Standards Of Living,

Star (Christchurch), Volume XLIV, Issue 62, 14 March 1931, Page 17 (Supplement)

Standards Of Living,

3X. DUBREUIL, a workman who recently visited America and worked there for a time in the Ford facwrote a book on his experiences and discusses the question as to whether it costs the average Frenchman more to live than the average American. lie gives some decisive data. In terms of work, the American working man earns a dozen eggs- in 55 minutes, the French-

man in 150 minutes. The pound of sugar keeps the American wage-earner busy for seven minutes, the Frenchman for 35 minutes. Likewise through a list of standard foodstuffs. The advantage is all with the American from a C-to 9 ratio on potatoes to a l-to-9 ratio on roast pork. On coal the American has nearlv a l-to-4 advantage It is less on clothes, but on cheap cars (if the French workman ever could buy one), the American wins by a 3-to*

13. The sole necessity of life which is cheaper for the Frenchman in the i ratio of 7 to 15, is lodging and house i rent. Even there the comparison is false, if one considers the kind of lodging available for, and accepted by, the working men of the two countries. The American has his bathroom, his central heating and his own little garage; the Frenchman has to l»e content with the most primitive sanitation and heating and he has no need for a garage.