LIVING IN AMERICA AND BRITAIN

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 1903, 27 July 1888, Page 2

LIVING IN AMERICA AND BRITAIN

10 THE EDITOR. Sib, — The relative cost of living in Britain and 'America haa been subjected to a great change daring the past five years in favor of the latter. It is astonishing how cheap the food and clothing of tbe masses have become. The food, of oouree, was never as high in Amerioa sb in Britain, for moat of thts goes from Amerioa. It was In clothing the American was at a disadvantage. Artioles of similar kinds are now quite as (heap throughout Amerioa as In Britain. House rent has also fallen very muoh indeed in America.

* The best authority we have is Mr Jos, D. Weeks, of Pittsburgh, Pa., Seoretary of the Wlnßtone Iron Asaoolatloo, who has spent much time in Investigating this Important subject. He says: — "The purchasing power of a dollar la the hands of an American workman Is considerably In excess of what Its equivalent would be in tha hands of an English workman. That In, a dollar will buy more food In the United States than 4* l£d will in England. It will buy considerably more flour (as you know but litcle bread Is bought In the United States compared with the amount bought abroad, most families baking their own bread), more meat, provision, bacon, ham, vegetables, eggs, butter, cheese, farm produots of all kinds, tea, coffee," more oil, a little losb EUgar, ln many parts of the oountry more fuel. As to dry goods and olothlng It will buy more sheeting, shirting, prints or calicoß, and as much of many kinds of clothing suoh as workmen wear, but ln other ONses less House rents are higher in America. It is, of course, to be understood that I am speaking, so far as relates to clothing, of the grades that most workmen buy. I made a oareful esilmate with the followlog result : —

(These figures are taken from report Massachusetts Bureau of Labour Statistics). "Now I estimate tbat on subsistence tbe Amerioan working man has an advantage ot at least 25 per oent ; on clothing, nothing ; on ren*, the English working man has an advantage ot 33_- per cent ; and on fuel and sundry expenses 1 concede an equality. We take tbe above table a3 representing each one dollar expenditure of the Amerioan working man.

"That Is, If the relative modes of living ln England and the United States of two olasßes of workmen are the same, It will ocst 10 per cent more ln England than In the United States. But the English workman, as a rule does not live as well as the American, and it is just here tbat the fallacy ex : sts In the statement that it costs the American workman more to live than It does the English. It does, for he lives better, spends more money, bnt this is not the true basis of comparison. The real question is ;In . whioh oountry will one dollar or its equivalent purchase more of a given artlole of consumption of a given grade 1 I answer unhesitatingly, on the whole, In the United States." As a ru'e, the American working man Ib much steadier tljan his fellow the Brltlah-crcnucb more sober and possessed of higher tastes, Apologising for the length, and thanking you for the Bpace, I am, etc., David Bellhouse, Hon. Seo. IP.L. of New Zialand. Ohrlßtohnroh, 25th July, 1888.

Relative expenditure of an Amerioan and English working man. Inoome, Income, 450d0l 300dolto to COOdol a j -iOOdol a year, year. Am. En. Am. En. Subsistence ..64 80 63* 78-75 Clothing .... 7 7 10-50 1050 Rent .. ..! 20 14 15'50 10'37 Fuel .. *. 6 6 6 6 Sundry expenses 3 3 5 5 Total ..I 100 110 100-00 110 62

Percentage of the expenditure of a family of a working man with an income of Itema of j Expenditure. FrQm 300do] From mM to 4.50d0l to 600dol (£6O to £90) (£9O to £120) a year. a year. per oent. per cent. Subsistence 64 \ 63 ) Clothing 7( Q7 10-5 f 0( . I Rent 20 { 97 15-6 ( 95 Fuel 6 ) 6 ) Sundry expenses 8 [3 5 5 Total .... 100 100