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Show Cost of Living . BY THOMAS TAPPER. a WRITER says in the New York -iX American, "The odd pennies wo spend would support some families," Another writer declares that the laboring man is entitled to a greater share in tho profits of, his labor than he gets. There is no problem before the American people today that Is o full of compIcxItlcH as that which Involves a consideration of work, wages and the cost of living. Everybody In facing this problem, and trying to make a guess at Us solution. Most of ua go" about It In toe wrong way. You have lieard the story 'of the city youth who pent a week In the country. Me was daintily dressfd and wore lavender gloves. One evening even-ing he asked permission of the farmer far-mer with whom he was boarding to milk the family cow. The farmer cave the young man ft. milk pall and a three-legged stool, and told him he would tlnd the cow In tht pasture back of the barn. An hour passed by and the lavender lav-ender gloves had not yet come In with the brimming milk pall. The farmer thought It time to investigate, in-vestigate, and going to the edge of the pasture he saw the cow trotting around the field about twenty yards In front of the young gent from town. "Hey!" said the farmer, "haven't you milked her yet?" "No sir," replied the town-bred youth. "Well, why not? You've been out hero an hour." "Why, you see. sir," said the young man, "I uan't Induce the cow to sit down on this stool." This Is a good Illustration of the possibility of misunderstanding the purpose of things. Which leads to this conclu-don: Tn tho problem of work, wnges and the cost of living, a lot of us are trying to make the cow sit on the stool. Another writer has insisted In saying say-ing that the average working man gets as much as ho gives. I do not think this is true in all cases. But it Is true in many. Not many of us realize that work, wages and coPt of living all unite to constitute a business that must be run on business principles, and made to pay a profit. Lots of men and women have to take such work as they can get, and accept the wages offered, or go without. with-out. This condition affects the unskilled un-skilled labor class more than any other. On such a basis of work and wages, the cost of living is always precarious. The remedy, then, is for the unskilled un-skilled worker to become skilled. To do this he must think, keep his eyes open and gradually find a place for himself that will demand more of him than unskilled labor calls out. When unskilled labor waits discontentedly discon-tentedly for some higher power to make life easy, it is mistaking the office of the three-legced stool; It is trying to make the cow sit where the milker should be. In fact, the whole business of getting get-ting a living from the world about ns is very much like the story told above. A man's time and strength aro his milk-producer, the cow, in other words. The world in which he lives Is tho pasture. The stool is his place of work or business. Now, a cow meandering up and down a pasture all day eating clover and rich grass comes In at night, not with clover and grass, but with ten-cent ten-cent milk and 60-cent cream. She would be a poor breed of cow If she sat on a stool all day and waited for.. President Taft to bring her a handful of red clover and forget-me-nots every little while. Now about the pennies we waste. No farmer throws milk away. He utilizes every drop of It, and makes It bring In every penny possible. Well. then, every penny ought to be made to bring in as much milk and honey as possible. |