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Show Living is Highaimcst Everywere About the only place where the High Cost of living specter has not yet penetrated pene-trated is the back districts of China, where you can buy fat chickens at five cents apiece and wheat at 25 cent? a bushel. Everywhere else things have gone up frightfully in the list few years. Our government is now trying to find out what's the matter and Prei-dent Prei-dent Taft has sent to congress a report giving some of tho, figures "that have been collected on the subject bv our consuls con-suls abrtad. The complaint against high prices is universal in free-trade countries and in protection counties; in republics and in monarchies, so that the causes must be fundamental and not changeable to local law? or government govern-ment politics. The increased supply of gold accounts for part of the rise, but a greater factor is the improved scale of living. People ar? working shorter hours and getting more pay and are spending their money freely; generally speaking the world is in the most prosperous pros-perous conditions it has ever been, and prosperity brings high prices. Conditions Condi-tions are about the worst in England, where food prices have risen 20 per cent since 1893 while wages have risen only 11 per cent. In France, Germany, Holland, Hol-land, Italy and other countries of Europe Eu-rope the tendency has been about the same. The Japanese papers declare that the cost of living has risen more in Tokyo than in any other city in the world, with New York next, followed by Paris and London. Meantime the Australian government has also been working on the problem and ha3 issued a report showing that the "margin of comfort" between the average income and the necessary expenditure ex-penditure for food is largest in Australia next in the United States, third in England and fourth in Germany. Food prices are a little lower in Australia than in this country, but some other things are higher. The report says that the average wage of skilled workers in that country is 15.50 a week, of which 36 per cent is spent by the family for food. In this country the average wage of the class in question is put at $15.10, of which 54 per cent must be spent for food. In great Britian the average wage is $13, and 57 per cent of it has to go for the table. In Germany the average aver-age wage is $12 and 54 per cent of it is charged to food. It is seldom that the figures collected on such subjects from different sources agree, for it is very difficult to get reliable data. President Taft wants the other nations to join us in making a a thorough investigation of this whole subject, on agreed lines. |