COST OF LIVING.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 853, 27 June 1910, Page 7

COST OF LIVING.

AMERICAN INQUIRY COMPLETED. TARIFF NOT TO BLAME. MOKE CONSUMERS AND FEWER, I'ItODUCKUS. i By Telegraph—Press Association-Copyright. (Rcc. June L'ii, d.'t p.m.) [ New York, June. 26. The United States Senate Committw, which has been inquiring into tho , tfieat increase in the cost of living in ; America, reports that- the tariff is not j . a material factor in tlio higher prices now charged for food. \ J Even the absolute removal of the J t t.irilF, tlie Committeo considers; would , not afford relief. < ' : The report attributes the increased cost of living to the shifting of the ' population from food-producing to foodconsuming occupations. STARTLING INCREASES. , WHERE THE MONEY GOES. Official statistics show that the cost of living in the United States was S per cent, higher in .March last than in the corresponding month of 1909, and that it was -tO per cent, above the average of 1007. In a highly significant report issued in Hay by the special State Commission of Massachusetts, which has been investigating tho subject for some months, the high cost of living in tho United Status was attributed largely "to the enormous waste of income through uneconomic expenditure for war and national armament, and through multiple forms of extravagance, both public and private." One of the most interesting conclusions of the commission war, that the tariff, trusts, and tradi> unions could not be regarded as direct or active causes of the recent general advance of prices. The ' commission, however, expressed a strong opinion that the tariff should be "taken out of politics and placed upon a business basis as in Germany." How enormously the "greed of the middlemen" augments the cost of living in the United was emphasised in lu-jjmiarkablo address delivered by Mr. B. R Yonkum, tho California railway magnate, at St. I.ouis. Here aro a few of the prices quoted by Mr. Youknm showing the percentage which tho consumer now pays to tiie middleman: In New York tho consumer pajs .CI ss. 7d. for a bushel of green bean?. Of this Hie Florida farmer gets only 9s. and the railway for carriage for 800 miles only 2s. Thus 57 per cont. goes into the pockets of the middleman. Eggs in New York are sold at Is. 2Jd. a dozen, according to Mr. iuiduim (though, as a matter of fact, tho price is frequently much higher). Of this the farmer gets 7!d. and the railways one lionny. For rice- tho consumer pays sd. a lb., of which the rice farmer receives only lid., and tho railway }d., the middleman pocketing 3Jd.