HIGH LIVING COSTS

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 85, 5 January 1920, Page 5

HIGH LIVING COSTS

FRENCH VIEWPOINT ARGUMENT FOR UNRESTRICTED DEALINGS The fact is certain—living is dear, vorj dear, almost unbearably de.ir, in Franc; (wrote tlie Paris correspondent of tin New York "Evening Po.-t" recently). Tlie fact, a lillle Ims or a lilllp. more, if common lo most countries that have line anytliiiiif to do with the war. The French have b?en trying to explain whj dear liviny is u fiict. As usual, the} , incline to put Hip blame on Government, As they are on the. po'nt of luivins; then Renerai elections for nearly every unc in their Government and Parliament who holds his post by election, there is luhirnlly a great deal of criticism ol what Government has dono or left undone. The president of the Marseilles Chamber of Commerce, M. Artnud, is known for his independent thiiik'ng and frank speaking, and he has been talking freely, lie says: "All State intervention—l say all-produces, in the long- nJn, dear prices. Take one exampje—wheat. It seems wo Lack 4,000,000 tans this year. Franco could certainly produce fill we need, and she is not producing tile D.IiCJ.OOO ions wo need. Why? -Because tiovcriimcnt has successfully fixed maximum prices of which not one correspond with what the fanner would have had in open market. So other kinds of tanning were more remunerative, und the peasant cultivates the crop which brings, in .most money. He has given m> a part of his cultivation of whe.it because, M cannot sell his wheat freely. If he could, we should cerlawily have our +,000,000 tons that arc.lacking this year and much more, next year. "There is another Government interference with wheat—keeping the fixed maximum price of the. vl|eat corresponding with the miller's rate so as to keep bread cheap. Without such interference bread would bo dearer. Who would Buffer by it- Not the farmer. As for the workman, wo know ho is able to buy more food much dearer than bread und docs not deprive himself— nnd I, for one, do not- biaiue him, "Next. Got eminent interferes to prevent dear prices getting into railroad transportation. What is the result? Complete disorganisation, so that when there, is all but an absolute stoppage of trains the consumer pays automobile service five end ten times dearer than the liiffhert railway rates. If the railroads had been allowed to put up their rates to correspond with circumstances they would now have rolling stock, employees, and food tracks, and they would be carr.yinj freight at rates scarcely half what the consumer is forced to pay for auto transportation. "Asrain. we ought not to bo deprived of oreiffn products. We ought not, under >retext of protecting our industries, to be deprived of the right of buying cheap sunh thinss as wo could procure more easily if importation wer-3 free. Ido not denv the effect of imports on exchanse. but the present situation of the franc Droves tho complete failure of tho restriction on importation, and it has had for n consequence a, large suppression of exDorts. ' "I have been reading a protest against the brinuinß in of German bicycles, which, thanks to the fall of tho mark, woiild cost barely 75 or 80 francs. The French maker, whose machines cost him 200 or 250 francs to make, would be handicapped But why is tho manufacturer more important than the consumer? Don't vou believe that the French workman would profit by n cheap bicyclo to take him quieklv lo his work? Then, in the long run, would not thin additional use of bicycles, due to their low price on account of the fall of the mark, create needs that would later bring more business to the manufacturer in France? "Yet another ruinous result of State interference is the eight-hour law. We have Rot to produce. To produce we have cot to work a great deal, and it. was the Slate's duty to say so, instead of simply countersigning all tho demands of the unions. Tho time was badly chosen to limit the hours of .labour nnd production. Before the war wo worked ten and eleven hours a day. If wo had not had this cataclysm we ir.ight hnvo come progressively to nine or e v en eight hours, thanks to the development of machinery that would give greater yield in lew time. But tho war canio. We are told that the eight-hour day will, enable tho workmnn, who will feel less fatigue, to give the greater yield. Tho contrary has been proved to bo the case. ■ "Does that mean the workman should be condemned to intense labour? No, but leave him free to work and to have as big a price for his work ;»s he can get, tor example, by piecework. My opinion is that tho workman ought to have high wages—for this will w-t him on the way to becoming an employer himself. Now, if he spends all j.e earns' —and so far the workman is just tho contrary of the peasant and shows no disposition to save—why, that v : ill make commerce and industry more active. "Tr.ko .tax interferences. There is the luxury tax which has cost the French consumer more than 1,000,000,000 francs and bav brought into tho Treasury «> far 200,000,000 francs. Do you \ think that has nothing to do with dear living? And does not tho tax on war profits force trade to run up business profits, since that, in the long run, is its only means of existence ? The State has r.eed of money -well, let the Stato levy taxes that will bo collected and not taxe.* that burden the consumer and yield nothing to the Treasury. "In sun., to get out of our present situation, winch can only become worse if present methods keep up, let the Stato stop interfering."