THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. MONDAY, MAY 6, 1912. THE COST OF LIVING.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10628, 6 May 1912, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. MONDAY, MAY 6, 1912. THE COST OF LIVING.

According to .tihe Nation everybody is aiwaM'e *'itEiit 'M'hatever 'be tihe deeper causes of industrial commotion am Europe and America-, the chief imonediate dnriikanit, (has ibeen the igreafcsrise in the 'tfosfc of living. • ffthere can fee iifctte doulbt Ibdt iwltoat itlhiisl applies equally to Aiusbra lia and u\ew Zealand, and though ithis great (increase in the cost df living irfil ol'aEises suffer. The Nation points fault that -in .England' tiliere had (been a 'considerable and (fairly constant fall in the general prices of food a'nd other commodities (Mom the early seventies to the middle of the nineties. Since thalt time a imarked and persistent dhange 'has taken place. The price of food has .made a 'great ad■van.ce most a'apidly witliin the last few years, the price tof .materials of various kinds has nJndergone an even greater' upward movement, affecting imany sorts df manufadtured goods, and for large sections of the workers itllie irise of prices has been: accompanied iby ;a considerable .I*iso of rente. ITlie question is asked, why have pnioes lof commodities taken this new and irapid course, and nvhy has the price df labour if ailed to keep pace? fHheise questions ar'e arousing even more attention, lin certain (foreign countries. For the of prices is 'by no -means peculiar to Great. Britain. It is (reflected in all the chief industrial nations of rbhe iworld. In Germany arid the United States prices (have risen' even more rapidly fthan in Brtaan, and lErance, Belgium and Italy exhibit lain increase at least as largo as hers. It is therefore evident that till*? largest limimediate souroe of mdiu&triall am,resit i:s an international one. If this world-wide phenomenon is (to :be n,n cTeretood, stffi more .if effective remedies are to be applied,, this i'nternational character must receive pi'o. per recognition. This 'being ,so, the proposal! ,of it)bt< United States for the formation lof 'an .international cornm fsisi'on to. igaltiher ifaots (bearing upon changes |of wages, cost of living, and prices in- various countries, ,to esta'blisli international comparisons, to inquire into the caaises of these imjonetary changes, and tlic.r bearing upon various grades of ilncome, and /to make 'recommendations for common governmental actio,n, should it be doomed desirable, will be wjdely- wel-

corned. The Nation concludes by reminding us tihat President Tatft, in a <recen4 message, lhas given a strong endorsement to this proposal, rwliich hasreceived tho .support df a remarkably representative body .of economists and officials in tlbe clnef industrial c'ou'iiI tries. The (initiation of the movemanit I has TicoYi due to the energy of ProfessLor Irving Fisher, an eminent American economist.