prices of the "food of the people," and in order that every family can ascertain the difference in the cost of living between Free-trade England and Protectionist America, I give below a list of prices of some "everyday necessary articles of food." The Greystone price-list is dated December 10, 1909, and signed by the secretary of the co-operative stores, and the Clayton price-list is of a more recent date. For convenience and simplicity I have translated the American "cent" as being equal to one halfpenny. Clayton Greystone 12 months is as much as in England, owing to the general use of slow combustion stoves. I have ascertained the quantities of the above-named "every-day necessary articles of food" consumed by families, ranging from two to thirteen persons, and find the average cost to each Greystonian is 3 3/4d. per week more than the Claytonian. A family of five persons will jointly have to earn Is. 6 3/4d. more per week to be equal to a Claytonian. Having arrived at the cost of living as shown above, I give below the wages paid at Clayton and Bradford for 55 1/2 hours per week, and at Greystone for 56 hours. Woolsorters (day .. Girl spinners (accord with our natural born enemies. [Laughter and applause on the Republican side.) If these rules are to be changed, they should be changed as the tariff was changed, not by their enemies, but by their friends. No; the first man to run to the cover of an efficient code of rules, mark my words, if the country should establish the Democracy in power, would be our friends on the other side, and the man over the hurdles first would be the distinguished orator from Missouri, who expects to be the Democratic Speaker. (Laughter and applause.] Do you suppose he would consent to trust 15 of the wild, untamed steeds of the Democracy to fix his rules or to name his committees which are to make him responsible to the great 46 States of this Union? No; the gentleman is far too canny, too wise, too prudent, and too experienced. We have much at stake, far higher and greater than satisfaction of any man's resentment; it is the success of the Republican party's program-the program we were sent here by Republicans to carry out. It is the success of Taft's administration. (Applause on the Republican side.) It is the success or defeat of our great party. The country is not ready yet to transfer from us to our friends on the other side, of 50 years of proven incompetency, the powers of this country to carry out the wishes of this people. ... To substitute disorganization for organization, to substitute disorder for order, to substitute personal whim for party responsibility, to substitute the desire of two minorities to become a majority for the legally elected majority, to bereave the American people of its duly elected majority, is just as wrong now as it was in 1906, and those men who are eager here to assert their independence on this side, it seems to me, should again do, as we have all done in the past, subordinate their personal preferences to the opinions of an overwhelming majority of their Republican associates. In the light of the greater need of the greater people outside, in the need for remedial legislation, in view of the voices summoning us from every valley, from every hill, from every industry, every enterprise, let us do our work as Republicans because the Republican people summoned us to it. OUR EXPORTS ANALYZED. BY WALTER J. BALLARD. Though in 1909 calendar year as compared with 1908, we suffered a shrinkage of $11,500,000 in our exports of wheat flour ($49,900,000 against $61,500,000), yet the value of such exports in the seven months ended January, 1910, was only $1,500,000 less than that for the preceding corresponding period ($33,400,000 against $34,900,000). seven In the January, 1910, months, we did well in automobiles, $4,491,000, a gain of $2,220,000, or over 100 per cent. Canada was our largest buyer, $1,627,000, an increase of nearly $1,000,000. On a purchase of $1,060,000, shipments to Great Britain also increased by $378,000. Sales to France, Germany, Mexico, West Indies, South America, British Australasia, British East Indies, Africa and other countries also increased. It will not be long before we shall be exporting $15,000,000 to $20,000,000 worth of automobiles yearly. In agricultural implements we gained $1,500,000; from $11,300,000 to $12,800,000. The largest buyers were Argentina, $4,200,000 (increase $800,000), Russia, $2,500,000, and Canada, $1,262,000 (increase $386,ooo). France also increased her purchases by $327,000, and British Australia bought $300,000 worth more. Chemicals, drugs, dyes and medicines figure for $12,560,000, a gain of $1,338,000. The gain was well distributed along the entire list. Bituminous coal exports reached a value of $15,795,000, or $1,126,000 more than in January, 1909, seven months. As usual, Canada was our largest buyer of bituminous coal, as also of anthracite-$18,800,000. This seven months' exports of green or raw coffee totaled 24,138,ooo pounds, worth $3,039,000, an increase of 8,000,000 pounds and $933,000. Copper brought us $56,000,000, of whcih $10,000,000 was increase, towards which Great Britain contributed $8,200,000, and "Other Europe," $1,200,000. Raw cotton led all the exports with a value of $323,611,000, a net increase of $30,000,000. Germany paid $16,000,000 of the increase, France, $19,000,000, Belgium, $1,000,000 and Canada, $2,700,000. The chief decreases were Spain, $3,500,000, Great Britain, $5,000,000 and Japan, $3,000,000. The somewhat large revival experienced in the fore part of last year in our sales of cotton clothes to China seems to have lessened in recent months, because on $3,500,000 sales in this seven months, the in crease was only $800,000, and the entire exports of $11,700,000 only show a gain of $1,100,000. In cotton goods of all kinds the exports were $18,700,000, an increase of $2,500,000. Dynamite, Gunpowder, cartridges and other explosives brought us $3,017,000, an increase of $1,108,000. Canned salmon gave us $5,706,000 of foreign money-$2,615,000 more than in the corresponding preceding period. The value of Alaska tells in that item. In fruits and nuts (almost all fruits) we did well, gaining $2,358,ooo on total exports of $14,603,000. Our best buyers were Great Britain, Germany, Canada and the Netherlands. Furs and furskins totaled a value of $7,012,000 and gained $3,100,000. Ninety per cent. went to Germany, Great Britain and Canada. All the principal countries, except Japan, bought more of our steel rails, giving us a total sale of $6,252,000, with an increase of $2,400,000, towards which Argentina contributed nearly $2,000,000. Mexico bought $1,306,000 worth. Iron and steel plates are down for $6,200,000, an increase of $2,200,000; wire, $4,609,000 (increase, $800,000); builder's hardware, $7,603,000 (increase, $1,025,000); metal-working machinery, $2,866,000 (increase, $719,000); printing presses, $1,118,ooo (increase, $246,000); pumps and pumping machinery, $1,757,000 (increase, $316,000); sewing machines, $4,008,000 (increase, $757,000); typewriters, $4,308,000 (increase, $683,ooo); and pipes and fittings, $5,654,ooo (increase, $1,445,000). Leather of all kinds scheduled at $20,709,000, an increase of $3,130, 000, exclusive of $1,300,000 increase on a total export of $6,252,000 worth of boots and shoes. Cuba led with $1,514,000 in the purchase of the latter, followed by Great Britain for nearly $1,000,000 worth, and Mexico for $808,000 worth. Tobacco (unmanufactured) contributed $26,349,000 in the seven months, an increase of $6,261,000. The increase was general as to countries, and the leading buyers were, in order as named, Great Britain, Germany, Italy, France, Netherlands, Canada, Spain, British Australasia and Belgium. We sent abroad $1,259,000 worth of cigarettes, but only $21,834 worth of cigars. Plug tobacco brought us $862,000 and tobacco prepared for smoking, $436, 234. Wood and its manufactures list for $41,722,000, an increase of $4,909,000, of which lumber gave us $3,900,000 and furniture, $700,000. Material increases also occurred in the January, 1910, seven months, over January, 1909, seven months, in our exports of aluminum, brass and its manufactures, celluloid and its manufactures, artworks, cement, clocks and watches, earthenware, glass and glassware, glucose, hops, India-rubber goods, electrical appliances, phonographs and records, cash registers, castings, firearms, laundry machinery, windmills, woodworking machinery, nails and spikes, safes, scales, stoves, jewelry, lamps, motor-boats, musical instruments, naval stores, nickel, lubricating oil, paints and colors, paper and its manufactures, paraffin and wax, perfumery, photographic goods, plated ware, quicksilver, salt, starch, toys, varnish, wool manufactures and many other articles. Figures of the Bureau of Statistics, Department of Commerce and Labor, quoted herein. This analysis of our exports is decidedly encouraging, particularly as to manufactures. On the other side the discouragements are a $23,000,ooo drop in breadstuffs, $18,000,000 in meat and dairy products, and about $4,000,000 in mineral oils. WAGES AND LIVING IN AMERICA. Correspondence of the Yorkshire (Eng.) Observer. In order to put before the public a correct statement of the comparative cost of living, together with the wages paid in England and America, it is advisable to have as near as possible the same conditions both as to locality and the quality of work. As chairman of a company with mills in Clayton and Bradford, and president of a corporation with mills in Greystone, near Providence, Rhode Island, America, I am in a practical position to weigh the advantages and disadvantages of Free-trade and Protection. The English and American mills comb, spin and weave exactly the same classes of wool, alpaca and mohair, and the same qualities of yarns and cloth are interchangeable. The machinery in all the mills are identically the same. Many of the workpeople at Greystone worked in our Bradford mills. At Clayton and Greystone are co-operative stores managed entirely by the workingmen, and it would be very difficult, if not impossible, to obtain fairer conditions for comparing the cost of living in the two countries. A great amount of discussion is now being carried on regarding the prices of the "food of the people," and in order that every family can ascertain the difference in the cost of living between Free-trade England and Protectionist America, I give below a list of prices of some "everyday necessary articles of food." The Greystone price-list is dated December 10, 1909, and signed by the secretary of the co-operative stores, and the Clayton price-list is of a more recent date. For convenience and simplicity I have translated the American "cent" as being equal to one halfpenny. 12 months is as much as in England, owing to the general use of slow combustion stoves. I have ascertained the quantities of the above-named "every-day necessary articles of food" consumed by families, ranging from two to thirteen persons, and find the average cost to each Greystonian is 3 3/4d. per week more than the Claytonian. A family of five persons will jointly have to earn Is. 6 3/4d. more per week to be equal to a Claytonian. Having arrived at the cost of living as shown above, I give below the wages paid at Clayton and Bradford for 55 1/2 hours per week, and at Greystone for 56 hours. |