THE COST OF LIVING IN AMERICA.

Wanganui Herald, Volume XXXXV, Issue 13035, 31 March 1910, Page 4

THE COST OF LIVING IN AMERICA.

The "United States Secretary for Agriculture declares that the increase in the production of foodstuffs does not keen pace with the increase in population. If this is so, then the action of the Beef Trust in again raising prices is understandable, though utterly unjustifiable. It has for years been predicted that the production of wheat in the States has practically reached the -maximum, and that various other industries will take the place of wheat growing. Apparently, then, according to the statement of the Secretary for Agriculture, there is a shortage in other .necessary supplies. This is a very serious ! problem for the States. The - high cost of living there has already become a political question of the first importance, and if the increase in production fails to keep pace with the increase in population, the difficulties will, increase. Economists have attributed the high price of living in the States to the world’s increasing gold production,> the partial exhaustion of natural resources, the exactions of trusts, the protective tariff, the manipulations of speculators, the habitual extravagance of the community as a whole, and the demands of labour. Whatever be the causes, it is the occasion of. much discontent, and both the President and Congress are exercised over the question.