The Stratford Evening Post WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER. WEDNESDAY OCTOBER, 25, 1911. THE COSY OF LIVING.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXI, Issue 60, 25 October 1911, Page 4

The Stratford Evening Post WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER. WEDNESDAY OCTOBER, 25, 1911. THE COSY OF LIVING.

The recent revolt against the cost of living which broke out in the North of France, spread with great rapidity and was accompanied by much violence. It is, the French correspondent of the “Nation”says, an event, the true significance of which neither the Government nor the majority of the newspapers seem to appreciate, possibly because they are unwilling to do so. This writer holds the view that tlie outbreak was, in fact, a revolt against Protection and as the fiscal policy of all parties in France is Protectionist, the embarrassment of the pdliticans is intelligible. The French consumer is at last beginning to realise that he, not the foreignej', pays import duties. Twenty-three mayors of one Department met and unanimously demanded the removal of the import duties on meat, and resolutions in favour of repeal of.duties were carried at almost every meeting of the protestors. The Government pointed out that prices have risen in other countries; that is true, but it is accessary to enquire what prices were to begin with. Where, as in France, they wore already intolerably high, any rise makes life really impossiblble for large numbers of people. “What would you say in London if yon had to pay 2s a pound for leg of mutton or entrecote, as wo are now paying in Paris P” the correspondent asked. “Or nearly £’3 a ton for coal? 'The prices of eggs, milk, vegetables, and other accessaries have also risen to a height unknown during my residence of live years in Paris. The lowest price of butter in the cheapest markets of Paris, those of the workingclass quarters, is 1 fr. 80 c. a lb; the worst eggs in the same markets are 1 fr, -10 c. the' dozen; French beans 10 centimes a lb., and so on. And this at the cheapest time of the rear, when all the well-to-do classes .ire away. The French pound is onotenth more than the pound avoirdupois, but even so such prices are appalling.” “The reason why bread is costly in France is because the immense body of small farmers and pea-

sant proprietors a re guarded by—what nobody proposes to adopt in Britain—a heavy and purely protective duty on corn,” says the “Saturday Review.” “The increased cost of living is having far-reaching and widespread effects,” says the “Labour Leader.” “In America, last year, it was one of the main factors in producing an agitation I'm/a lowering of tariffs, and in promoting the downfall of the Republican Party. in France it was a contributory factor in the railway strike of last year, and this year, in the Xorth of France, it has been the cause of widespread food riots. In (lermany it is causing great agitation. In Fngland, also the increased cost of living has been one of t!ie determining conditions of Labour unrest, which, beginning last vear with the shipyard strike, has cul-

minatccl in the present Labour upheaval, and the determination to secure higher wages at all costs. The fact: that increased cost of living has boo; felt to such a tremendous extent, hot; in countries with protective tariffs like France and the United States and in a free trade country like England. is worthy of note. ft knocks the arguments of the Tariff Reformers to bits, and it constitutes a standing demonstration of the absurdity of those who swear by Free Trade as the one universal cure-all. In short, if will serve to sweep these questions into the background in England at all events, and help to bring the true remedy to the front.” Here, even fn tin’s favoured land, the problem of the rapidly increasing cost of living, may well cause us some uneasiness, and in common with other countries the discovery of a true remedy will be truk, welcomed.