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Show H High Cost of Living H Tho question of tho high cost of living now H and during recent years is one that is absorbing H tho attention of political parties, metropolitan H newspapers, agitators, and many honest citizens. H But the strange- feature of tho whole matter H is that but few understand tho real cause of tho 1 rise in pricos within recent years. Thoro is an in- H sistont cry against "monopolies" and "trusts," it M being alleged in nearly every instance that to one m of those creatures of the rich is due the high pric- M es of food products. M No one scorns to bo able to make any in tell i- B gont charge, but tho impression has been gained H from some vague, indefinite source that it must be H the rich that are to blamo for all the evils of man- M kind, and, as has always been the case, anything m calculated to cast reflection upon tho man of m means, always finds ready and willing supporters. B Those living in cities, who work for salaries, H "so much per," tho merchant and tho professional B man, all of whom produce nothing upon which the H body depends for sustenance, nro the people who B are oppressed by tho high prices. H However, with but few exceptions, the high H pricos arc not duo to "trusts," "monopolies," or B other evils attributed to wealth; instead they are Bj duo to the short supply and tho increasing de- H And there is one class of citizens who have B cause to smile at the waitings of their morounfor B tunate brothers; these are the farmers. It has Bj been but a few years since anything was supposed to be good enough for the farmer! His white-collared neighbors were given te ridiculing him, and he wm the recipient of such dclfc ate epithets as "rube," "hayseed," and the like. A farm wagon, a broad-brimmed straw hat and . i pair of jeans pants were supposed to be all and as good clothing as ho deserved. His city neighbors, driving a buggy witfi its paint shimmering in the sunlight And a fine team of well-kept horses, a plush lap-r ibe, a "boiled" shirt, a tailor-made suit, and other evidences of the superiority of tho city man over t lie fanner, would pass him in the road with haught mien and head held high. In the home, the city man wc uld have his piano, pi-ano, his beautiful carpets and rug s, his oak and rattan rockers, lace curtains and portiers and a book case with a liberal number o f the best books, whilo his wife and daughters wou Id wear the latest lat-est fashionable gowns and headgej ar. The farmer would go to town with a load of produce and if he could dispose of it at all, he was lucky if tho entire load brought ! him enough in "merchandise" to provide himsel,C with a pair of overalls and a calico dress for his wife. Ho would receive such fabulojus prices as 6c a pound for hens, 7c a dozen for ej ?gs, 3c a pound for hogs, 50c a bushel for wheat, 25c a bushel for oats, 25c a bushel for corn, $5 a t m for hay, .$60 each for good horses, $17 for gc od milch cows, and so on down the line for tho ; irticles of "living." "liv-ing." . Certainly there was no "higli cost of living" in those days,--not for tho farme r. But conditions havo changed. The case and pie ity of city life caused an exodus from the farms to tho larger cities, cit-ies, and, while only fifteen years since, more than half tho population of the United States were on farms tho conditions had so chan ,?ed in 1910 that more than half the people were lnving in cities. Tho increase in city populatioln, non-producers, and the corresponding decrease fin rural population, popula-tion, producers, has resulted irl a demand far greater than the supply, and as ; i consequence the products of tho soil have increas 2d in value, and so we have "tho high coat of li ing", for those who do not produce anything. Today the farmer rides in ', his touring car, woars his fushionablo suit, ownsi a good home with modern fixtures, has a piano, lea thor-covered rock- t daughters dress in tho latest styles, and his child- ren havo all the education and intelligence of the town child. Today it is the man who is entitled to it that is getting paid for his labors. In the cities, the laboring element is continually struggling, by all means, honorable and otherwise to force an increase in-crease in wages, to compel excessivo payment for work which produces nothing. Tho business man, whoso earnings are no greater than formerly, but who finds that he must pay the farmer a fair price for Ins products, sees his profits growing less each year, and ho joins in tho demand for an "investigation" "investi-gation" as to tho causes. The facts are that the present high prices of products grown by tho farmers will in all probability proba-bility nover bo lower, instead thoro is littlo doubt but that they will go higher. So' long as people persist in flocking to the over-populated cities like moths to an electric light, so long will tho food products of tho land increase in cost. If more peoplo would resolvo to do the hard work of the farmer and put up with some of tho solitude of the farm, the question of the high cost of living would cease to be such a problem, at least for many years. |
