The Manawatu Herald. Tuesday, May 11, 1915. THE COST OF LIVING.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXVII, Issue 1396, 11 May 1915, Page 2

The Manawatu Herald. Tuesday, May 11, 1915. THE COST OF LIVING.

We are informed that a buyer of fat stock called upon a district farmer recently and offered per head for a line of beasts. The offer was not considered high enough, as a further rise was anticipated by the owner in the course of a week or two. We assume that the normal payable price for these beasts would be about Need we ask what causes have led up to this enormous increase in the price of beef cattle? Our men at the front need nourishing food, and the Imperial authorities are determined that they shall have it, and quite right, too, and the Government took over, at a fair price, what it requires from the Dominion’s freezing works for such purposes. The extraordinary demand, however, has provided for the producer a golden opportunity and harvest. The retail price of meat has also been raised throughout the Dominion, thus increasing the cost of living. The wageearner complains that he does not earn sufficient to meet the extra food cost for his family. The manufacturer in turn says that he is unable to increase wages, while the man on the land is waxing fat at the expense of a great crisis, and is at the same time exploiting the local market. How long is this state of affairs going to last ? That Parliament will compel a readjustment we have no doubt, but the wage-earners in the meantime are staggering under the increased cost of living, and will not be compensated for the exploitation which is now taking place and which will continue until Parliament readjusts matters. The men who are at present piling up the profits under such conditions will be squeezed, and we hope with tremendous pressure, still the wage-earners will not be able to make up the leeway. We do not believe in extreme Socialism, but this is the sort of thing that compels one to think along those lines. If there is to be a monopoly in food stuffs, then we must all be in it. It is scandalous to think that the masses should be penalised to such an extent and at such a critical period when they have already made such personal sacrifices, to fatten a greedy set of mammon worshippers.