. dlanapolls Journal. Only One Wnjr. Reciprocity would be good for Canada, but not so good for this country. Canada bas everything to gain by It and nothing to lose. There Is only on# way In which Canada can secure the benefits of American trade, and that is by petition for admission.—Jersey City Journal.